Researchers, Chencheng Wang, Lifu Qian, Chenling Zhang, Weibo Guo, Tao Pan, Jun Wu, Hui Wang, and Baowei Zhang, have discovered a new species of frog from the Dabie Mountains in China. They named the frog the Dabie Mountain Brown Frog (Rana dabieshanensis) because that’s the only area that the frog have been found it. The Dabie Mountain Brown Frog was placed in the genus Rana because of it’s similar features to others in the genus. Rana is a genus in the family Ranidae – the True Frog family.
Common Name: Chinese Giant Salamander Scientific Name:Andrias davidianus Family:Cryptobranchidae– Giant Salamander family Location: China Introduced Locations: Taiwan and Japan Size: 5.9 feet (180 cm)
The Chinese Giant Salamander is the largest salamander and amphibian in the world. They are described as a living fossil. A living fossil is an organism that closely resemble organisms only found in fossil records. Sadly, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List lists the salamanders as critically endangered. There are known records of the salamander living as long as 60 years. However, there are stories of them living over 200 years. They are primarily nocturnal but they are known to emerge during the day during breeding season.
A new study showed that the Chinese Giant Salamander is at least 5 different species and as many as 8. Sadly, all of the new species are in bad shape conservation wise. Amphibiaweb and Amphibian Species of the World hasn’t recognized the distinct species so I’m not going to either until they have.
The salamanders breed from August to September. For breeding, the female salamanders lays her eggs in an underwater cavity. Next, the male salamander fertilizes the eggs. After that, he guards the eggs until they hatch. It takes the eggs almost two months to hatch. Additionally, the new born salamanders take around 5 to 6 years to reach sexual maturity.
Conservation
The Chinese Giant Salamander is moving fast to becoming extinct. Most of their habitat is being destroyed and they are illegally taken for medicine and food. Additionally, the streams that they live in are also polluted. They need help before its too late.
