Eurycea wilderae

Eurycea is a genus of plethodontids from eastern North America. They have evolved long, projectile tongues independently of Hydromantes and Bolitoglossa. This movie shows Eurycea wilderae capturing a termite using a short forward lunge combined with tongue projection. This differs from Hydromantes and Bolitoglossa, which typically do not lunge forward. This Eurycea projects the tongue fully in less than 2 milliseconds, which in this 5,000 Hz image sequence is fewer than 10 frames.