Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All ten extant salamander families are grouped together under the order Urodela from the group Caudata. Salamander diversity is highest in eastern North America, especially in the Appalachian Mountains; most species are found in the Holarctic realm, with some species present in the Neotropical realm.
Salamandridae is a family of salamanders consisting of true salamanders and newts. Salamandrids are distinguished from other salamanders by the lack of rib or costal grooves along the sides of their bodies and by their rough skin. Their skin is very granular because of the number of poison glands. They also lack nasolabial grooves. Most species of Salamandridae have moveable eyelids but lack lacrimal glands.
The genus Onychodactylus, commonly known as clawed salamanders, is composed of three species, all endemic to eastern Asia. O. fischeri is found on the Korean peninsula, as well as in the Russian Far East and adjacent regions of China. O. japonicus is found in Japan, on the islands of Shikoku and Honshū. All species are lungless with moderately developed parotoid glands. They inhabit moist, forested mountains near small rivers, streams, and lakes. Adults of each species can reach a length of 19 cm.
The Japanese fire-bellied newt or Japanese fire-bellied salamander is a species of newt endemic to Japan. The skin on its upper body is dark and its lower regions bright red, although coloration varies with age, genetics, and region. Adults are 8 to 15 cm long. To deter predators, Japanese fire-bellied newts contain high levels of tetrodotoxin, a neurotoxin accumulated mainly from their diet.
Leptobrachella is a genus of frogs in the family Megophryidae. Members of Leptobrachella are found throughout Asia including on Borneo and the Natuna Islands. They are sometimes referred to as Borneo frogs, slender-armed frogs, or dwarf litter frogs. The genus contains over 82 species with 25 found in China alone.
Eastern spadefoot toads comprise a genus of the family Megophryidae in the order Anura, and are found in southern China, northeast India, southeast Asia, and islands of the Sunda Shelf as well as the Philippines. They are characterized by a stocky body with slender, short hindlimbs. In identifying species, iris colour is a valuable diagnostic morphological characteristic ; the iris has uniform colour in some species, whereas in other species the upper half is coloured and the lower half is dark.
Rhacophorus is a genus of frogs in the shrub-frog family Rhacophoridae, which, with the related Hylidae, is one of the two genera of true tree frogs. They are found in China, India, Japan, and throughout Southeast Asia, including the island of Borneo. Over 40 species are currently recognised.
The Chinese giant salamander is one of the largest salamanders and one of the largest amphibians in the world. It is fully aquatic, and is endemic to rocky mountain streams and lakes in the Yangtze river basin of central China. It has also been introduced to Kyoto Prefecture in Japan, and possibly to Taiwan. It is considered critically endangered in the wild due to habitat loss, pollution, and overcollection, as it is considered a delicacy and used in traditional Chinese medicine. On farms in central China, it is extensively farmed and sometimes bred, although many of the salamanders on the farms are caught in the wild. It has been listed as one of the top-10 "focal species" in 2008 by the Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered project.
Tylototriton is a genus of newts known as crocodile newts or knobby newts. About 38 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.
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.
Hynobius is a genus of salamander in the family Hynobiidae, occurring in Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan and Far East Russia.
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.
Andrias is a genus of giant salamanders. It includes the largest salamanders in the world, with A. japonicus reaching a length of 1.44 metres, and A. sligoi reaching 1.80 metres. While extant species are only known from East Asia, several extinct species in the genus are known from late Oligocene and Neogene aged fossils collected in Europe and North America, indicating that the genus formerly had a much wider range.
Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils. This includes the study of body fossils, tracks (ichnites), burrows, cast-off parts, fossilised feces (coprolites), palynomorphs and chemical residues. Because humans have encountered fossils for millennia, paleontology has a long history both before and after becoming formalized as a science. This article records significant discoveries and events related to paleontology that occurred or were published in the year 2016.
The South China giant salamander may be the largest species of salamander and the largest amphibian in the world. It is endemic to southern China, mainly in the Pearl River basin south of the Nanling Mountains. It is extremely endangered and may no longer exist in the wild.
