| Chinese giant salamander | |
|---|---|
| |
| Chinese giant salamander at Prague Zoo | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Amphibia |
| Order: | Urodela |
| Family: | Cryptobranchidae |
| Genus: | Andrias |
| Species: | A. davidianus
|
| Binomial name | |
| Andrias davidianus (Blanchard, 1871)
| |
| |
| Approximate distribution
Species range
| |
| Synonyms | |
|
Megalobatrachus davidianus (Reviewed by Liu, 1950)[3] | |
| Chinese giant salamander | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 大鯢 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 大鲵 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||
| Alternative Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 娃娃魚 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 娃娃鱼 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | "baby fish" | ||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||
The Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus) is one of the largest salamanders and one of the largest amphibians in the world.[4] 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.[4][5][6] 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.[7] It has been listed as one of the top-10 "focal species" in 2008 by the Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered project.
The Chinese giant salamander is considered to be a "living fossil".[8] Although protected under Chinese law and CITES Appendix I,[1] the wild population has declined by more than an estimated 80% since the 1950s.[9] Although traditionally recognized as one of two living species of Andrias salamander in Asia, the other being the Japanese giant salamander, evidence indicates that the Chinese giant salamander may be composed of at least five cryptic species, further compounding each individual species' endangerment.[10]
- ^ a b IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group (2023). "Andrias davidianus". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2023. IUCN: e.T179010104A48438418. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2023-1.RLTS.T179010104A48438418.en.
- ^ "Appendices | CITES". cites.org. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ^ "Amphibian Species of the World – Andrias davidianus (Blanchard, 1871)". Research.amnh.org. Archived from the original on 2007-07-13. Retrieved 2010-02-04.
- ^ a b Andrias davidianus -Amphibiaweb
- ^ Nishikawa, Kanto; Matsui, Masafumi; Yoshikawa, Natsuhiko; Tominaga, Atsushi; Eto, Koshiro; Fukuyama, Ibuki; Fukutani, Kazumi; Matsubara, Kohei; Hattori, Yasunari; Iwato, Shohei; Sato, Tsukasa; Shimizu, Zenkichi; Onuma, Hirokazu; Hara, Sotaro (2024-01-31). "Discovery of ex situ individuals of Andrias sligoi, an extremely endangered species and one of the largest amphibians worldwide". Scientific Reports. 14 (1): 2575. Bibcode:2024NatSR..14.2575N. doi:10.1038/s41598-024-52907-6. hdl:2433/286948. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 10831114. PMID 38297026.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
AmpRep2014was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
Cunningham2016was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "The Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus)". Chinese Giant Salamander Conservation.
- ^ "Creating a Future for Wild Chinese Salamanders". Save Our Species. Archived from the original on 2014-08-06. Retrieved 2016-07-08.
- ^ Yan, Fang; Lü, Jingcai; Zhang, Baolin; Yuan, Zhiyong; Zhao, Haipeng; Huang, Song; Wei, Gang; Mi, Xue; Zou, Dahu (2018). "The Chinese giant salamander exemplifies the hidden extinction of cryptic species". Current Biology. 28 (10): R590–R592. Bibcode:2018CBio...28.R590Y. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2018.04.004. ISSN 0960-9822. PMID 29787716.