The skeleton of cartilage in the tongue is shaped roughly like a pair of tweezers, with the two prongs facing the tail. Each prong is encased in a sheath of spiraling muscle fibers that, when they contract, squeeze the prongs and shoot the cartilage out of the mouth. Apparently, Wake says, the two unrelated creatures independently evolved a similar method for capturing prey. In both animals a sticky pad at the tip of the tongue immobilizes the insect until it can be brought into the mouth. Deban predicts that other members of the genus Hydromantes also use a ballistic method to protract the tongue, because all have the same tongue structure and internal cartilage.
Wake suspects that many members of the lungless salamander family do likewise.
Most members of Hydromantes live entirely on land, spending part of the year in caves or crevices, laying eggs in moist places and living off insects and other small creatures. Even before Deban's discovery, they were known to have the longest tongues relative to their body of any amphibian. Copyright 1997, The Regents of the University of California. Produced and maintained by the Office of Public Affairs at UC Berkeley .