The Asiatic salamanders (family Hynobiidae) are primitive

salamander 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 t ...

s found all over Asia, and in European Russia. They are closely related to the

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 ...

s (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 ...

), with which they form the suborder

Cryptobranchoidea The Cryptobranchoidea are a suborder of salamanders found in Asia, European Russia, and the United States. They are known as primitive salamanders, in contrast to Salamandroidea, the advanced salamanders. It has two living subdivisions, Cryptobr ...

. About half of hynobiids currently described are

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 ...

to Japan, but their range also covers parts of China, Russia, Afghanistan and Iran. Hynobiid salamanders practice external fertilization, or

spawning Spawn is the Egg cell, eggs and Spermatozoa, sperm released or deposited into water by aquatic animals. As a verb, ''to spawn'' refers to the process of freely releasing eggs and sperm into a body of water (fresh or marine); the physical act is ...

. And, unlike other salamander families which reproduce internally, male hynobiids focus on egg sacs rather than females during breeding. The female lays two egg sacs at a time, each containing up to 70 eggs. Parental care is common. A few species have very reduced lungs, or no lungs at all. Larvae can sometimes have reduced external

gill A gill () is a respiration organ, respiratory organ that many aquatic ecosystem, aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow r ...

s if they live in cold and very oxygen-rich water. Fossils of hynobiids are known from the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

to the present in Asia and Eastern Europe, though fossils of Cryptobranchoids more closely related to hynobiids than to giant salamanders extend back to the

Middle Jurassic The Middle Jurassic is the second Epoch (geology), epoch of the Jurassic Period (geology), Period. It lasted from about 174.1 to 161.5 million years ago. Fossils of land-dwelling animals, such as dinosaurs, from the Middle Jurassic are relativel ...

Phylogeny

Cladogram A cladogram (from Greek language, Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an Phylogenetic tree, evolutionary tree because it does not s ...

