The Asiatic salamanders are primitive salamanders found all over Asia, and in European Russia. They are closely related to the giant salamanders, with which they form the suborder Cryptobranchoidea. About half of hynobiids currently described are endemic to Japan.
Hynobius is a genus of salamander in the family Hynobiidae, occurring in Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan and Far East Russia.
The Odaigahara salamander is a species of salamander in the family Hynobiidae. It is endemic to Japan. Its natural habitats are temperate forests, rivers, and freshwater springs. This species is threatened by habitat loss.
The Oita salamander is a species of salamander in the family Hynobiidae endemic to Japan. Named after Oita Prefecture, its natural habitats are temperate forests, rivers, intermittent rivers, freshwater marshes, intermittent freshwater marshes, and irrigated land in western Japan. It is threatened by habitat loss, due to the increasing construction of homes within its habitat. The Oita Salamander is considered to be vulnerable by the (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species with a declining population.
The Hakuba salamander or Japanese mountain salamander is a species of salamander in the family Hynobiidae. This salamander is also synonymous with the mountain salamander. It is endemic to Japan. Its natural habitats are temperate forests, rivers, swamps, freshwater springs, and plantations. It is threatened by habitat loss.
The Hida salamander or Hondo salamander is a species of salamander in the family Hynobiidae, the Asiatic salamanders. It is endemic to central and western Honshu, Japan. It lives in deciduous, coniferous, and mixed forests, where it breeds in streams. The egg sacs of this species were reported to display blue-to-yellow iridescent glow due to a quasi-periodic diffraction grating structure embedded within the enveloppes of the egg sacs. These salamanders typically spawn from February to April, leading some to metamorphose in late September while others wait for the following year to do so after winter is over.
The Ezo salamander, also known as the Hokkaido salamander, Noboribetsu salamander, or Ezo Sanshouo in Japanese is a species of salamander in the family Hynobiidae. Prior to 1923 the species was also classified by the binomial scientific name Satobius retardatus. H. retardatus is endemic to Japan's northernmost prefecture, the island of Hokkaido. The species is a pond-type salamander, and its natural habitats are temperate forests, temperate shrubland, swamps, freshwater marshes, intermittent freshwater marshes, freshwater springs, irrigated land, canals, and ditches.
The amber salamander, amber-colored salamander, tortoiseshell salamander, or Stejneger's oriental salamander is a species of salamander in the family Hynobiidae, endemic to Japan. Its natural habitats are temperate forests and rivers. It is threatened by habitat loss.
Mount Sobo is one of the 100 Famous Japanese Mountains. The 1,756-metre-high (5,761 ft) mountain lies on the border of Taketa and Bungo-ōno in Ōita Prefecture and Takachiho, Nishiusuki District in Miyazaki Prefecture. It is within the Sobo, Katamuki and Okue Biosphere Reserve. Mount Sobo is the highest peak in Miyazaki Prefecture and in Ōita Prefecture only the 1,791 m (5,876 ft) middle peak of Mount Kujū is higher.
Under UNESCO's Man and Biosphere Reserve Programme, there are 142 biosphere reserves recognized as part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves in Asia and the Pacific as of April 2016. These are distributed across 24 countries in the region.
Sobo-Katamuki Quasi-National Park was a Quasi-National Park in Ōita and Miyazaki Prefectures, Japan. It was in 2017 incorporated in to the Sobo, Katamuki and Okue Biosphere Reserve.
Sobo Katamuki Prefectural Natural Park was a Prefectural Natural Park in southern Ōita Prefecture, Japan. Established in 1951, the park spanned the municipalities of Bungo-ōno, Saiki, and Taketa. In 2017 it was incorporated into the Sobo, Katamuki and Okue Biosphere Reserve.
Natural Habitat Conservation Areas or Natural Habitat Protection Areas in Japan are designated by the Ministry of the Environment to protect species of flora and fauna designated National Endangered Species, in accordance with the 1992 Act on Conservation of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Both managed protection zones and buffer monitoring zones are established.
Mount Ōkueyama (大崩山), also known as Mount Ōkue, is a volcanic mountain on the Japanese island of Kyushu. Part of an ancient volcanic formation known as the Okueyama Volcano-plutonic Complex, Mount Ōkueyama experienced a massive eruption ~13.7 million years before present ; it has been postulated that this eruption measured 8.0 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index, making the Ōkueyama eruption larger than any eruption in recorded history. The mountain is now considered to be extinct.
In the context of the conservation of endangered species in Japan, and the list below, Endangered Species are those designated by Cabinet order in accordance with the 1992 Act on Conservation of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. There are two main types of Endangered Species, National Endangered Species (国内希少野生動植物種) (NES) and International Endangered Species (国際希少野生動植物種) (IES), although there is also provision for Temporarily Designated Endangered Species (緊急指定種), as well as Designated Nationally Endangered Species (特定国内希少野生動植物種)—and businesses dealing with Designated Nationally Endangered Species (特定国内種事業) and Designated Internationally Endangered Species (特定国際種事業).
Mount Katamuki is at the western end of the Sobo Mountain range in Ōita Prefecture. It is now part of the Sobo, Katamuki and Okue Biosphere Reserve.
The Sobo, Katamuki and Okue Biosphere Reserve also known as Sobokatakue Unesco Eco Park was created in 2017. It incorporates the 1965 quasi national parks of Sobo Katamuki Prefectural Natural Park (Ōita) and Sobo Katamuki Prefectural Natural Park (Miyazaki).
Hynobius fossigenus is a species of salamander in the family Hynobiidae, and is found in some prefectures in Kantō and Chūbu districts in Japan.
