The Red River waterdog (''Necturus louisianensis''), also called Louisiana waterdog, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of aquatic

salamander Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All ten ...

in the family

Proteidae The family Proteidae is a group of aquatic salamanders found today in the Balkan Peninsula and North America. The range of the genus ''Necturus'' (commonly known as waterdogs or mudpuppies) runs from southern central Canada, through the midwes ...

Taxonomy

Some taxonomic authorities consider this salamander to be a subspecies of the

common mudpuppy The common mudpuppy (''Necturus maculosus'') is a species of salamander in the genus ''Necturus''. They live an entirely aquatic lifestyle in parts of North America in lakes, rivers, and ponds. They go through paedomorphosis and retain their exte ...

(''N. maculosus)'' as ''N. maculosus louisianensis'', or the Red River mudpuppy. The Red River waterdog was proposed as a separate species from the common mudpuppy by Collins in 1991 and 1997, but supporting data was lacking. Petranka (1998) and Crother (2000) both treated this animal as a subspecies.Geoffrey Hammerson (2004
''Necturus maculosus''
In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. Phylogenetic and morphological analyses done by Chabbaria ''et al.'' 2018, confirmed them as being distinct species''.'' However, some authorities still keep it as a subspecies.

Geographic range

It is found in southeastern Kansas, southern Missouri, northeastern Oklahoma, Arkansas, and northcentral Louisiana. It lives only in the Red River and adjacent drainage systems.Conant, Roger (1975). A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, 2nd edition. Houghton Mifflin. Boston.

Description

It is much different in appearance from the

which is gray to brown, with round blue-black spots. The Red River mudpuppy is light yellowish brown with a white stripe on either side of the middorsal area.

Diet and behavior

It eats mainly small underwater animals. Its feathery gills mean that it can breathe only underwater not on land. It and many other mudpuppies can still go on land, but not for a very long time. They go on land only if the water is too dirty so they can find cleaner water in another part of the river.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7304879 Proteidae Endemic fauna of the United States Amphibians of the United States Amphibians described in 1938