Реферат: Members of three of the eight families of salamanders have colonized subterranean habitats successfully. They all show reductions of morphological structures. Eyes and skin pigments are reduced to varying degrees depending upon the phylogenetic age of cave colonization. For the behavior patterns that are normally driven by visual signals, the question arises of how cave dwellers compensate for this disadvantage in complete darkness. Many potential cave dwellers have already developed in the epigean habitat the sense organs and behavior necessary to find food and to reproduce in darkness. They are preadapted with enhanced sense organs and acquire behaviors for their extreme habitat. In salamanders, the behavior patterns of only a few taxa have been studied in comparison to epigean relatives. One species that has been studied is Proteus anguinus of the dinaric karst in Slovenia and Croatia. It is blind and pale and searches for invertebrate prey using chemical and mechanical information. When compared with a young cave colonizer with fully developed eyes, the Pyrenean salamander (Euproctus asper), P. anguinus needs less time to react and to find living or dead prey in darkness and in light. All the species studied use chemical signals to communicate with conspecifics. Water transmission of chemical signals has been demonstrated for Proteus anguinus, Euproctus asper and Eurycea (formerly Typhlomolge) rathbuni , the Texas blind salamander. The information seems to be species specific, sex specific, and also specific to individuals. In addition, Proteus also constantly emits a chemical substance while in contact with the substrate and at communal resting places. This substance is specific to the individual but does not provide any detailed information about sex or reproductive state. For recognition of sex and reproductive state, P. anguinus requires direct contact. This is in contrast to E. rathbuni where only water borne signals give this type of information. Males and females find each other on the basis of these signals. They must synchronize their behavior in order to provide effective fertilization in the darkness. The reproductive behavior in E. rathbuni and P. anguinus is very similar. When a female ready to reproduce enters a territory, the male begins to send chemical information by fanning his tail in front of her. Then he walks away and the female follows and nips on the genital region of the male. After a short walk, the male deposits a spermatophore, which the female retrieves and places in her cloacal region. In E. asper, the male transfers the spermatophore during amplexus actively into the cloaca. The species studied defend territories. At least the male defends a small breeding territory, using an aggressive pattern against an intruder starting with tail movements. In case of a fight, tail-beating and biting are performed in close body contact. Typically the loser escapes and a submission posture has not been observed