The Cryptobranchidae are a family of fully aquatic salamanders commonly known as the giant salamanders. They include the largest living amphibians. The family is native to China, Japan, and the eastern United States. They constitute one of two living families within the Cryptobranchoidea, one of two main divisions of living salamanders, the other being the Asiatic salamanders belonging to the family Hynobiidae.
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.
Atympanophrys is a genus of frogs in the family Megophryidae. They range from central China south to northern Vietnam. They are commonly known as hidden-tympanum horned toads.
Tylototriton is a genus of newts known as crocodile newts or knobby newts. About 36 known species are in this genus. Many species have been described just recently. They range from northeastern India and Nepal through Burma to northern Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and southern China.
Paramesotriton, also known as warty newts or Asian warty newts, is a genus of salamanders in the family Salamandridae. The genus is found in southwestern and southern China and in northern Vietnam. Most of the species are endemic to China, and the majority of them have been described recently, since 2008. The genus includes both pond and stream dwellers.
Batrachuperus is a genus of salamander in the family Hynobiidae found in western China and adjacent Myanmar. Their common name is stream salamanders or mountain salamanders. Species now in Paradactylodon were formerly part of the then paraphyletic Batrachuperus.
The alpine stream salamander is a species of salamander in the family Hynobiidae endemic to central China. Its natural habitats are rivers and freshwater springs. It is threatened by habitat loss.
The Chinese salamander is a species of salamander in the family Hynobiidae endemic to China. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, rivers, freshwater marshes, freshwater springs, and arable land. It is threatened by habitat loss.
Hynobius guabangshanensis is a species of salamander in the family Hynobiidae, endemic to China, as it is only known from the locality from where it was described as a new species to science in 2004, at Guabang Shan Tree Farm in Qiyang County of Hunan Province. Its natural habitats are temperate shrubland, swamps, freshwater marshes, and seasonally flooded agricultural land.
Hynobius naevius, also known as the spotted salamander, Sagami salamander, Japanese salamander, and blotched salamander, is a species of salamander in the family Hynobiidae. It is endemic to northwestern Kyushu, Japan. Earlier records from Honshu represent other species.
The Puxiong salamander is a species of salamander in the family Hynobiidae, endemic to China. It is only known from the vicinity of its type locality, in Puxiong (普雄镇), in Yuexi County, Sichuan Province. The area belongs to the Hengduan Mountains that form the southeastern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The Puxiong salamander is a relatively small salamander with a slender body form.
The yellow-spotted salamander is a species of salamander in the family Hynobiidae, endemic to China, where it is known from Nanchuan in Chongqing, Suiyang in Guizhou, Lichuan in Hubei, and Sangzhi in Hunan Province. However, genetic methods have revealed cryptic species within the Liua–Pseudohynobius complex, and the actual distribution of the yellow-spotted salamander is turning out to be different. Only animals from Lichuan in Hubei and Sangzhi have been positively identified as being yellow-spotted salamanders, whereas animals collected from Nanchuan were described as a new species, P. jinfo, by Wei et al. in 2009.
Ranodon is a monotypic genus of salamanders in the family Hynobiidae. It currently contains only one species, the Central Asian salamander.
Pseudohynobius is a genus of salamanders in the family Hynobiidae and is endemic to China. It contains these species:
The Kuankuoshui salamander is a species of salamander in the family Hynobiidae endemic to China and only know from its type locality, Puchang-Kuankuoshui Nature Reserve (蒲昌宽阔水) in Suiyang County, Guizhou Province. Its natural habitats are temperate forests, streams, and pools. It is threatened by habitat loss. The Kuankuoshui salamander is a relative large salamander, about 20 cm (7.9 in) in total length.
The Shuicheng salamander is a species of salamander in the family Hynobiidae, endemic to China. Its type locality is Shuicheng in Guizhou Province, and it is not yet known from elsewhere; it is not likely to be widely distributed. It lives in a karstic region. The adults live on the forest floor near streams. Breeding takes places in pools, ponds, or near the springs, and the larvae develop in these habitats. It is threatened by habitat loss and pollution.
Paramesotriton zhijinensis is a species of salamander in the family Salamandridae. It is found only in Shuangyan Pond, 1310 m, Zhijin County, Guizhou Province, People's Republic of China.
The Guizhou salamander is a species of salamander in the family Hynobiidae. This recently described species is so far known only from its type locality, Yanxia Village in Guiding County in Guizhou; it is endemic to China. Adult salamanders measure 157–203 mm (6.2–8.0 in) in total length.
Onychodactylus fuscus, the Tadami clawed salamander, is a species of clawed salamander from Japan. It is known to occur in four different localities in the Fukushima and Niigata Prefectures, including Tadami and Sanjō. The species grows 14 centimetres (5.5 in) to 16 centimetres (6.3 in) long, and differs from the Japanese clawed salamander by having a long tail and wide head, as well as lacking a dorsal stripe. O. fuscus lives in streams and breeds during the winter. The species is closely related to Onychodactylus intermedius. It shares much of its habitat with O. japonicus, but the two species are reproductively isolated.
Hynobius shinichisatoi, the Sobo salamander, has only been found in streams in the Sobo, Katamuki and Okue Biosphere Reserve, Japan. It is black in colour.