s based on the work of Pyron and Wiens (2011) and modified using Mikko Haaramo

Classification

Currently, 81 species are known. These genera make up the Hynobiidae: Subfamily Hynobiinae * Genus '' Afghanodon'' ** '' Afghanodon mustersi'' (Smith, 1940) * Genus '' Batrachuperus'' (Chinese stream salamanders) ** '' Batrachuperus karlschmidti'' Liu, 1950 ** '' Batrachuperus londongensis'' Liu and Tian, 1978 ** '' Batrachuperus pinchonii'' (David, 1872) ** '' Batrachuperus tibetanus'' Schmidt, 1925 ** '' Batrachuperus yenyuanensis'' Liu, 1950 * Genus '' Hynobius'' - (Asian salamanders) **'' Hynobius abei'' Sato, 1934 **'' Hynobius abuensis'' Matsui, Okawa, Nishikawa, and Tominaga, 2019 **'' Hynobius akiensis'' Matsui, Okawa, and Nishikawa, 2019 **'' Hynobius amakusaensis'' Nishikawa and Matsui, 2014 **'' Hynobius amjiensis'' Gu, 1992 **'' Hynobius arisanensis'' Maki, 1922 **'' Hynobius bakan'' Matsui, Okawa, and Nishikawa, 2019 **'' Hynobius boulengeri'' (Thompson, 1912) **'' Hynobius chinensis'' Günther, 1889 **'' Hynobius dunni'' Tago, 1931 **'' Hynobius formosanus'' Maki, 1922 **'' Hynobius fossigenus'' Okamiya, Sugawara, Nagano, and Poyarkov, 2018 **'' Hynobius fucus'' Lai and Lue, 2008 **'' Hynobius glacialis'' Lai and Lue, 2008 **'' Hynobius guabangshanensis'' Shen, 2004 **'' Hynobius guttatus'' Tominaga, Matsui, Tanabe, and Nishikawa, 2019 **'' Hynobius hidamontanus'' Matsui, 1987 **'' Hynobius hirosei'' Lantz, 1931 **'' Hynobius ikioi'' Matsui, Nishikawa, and Tominaga, 2017 **'' Hynobius iwami'' Matsui, Okawa, Nishikawa, and Tominaga, 2019 **'' Hynobius katoi'' Matsui, Kokuryo, Misawa, and Nishikawa, 2004 **'' Hynobius kimurae'' Dunn, 1923 **'' Hynobius kuishiensis'' Tominaga, Matsui, Tanabe, and Nishikawa, 2019 **'' Hynobius leechii'' Boulenger, 1887 **'' Hynobius lichenatus'' Boulenger, 1883 **'' Hynobius maoershanensis'' Zhou, Jiang, and Jiang, 2006 **'' Hynobius mikawaensis'' Matsui, Misawa, Nishikawa, and Shimada, 2017 **'' Hynobius naevius'' (Temminck and Schlegel, 1838) **'' Hynobius nebulosus'' (Temminck and Schlegel, 1838) **'' Hynobius nigrescens'' Stejneger, 1907 **'' Hynobius okiensis'' Sato, 1940 **'' Hynobius osumiensis'' Nishikawa and Matsui, 2014 **'' Hynobius oyamai'' Tominaga, Matsui, and Nishikawa, 2019 **'' Hynobius quelpaertensis'' Mori, 1928 **'' Hynobius retardatus'' Dunn, 1923 **'' Hynobius sematonotos'' Tominaga, Matsui, and Nishikawa, 2019 **'' Hynobius setoi'' Matsui, Tanabe, and Misawa, 2019 **'' Hynobius setouchi'' Matsui, Okawa, Tanabe, and Misawa, 2019 **'' Hynobius shinichisatoi'' Nishikawa and Matsui, 2014 **'' Hynobius sonani'' (Maki, 1922) **'' Hynobius stejnegeri'' Dunn, 1923 **'' Hynobius takedai'' Matsui and Miyazaki, 1984 **'' Hynobius tokyoensis'' Tago, 1931 **'' Hynobius tosashimizuensis'' Sugawara, Watabe, Yoshikawa, and Nagano, 2018 **'' Hynobius tsuensis'' Abé, 1922 **'' Hynobius tsurugiensis'' Tominaga, Matsui, Tanabe, and Nishikawa, 2019 **'' Hynobius turkestanicus'' Nikolskii, 1910 **'' Hynobius unisacculus'' Min, Baek, Song, Chang, and Poyarkov, 2016 **'' Hynobius utsunomiyaorum'' Matsui and Okawa, 2019 **'' Hynobius vandenburghi'' Dunn, 1923 **'' Hynobius yangi'' Kim, Min, and Matsui, 2003 **'' Hynobius yiwuensis'' Cai, 1985 * Genus '' Liua'' (Wushan salamanders) ** '' Liua shihi'' (Liu, 1950) ** '' Liua tsinpaensis'' (Liu and Hu, 1966) * Genus '' Pachyhynobius'' (stout salamanders) ** '' Pachyhynobius shangchengensis'' Fei, Qu, and Wu, 1983 * Genus '' Paradactylodon'' (Middle Eastern stream salamanders) ** '' Paradactylodon persicus'' (Eiselt and Steiner, 1970) * Genus '' Pseudohynobius'' ** '' Pseudohynobius flavomaculatus'' (Hu and Fei, 1978) ** '' Pseudohynobius guizhouensis'' Li, Tian, and Gu, 2010 ** '' Pseudohynobius jinfo'' Wei, Xiong, and Zeng, 2009 ** '' Pseudohynobius kuankuoshuiensis'' Xu and Zeng, 2007 ** '' Pseudohynobius puxiongensis'' (Fei and Ye, 2000) ** '' Pseudohynobius shuichengensis'' Tian, Gu, Li, Sun, and Li, 1998 * Genus '' Ranodon'' (Semirichensk salamanders) ** '' Ranodon sibiricus'' Kessler, 1866 * Genus '' Salamandrella'' (Siberian salamanders) **'' Salamandrella keyserlingii'' Dybowski, 1870 **'' Salamandrella tridactyla'' Nikolskii, 1905 Subfamily Onychodactylinae * Genus '' Onychodactylus'' (clawed salamanders) ** '' Onychodactylus fischeri'' (Boulenger, 1886) ** '' Onychodactylus fuscus'' Yoshikawa and Matsui, 2014 ** '' Onychodactylus intermedius'' Nishikawa and Matsui, 2014 ** '' Onychodactylus japonicus'' (Houttuyn, 1782) ** '' Onychodactylus kinneburi'' Yoshikawa, Matsui, Tanabe, and Okayama, 2013 ** '' Onychodactylus koreanus'' Min, Poyarkov, and Vieites, 2012 ** '' Onychodactylus nipponoborealis'' Kuro-o, Poyarkov, and Vieites, 2012 ** '' Onychodactylus tsukubaensis'' Yoshikawa and Matsui, 2013 ** '' Onychodactylus zhangyapingi'' Che, Poyarkov, and Yan, 2012 ** '' Onychodactylus zhaoermii'' Che, Poyarkov, and Yan, 2012 ** '' Onychodactylus sillanus'' Min, Borzée, and Poyarkov, 2022 ** '' Onychodactylus pyrrhonotus'' Yoshikawa et Matsui, 2022

References

External links

*
AmphibiaWeb: Hynobiidae

Tree of Life: Hynobiidaelivingunderworld.org
{{Authority control Taxa named by Edward Drinker Cope