The Abe's salamander (''Hynobius abei'') is a species of salamander in the family Hynobiidae. It is endemic to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and known from southwestern Honshu in northern parts of the Fukui, Kyoto, and

Hyōgo Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Hyōgo Prefecture has a population of 5,469,762 () and has a geographic area of . Hyōgo Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the east, Osaka Prefecture to the southeast, an ...

s. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

''abei'' honours professor

Yoshio Abe , from Yamagata Prefecture, was a professor of zoology at which was amalgamated into Hiroshima University by the enactment of National School Establishment Law and the above-mentioned Hiroshima University after the amalgamation. He, graduate fro ...

, a Japanese zoologist.

Description

Adults measure in snout–vent length and in total length. The trunk is stocky, and the limbs are relatively short. There are 11–13 costal grooves. The tail is thick at the base and laterally compressed towards the tip. Dorsal colouration is reddish brown to dark brown. There are small pale spots on the flanks and the limbs. During the breeding season, the tail becomes very high and compressed in males. Their s also swell, making the head to appear somewhat triangular.

Reproduction

Reproduction starts in November–December, at the time of the snowfall. Females lay paired egg sacs containing 26 to 109 in total. The egg sacs are laid under leaves at the bottom of breeding ponds. Larval development is slow in winter but accelerates after the snow melt.

Metamorphosis Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops including birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and differentiation. Some inse ...

occurs typically in June–July, but some individuals may metamorphose later and even overwinter as larvae.

Habitat and conservation

Abe's salamander occurs in secondary broad-leaved evergreen and deciduous forests and in bamboo forests. Breeding takes place in pools, ditches, and springs in shaded parts of forests. All populations are small and susceptible to habitat loss (e.g., one population was destroyed by construction of a road).

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2382691 Hynobius Endemic amphibians of Japan Amphibians described in 1934 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by Ikio Satō