Hydromantes supramontis is a facultative cave-dweller from Sardinia with a projectile tongue that can be shot to 80% of body length, or more than 6 cm. Hydromantes is the only plethodontid genus found in the Old World, and is restricted there to Italy and a small part of southern France. There are currently seven recognized species in Europe. Hydromantes platycephalus is one of three species found in the New World, in California.

This sequence shows a suspended cricket being captured by precise tongue projection. Notice how the salamander does not overshoot the prey. The time between frames is 5 ms, and complete tongue protraction takes less than 20 ms. The paper from which the cricket is suspended causes the upward deflection of the tongue during withdrawal.

H. supramontis capturing a housefly. Tongue projection in this photo is about 25% greater than in the video above, or about 6 cm. Pass your mouse pointer over the image to see the anatomy of the tongue projection system. Click for a complete diagram.

This photo and figure show one of the amazing things we have discovered about Hydromantes tongue projection, namely that it is ballistic. The tongue skeleton is shot from the body of the salamander completely, and travels to the prey under its own momentum. The mechanism is like shooting a watermelon seed from between your fingers. We have since learned that other plethodontids, like Bolitoglossa and Eurycea, also have ballistic tongue projection systems, and, remarkably, that they have apparently evolved independently in each case.