Andrias Tschudi, 1837
Proteocordylus Eichwald, 1831, Zool. Special.: 165. Type species: "P. diluvii, Cuv." (= Homo diluvii testis Scheuchzer). Fossil taxon. Nomen oblitum. Synonymy by implication of Lydekker, 1890, Cat. Fossil Rept. Amph. Brit. Mus. (Nat. Hist.), Pt. 4: 137.
Andrias Tschudi, 1837, Neues Jahrb. Mineral. Geogn. Geol. Petrefactenkunde, Stuttgart, 5: 545. Type species: Salamandra scheuchzeri Holl, 1831 (a fossil species), by monotypy.
Megalobatrachus Tschudi, 1837, Neues Jahrb. Mineral. Geogn. Geol. Petrefactenkunde, Stuttgart, 5: 547. Type species: Megalobatrachus sieboldi Tschudi, 1837, by monotypy. Synonymy with Andrias by Stejneger, 1907, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 58: 4.
Sieboldia Gray, 1838, Ann. Nat. Hist., London, 1: 413. Type species: Not stated. Synonymy (with Megalobatrachus) by Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Grad. Batr. Apoda Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 77. Synonymy by Stejneger, 1907, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 58: 4.
Sieboldtia — Agassiz, 1838, Anhang, In Tschudi’s Classif. Batr.: first of two unnumbered pages. Typographic error.
Hydrosalamandra Leuckart, 1840, Froriep’s Neue Notizen, 13: 20. Type species: Megalobatrachus sieboldi Tschudi, 1837, by original designation and monotypy. Synonymy with Andrias by Stejneger, 1907, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 58: 4.
Tritogenius Gistel, 1848, Naturgesch. Thierr.: xi. Substitute name for Andrias Tschudi, 1837.
Tritomegas Duméril, Bibron, and Duméril, 1854, Erp. Gen., 9: 163. Type species: Megalobatrachus sieboldi Tschudi, 1837, by monotype. Synonymy (with Megalobatrachus) by Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Grad. Batr. Apoda Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 77. Synonymy with Andrias by Stejneger, 1907, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 58: 4.
Megalobranchus — Van der Hoeven, 1855, Handb. Dierkd., Ed. 2, 2: 464. Incorrect subsequent spelling of Megabatrachus.
Sieboldiana — Ishikawa, 1904, Proc. Dept. Nat. Hist. Tokyo Imp. Mus., 1: 21. Incorrect subsequent spelling.
Plicagnathus Cook, 1917, Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., 28: 213. Type species: Plicagnathus matthewi Cook, 1917, by monotypy. Synonymy with Andrias by Meszoely, 1966, Am. Midl. Nat., 75: 495-515.
English Names
Giant Salamanders (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 27).
Asiatic Giant Salamanders (Vitt and Caldwell, 2009, Herpetology, 3rd Ed.: 422).
Distribution
Japan and western China.
Comment
On the basis of stratigraphic evidence Naylor, 1981, Copeia, 1981: 76-86, suggested that Andrias, is paraphyletic with respect to, and a synonym of Cryptobranchus. Evidence for paraphyly of Andrias was also suggested by Morescalchi, Odierna, and Olmo, 1977, Experientia, 33: 1579-1581. Estes, 1981, Handb. Palaeoherpetol., 2: 14, discussed reasons for retaining two genera, none of which rejected the paraphyly of Andrias although this arrangement was subsequently followed by most authors. Frost, Grant, Faivovich, Bain, Haas, Haddad, de Sá, Channing, Wilkinson, Donnellan, Raxworthy, Campbell, Blotto, Moler, Drewes, Nussbaum, Lynch, Green, and Wheeler, 2006, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 297: 115, presented molecular evidence for the monophyly of Andrias. See accounts by Freytag, 1943, Bl. Aquar. Terrarienkd., Stuttgart, 1943: 88-90; Thorn, 1968, Salamand. Eur. Asie Afr. Nord: 105-111; and Thorn and Raffaëlli, 2000, Salamand. Ancien Monde: 141-149. Westphal, 1958, Palaeontographica, Abt. A,, 110: 20-92, regarded Andrias japonicus and Andrias davidiana as subspecies, and descendants of Andrias scheuchzeri, a fossil species. Estes, 1981, Handb. Palaeoherpetol., 2: 14, considered Andrias davidianus as a synonym of Andrias scheuchzeri and Andrias japonicus as a distinct species. Almost without exception, and without any discussion of phylogenetic evidence, the neontological community continues to treat Andrias davidianus as distinct from Andrias scheuchzeri, even though they cannot be mutually diagnosed osteologically. Matsui, 2001, Bull. Herpetol. Soc. Japan, 2001: 75-78, discussed the nomenclatural history of the generic names applied to this taxon. Kuzmin and Maslova, 2003, Adv. Amph. Res. Former Soviet Union, 8: 344, noted the possible occurrence of this taxon in the vicinity of Vladivostok, Far East Russia. Pyron and Wiens, 2011, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 61: 543-583 (see comment in Amphibia record) provided as part of a larger analysis a tree that confirmed the monophyly of Andrias with respect to Cryptobranchus as did Chen, Wang, Liu, Xie, and Jiang, 2011, Curr. Zool., Chengdu, 57: 785805, on the basis of a tree of 11 protein-coding mtDNA genes.
Contained taxa
External Links
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