Onychodactylus japonicus (Houttuyn, 1782)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Caudata > Family: Hynobiidae > Subfamily: Onychodactylinae > Genus: Onychodactylus > Species: Onychodactylus japonicus

Salamandra japonica Houttuyn, 1782, Verh. Zeeuwsch. Genootsch. Wetensch. Vlissingen, 9: 329. Type(s): Including animal in figure 3 of the original publication; not now known to exist, possibly in ZIUU, ZMA, and RMNH. Type locality: given as "Japan" but according to Brame and Gorham, 1972, Checklist Living & Fossil Salamand. World (Unpubl. MS): 19, and Poyarkov, Che, Min, Kuro-o, Yan, Li, Iizuka, and Vieites, 2012, Zootaxa, 3465: 40, evidently the "Fakoneberget" (mountains of Hakone, Izu Province, Honshu I., Japan).

Lacerta japonica — Thunberg, 1787, K. Svensk. Vetensk. Akad. Handl., 8: 124.

Lacerta thunbergii Donndorff, 1798, Zool. Beitr., Amph. Fische: 132. Substitute name for Lacerta japonica Thunberg, 1787.

Salamandra japonicus — Schneider, 1799, Hist. Amph. Nat.: 73.

Molge striata Merrem, 1820, Tent. Syst. Amph.: 185. Substitute name for Salamandra japonica Houttuyn, 1782 and Lacerta japonica Thunberg, 1787.

Salamandra unguiculata Temminck and Schlegel, 1838, Fauna Japonica, 3: 123, 129. Syntypes: Not stated, but clearly including animals figured on pl. 5, figs. 1-6 of the original publication. RMNH 2289 (20 adults; damaged pharmaceutical specimens); 2290 (8 adults); 2291 (7 larvae), 2292 (4 adults), and 18560 (skeleton) (according to Hoogmoed, 1978, Zool. Meded., Leiden, 53: 97), MCZ 21320 (on exchange from RMNH, according to Barbour and Loveridge, 1946, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 96: 188), MNHNP 4692 (according to Thireau, 1986, Cat. Types Urodeles Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat., Rev. Crit.: 79), and BMNH 1838.I.3.1.1 by museum records. RMNH 2292A designated lectotype by Hoogmoed, 1978, Zool. Meded., Leiden, 53: 97. See comments by Thireau, 1986, Cat. Types Urodeles Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat., Rev. Crit.: 67-68, 78-79. Type localities: "les contrées montueuses des îles Nippon (= Honshu) et Sikok [= Shikoku], particulièrement dans les provinces Sagami, Sinano, Tanba, Tazima et Tosa, situées entre les 33 et 36 degrés de latitude boreale", Japan. Synonymy by Gray, 1850, Cat. Spec. Amph. Coll. Brit. Mus., Batr. Grad.: 33; Duméril, Bibron, and Duméril, 1854, Erp. Gen., 9: 114; Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Grad. Batr. Apoda Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 35.

Onychodactylus schlegeli Tschudi, 1838, Classif. Batr.: 92. Substitute name for Salamandra unguiculata Schlegel, 1838.

Onychodactylus japonicus — Bonaparte, 1839, Iconograph. Fauna Ital., 2 (Fasc. 26): unpaged.

Onychodactylus schlegeli — Duméril and Bibron, 1841, Erp. Gen., 6: 114.

Onychodactylus japonicus — Gray, 1850, Cat. Spec. Amph. Coll. Brit. Mus., Batr. Grad.: 33; Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Grad. Batr. Apoda Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 35.

Salamandra (Onychodactylus) unguiculata — Schlegel, 1858, Handl. Dierkd., 2: 60.

Onychodactylus (Onychodactylus) japonicus — Dubois and Raffaëlli, 2012, Alytes, 28: 77-161.

Common Names

Japanese Salamander (Wood, 1863, Illust. Nat. Hist., 3: 182).

Japanese Clawed Salamander (Ananjeva, Borkin, Darevsky, and Orlov, 1988, Dict. Amph. Rept. Five Languages: 21; Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 28; Kuzmin, 1995, Clawed Salamanders of Asia (genus Onychodactylus): 3; Goris and Maeda, 2004, Guide Amph. Rept. Japan: 36).

Japanese Clawed (Lungless) Salamander (Poyarkov, Che, Min, Kuro-o, Yan, Li, Iizuka, and Vieites, 2012, Zootaxa, 3465: 37).

Central Japanese Clawed Salamander (Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 30).

Distribution

Mountains of the southern two-thirds of Honshu, southwest of a line roughly from Kitakata-shi (Fukushima Prefecture) to Daigo-machi (Ibaraki Prefecture), Japan.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Japan

Endemic: Japan

Comment

See Nakamura and Ueno, 1963, Japan. Rept. Amph. Color: 14–15, for discussion. Kuzmin, 1995, Clawed Salamanders of Asia (genus Onychodactylus): 13–56, provided an extensive account (in the sense of including Onychodactylus nipponborealis). Goris and Maeda, 2004, Guide Amph. Rept. Japan: 36–38, provided an account (in the sense of including Onychodactylus nipponborealis), map, and photograph. Yoshikawa, Matsui, Nishikawa, Kim, and Kryukov, 2008, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 49: 249–259, presented molecular data that suggests that this nominal taxon is composed of several cryptic species. Yoshikawa, Matsui, Nishikawa, Misawa, and Tanabe, 2010, Zool. Sci., Tokyo, 27: 33–40, reported on allozymic variation among populations and found that two of the genetically diagnosable groups exist in sympatry with limited hybridization in Hiroshima Prefecture of southern Honshu. One of the two populations these authors referred to as "Shikoku" is a distinct species from the remainder of Onychodactylus japonicus (which may be composed of cryptic species), and which was subsequently named as Onychodactylus intermedius. Yoshikawa, Matsui, and Nishikawa, 2010, Zool. Sci., Tokyo, 27: 344–355, provided additional molecular data and concurred with the specific distinction between the two populations, without providing a taxonomic remedy for the situation. Yoshikawa, Matsui, and Nishikawa, 2012, Zool. Sci., Tokyo, 29: 229–237, provided allozyme evidence for the existence of several cryptic and unnamed species on Honshu, Japan (of which one was subsequently named as Onychodactylus fuscus). Poyarkov, Che, Min, Kuro-o, Yan, Li, Iizuka, and Vieites, 2012, Zootaxa, 3465: 1–106, placed this species in their Onychodactylus japonicus group, redelimited the species (referring to it as a species complex) by naming Onychodactylus nipponoborealis (not the "Shikoku" species of other authors), and provided a detailed account. Onychodactylus tsukubaensis is the Onychodactylus japonicus subclade II-B of Yoshikawa, Matsui, Nishikawa, Kim, and Kryukov, 2008, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 49: 249–259. Yoshikawa, Matsui, Tanabe, and Okayama, 2013, Zootaxa, 3693: 441–464, redelimited the range of the species by the recognition of Onychodactylus kinneburi and two unnamed species. : 53–78, redelimited the diagnosis and range of Onychodactylus japonicus and partitioned out Onychodactylus fuscus and Onychodactylus intermedius.  Raffaëlli, 2013, Urodeles du Monde, 2nd ed.: 48, provided a brief account, photo, and range map. Sparreboom, 2014, Salamanders Old World: 109–113, reviewed the biology, characteristics, distribution, reproduction, and conservation of the species. Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 30–32, provided a detailed account, covering systematics, life history, distribution (including a polygon map), and conservation status.  

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