go to ACE Basin homepage Guide to the Amphibians and Reptiles of the ACE Basin

next family                              Order = Caudata

Family = Amphiumidae

Some characteristics of Amphiumidae: This family contains one genus (Amphiuma) with three species that only occur in the coastal plain of the southeastern US and the lower Mississippi Valley. Amphiumids resemble sirenids in being elongate aquatic salamanders that do not have eyelids. However, amphiumids have both pairs of limbs and have gill slits instead of external gills. Their legs are tiny and only have two toes.
For the most part, amphiumids are aquatic, living in slow-flowing streams and rivers near swamps, only occasionally do they move overland through wet habitat, preferably during rainy nights.

Literature: Salthe (1973). Amphiumidae, Amphiuma. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles 147:1-4.

Common Name Scientific Name
Two-toed Amphiuma Amphiuma means

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