Talk:Proteidae

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Tyler Johnson32.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 07:20, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Clarification and Edits
It would useful to introduce the term "mudpuppy" before using it or omit the term until it is explained under the life history section as the phrase: "Members of Necturus, commonly called 'mudpuppies,' or 'waterdogs," is used after the first usage of the term "mudpuppy". I have made these changes as well as introduced an addition source that explains the common feeding habits of the mudpuppy Proteidae salamanders. Tyler Johnson32 (talk) 05:00, 25 February 2017 (UTC)

Lungs
How is it that the mudpuppy"never develops lungs" when in the article it states that it develops external lungs?

That was simply incorrect. They develop external gills; I fixed it and did some minor editorial stuff. Given that mudpuppies have been studied and dissected by generations of biologists, this is an article that could be seriously expanded (time, time, time) Dmccabe 02:10, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

ANyone know how to make Necturus take readers right here?Dmccabe 02:24, 5 April 2006 (UTC)

Mudpuppies do have lungs (in low-ox environments they'll grab air from the aurface) but they're not terribly well developed, like those of any amphibian. The gills allow them to not use the lungs if DO is plentiful. --SquidDNA 12:33, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Toes
The article mentions that one can distinguish mudpuppies from immature salamanders, in that mudpuppies only have four toes... But, looking at the picture of the axototl, other salamanders have four toes, too. So, should we rewrite it as how to distinguish them from sirens, or just delete the line altogether?--Mr Fink 16:11, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

Mudpuppies have four toes on the hind feet. Axolotl and most other salamanders have five. What I would like to know is why the whole genus of Necturus is considered The Mudpuppy. In my experience the word Mudpuppy refers to Necturus maculosus. The other species have their own common names, with the only ambiguous one being N. lewisi Brimley, 1924—Neuse River Waterdog (the other Necturus are called Waterdogs). Obviously vernacular names are confusing and vary geographically but the use of the common names has been pretty standard in the literature for the last few decades. See also here (pp 24-25). Also, there is a general move away from using the word "common" in english names because many of these species are actually becoming less so and may be protected as species at risk in some jurisdictions (including "common" mudpuppies, "common" map turtles, "common" snapping turtles, and "common" musk turtles. Matt Keevil (talk) 14:13, 19 October 2010 (UTC)

Olm
After reading about the olm, I discovered that it was an genus within the Mudpuppy family. My first impression was that is was prey, or unrelated. I changed the intro to make its mention less ambiguous.

Naming
Shouldn't the name mudpuppy be reserved to the genus Necturus? I haven't seen any source giving that name to the Olm. 130.225.209.172 (talk) 08:30, 22 October 2013 (UTC)
 * You have an excellent point. Fixing and adjusting the redirects will be a doozy, though.--Mr Fink (talk) 14:11, 22 October 2013 (UTC)