Hynobius in Taiwan

[numpty]

Hi there,

At the moment I'm living in Taiwan, home to (at least) five endemic species of salamander - all Hynobius. I just thought I'd share a few photos of the species I've been lucky enough to observe over the past two years. Actually, only three, but all Taiwan's salamanders are vulnerable, with very localised and fragmented populations, so I feel lucky to have seen what I have. (Taiwan also has the southermost distribution of Hynobiidae in the world, though because of a difference of classification and naming, the Taiwanese sometimes state it has the southernmost distribution of salamander in the world).

First up, Hynobius sonani, which lives around 3,000m above sea level among the HeHuan Mountains in the centre of the island. I came up here in mid-2012 to rummage around and see what I could find, but decided to stop off at the Endemic Species Research Institute station, where I was fortunate to meet some biologists who'd been collecting species for study. I snapped a few photos (the salamanders on the mossy rock) before they returned them, but also got some more specific directions to where they could be found in the field (the individuals in the litter). Beautiful animals, done no justice whatsoever by my point-and-shoot happy snaps.

General location

Next, the Guanwu salamander, a.k.a. Taiwan lesser salamander, Hynobius fuca. Until recently this was considered a population of H. formosanus, but was elevated to a distinct species in 2008. I saw this species while visiting the northwestern corner of SheiPa National Park in early 2013, at about 2,000 m asl. Again, I was lucky enough to be there while some visiting zoologists were releasing individuals they'd collected earlier for measuring. Lucky, because I don't know how much success I would have had on my own. Rubbish pictures though, not making it very clear what's soil and what's salamander.

General location

Habitat

The most recent salamander I've seen, the Alishan salamander, Hynobius arisanensis. The most common species, but occurring in areas with relatively high pressure from development and tourism infrastructure. I was lucky to see this guy, as I had no specific directions, and was just rummaging around YuShan National Park at about 2,500 m asl investigating likely-looking rocks and logs.

General location

Habitat

I'll update with any further species or photos I manage to get. I hope to make a trip to look for Hynobius formosanus some time soon, though I doubt I'll be able to see the very remote and high-altitude Hynobius glacialis.

 

[matias]

Taiwan is such a beautiful country!

 

[evut]

Thank you posting. They are fantastic looking animals. It must be great to be able to visit such spectacular places. The pictures are a lot less rubbish than you think by the way.

 

[Azhael]

Thank you! It is so rare to see anything hynobiid related, let alone field experiences!

The cryptic colouration of H.sonani really does work with the background of the forth picture. That´s mostly pine and bamboo, right?

PS: you might want to consider being less specific with the locations. I don´t know that you are being too precise, but it is always a good idea to be vague...it protects the populations.

 

[numpty]

Hi, and thanks!

They are fantastic looking animals. It must be great to be able to visit such spectacular places. The pictures are a lot less rubbish than you think by the way.

Thanks! They are nice animals, especially the H. sonani (in my opinion). It is nice to be able to get out into some beautiful mountains, though even on this small island, most of the salamander spots take quite a bit of time and effort to reach ... I'd be there every weekend if they were easier to get to, believe me!

The cryptic colouration of H.sonani really does work with the background of the forth picture. That´s mostly pine and bamboo, right?

PS: you might want to consider being less specific with the locations. I don´t know that you are being too precise, but it is always a good idea to be vague...it protects the populations.

Indeed it is mostly pine and bamboo. Or conifer and bamboo, anyway ... I can't remember which species exactly; hemlock, spruce, juniper, etc ... I'm no expert! Yushan cane for the bamboo, I think.

I don't think anyone would be able to identify locations from my fuzzy directions, and I made sure the location photos are general and a fair distance from where I found the salamanders, but your point is well-taken; I'll keep it vague for all protected species. It's a shame there are people out there who make the need for such caution necessary!

By the way, in Internet Explorer my last H. fuca shot is weirdly squashed, at least on my computer. The original dimensions are fine in Firefox, Chrome and Safari, but it looks like the pic has been squeezed to conform to default dimensions or something. Also, is there a way to edit posts after submitting? I'd play around with the pic if I could.

 

[FrogEyes]

Great to see both animals and habitats which we rarely hear about.

I wouldn't worry about the locality info. The species descriptions for the newer species likely contain much more specific data, and national parks are generally very large places. Those who need 'locality data' to find things already know what country, state, or park to look in - what they NEED is data which allows them to identify known habitats to within a few meters, not kilometers!