Relative Species
The California Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma californiense) (listed at Vulnerable), the Barred Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma mavortium), and the Plateau Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma velasci), were all once considered subspecies of A. tigrinum, but are now considered separate species. Genetic studies made it necessary to break up the original A. tigrinum population, even though there is some hybridization between groups.
The Axolotl is also a relative of the Tiger Salamander. Axolotls live in a neotenous state, retaining most characteristics of their larval stage for their entire lifespan. While they never metamorphose under natural conditions, metamorphosis can be induced in them, resulting in a form very similar to the Mexican Tiger Salamander. This is not, however, their natural condition, and dramatically shortens their lifespan.
Read more about this topic: Tiger Salamander
Famous quotes containing the words relative and/or species:
“Personal change, growth, development, identity formation—these tasks that once were thought to belong to childhood and adolescence alone now are recognized as part of adult life as well. Gone is the belief that adulthood is, or ought to be, a time of internal peace and comfort, that growing pains belong only to the young; gone the belief that these are marker events—a job, a mate, a child—through which we will pass into a life of relative ease.”
—Lillian Breslow Rubin (20th century)
“Single-mindedness is all very well in cows or baboons; in an animal claiming to belong to the same species as Shakespeare it is simply disgraceful.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)