The Qimen giant salamander (''Andrias cheni'') is a species of

giant salamander The Cryptobranchidae (commonly known as giant salamanders) are a family of large salamanders that are fully aquatic. The family includes some of the largest living amphibians. They are native to China, Japan, and the eastern United States. Giant ...

in the family

Cryptobranchidae The Cryptobranchidae (commonly known as giant salamanders) are a family of large salamanders that are fully aquatic. The family includes some of the largest living amphibians. They are native to China, Japan, and the eastern United States. Giant ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Anhui Province Anhui is an inland province located in East China. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze and Huai rivers, bordering Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the east, Jiangxi to the south, Hub ...

, China, where it inhabits streams and caves in the Huangshan Mountains. The species name honors Pihui Chen, a herpetologist at Anhui Normal University. The common name references its type locality in

Qimen County Qimen County (; alternately romanized as Keemun) is a county in the southeast of Anhui Province, China, bordering Jiangxi Province to the southwest. It is the westernmost county-level division of the prefecture-level city of Huangshan City. It ...

. As with all other Chinese species of the genus ''

Andrias ''Andrias'' is a genus of giant salamanders. It includes the largest salamanders in the world, with ''A. japonicus'' reaching a length of , and ''A. sligoi'' reaching . While extant species are known only from East Asia, several extinct species ...

'', it was formerly lumped into ''

Andrias davidianus The Chinese giant salamander (''Andrias davidianus'') is one of the largest salamanders and one of the largest amphibians in the world.endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

cryptic lineages, none of which were known to have wild populations and all of which are affected by extensive hybridization in captivity. One such lineage was "Clade E", identified from wild specimens caught before 1995 from the Huangshan Mountains. "Clade E" was confirmed as representing a distinct, undescribed species in a study the following year, and was finally described as such in 2023. Unlike other Chinese giant salamander species, ''Andrias cheni'' was not extensively poached until recently, as it was previously avoided by local people due to its "ugly" appearance. However, the illegal trade in the species soared since the mid-1990s, and the wild population is now considered

critically endangered An IUCN Red List critically endangered (CR or sometimes CE) species is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. As of December 2023, of t ...

. Recent surveys were unsuccessful at finding any wild populations. However, some genetically pure captive individuals are known in local breeding farms, which may prove essential in restoring wild populations.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q123509419 Cryptobranchidae Amphibians described in 2023 Amphibians of China Endemic fauna of China