Hynobius stejnegeri Dunn, 1923

Class: Amphibia > Order: Caudata > Family: Hynobiidae > Subfamily: Hynobiinae > Genus: Hynobius > Species: Hynobius stejnegeri

Hynobius stejnegeri Dunn, 1923, Proc. California Acad. Sci., Ser. 4, 12: 28. Holotype: USNM 23901, by original designation. Type locality: "Kumamoto, Higo Province, Kyushu [Island]", Japan. See comment. 

Hynobius naevius stejnegeri — Mori, 1928, Chosen Nat. Hist. Soc. J., 6: 2.

Hynobius naevius yatsui Oyama, 1947, Zool. Mag., Tokyo, 57: 106. Syntype(s): Not designated, although Tominaga and Matsui, 2008, Zool. Sci., Tokyo, 25: 111, discussed the syntypes and designated KUM Hy61A as lectotype. Type locality: Aso [region], Kumamoto Prefecture, central Kyushu, Japan. Synonymy by Matsui, Nishikawa, and Tominaga, 2017, Zool. Sci., Tokyo, 34: 538. 

Seudosalamandra stejnegeri — Tago, 1929, Zool. Mag., Tokyo, 41: 431. Incorrect subsequent spelling of the generic name

Pseudosalamandra stejnegeri — Tago, 1931, Imori to Sanshio-uo: 189.

Hynobius stejnegeri — Sato, 1937, Bull. Biogeogr. Soc. Japan, 7: 40.

Hynobius (Hynobius) stejnegeri — Nakamura and Ueno, 1963, Japan. Rept. Amph. Color: 12; Dubois and Raffaëlli, 2012, Alytes, 28: 77-161.

Hynobius naevius yatsui — Tominaga and Matsui, 2008, Zool. Sci., Tokyo, 25: 107.

Hynobius (Makihynobius) stejnegeri —  Fei, Ye, and Jiang, 2012, Colored Atlas Chinese Amph. Distr.: 593. 

Hynobius (Hynobius) yatsui — Dubois and Raffaëlli, 2012, Alytes, 28: 77-161. 

English Names

Amber-coloured Salamander (Sparreboom, 2014, Salamanders Old World: 91).

Aso Salamander (Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 109).

Distribution

Higher elevations of Kyushu I., Japan. See comment. 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Japan

Endemic: Japan

Comment

See comment under Hynobius naevius, with which this species was long confused. Tominaga and Matsui, 2007, Zool. Sci., Tokyo, 24: 940–944, noted that this name may apply to a cryptic species but this remained unevaluated until 2019 (see below). Tominaga and Matsui, 2008, Zool. Sci., Tokyo, 25: 107–114, provided an extended discussion of this taxon, its type locality, and redescribed the lectotype. Sakamoto, Tominaga, Matsui, Sakata, and Uchino, 2009, Zool. Sci., Tokyo, 26: 35–47, reported on molecular phylogeography on Kyushu. Zheng, Peng, Murphy, Kuro-o, Hu, Hu, and Zeng, 2012, Asian Herpetol. Res., Ser. 2, 3: 288–302, reported on mtDNA evidence for cryptic species diversity. Raffaëlli, 2013, Urodeles du Monde, 2nd ed.: 72, provided a brief account, photo, and map. Sparreboom, 2014, Salamanders Old World: 91–92, reviewed the biology, characteristics, distribution, reproduction, and conservation of the species (and on pp. 98–99 as Hynobius yatsui).  Matsui, Nishikawa, and Tominaga, 2017, Zool. Sci., Tokyo, 34: 538–545, showed that the holotype of Hynobius stejnegeri, applied to another species (now Hynobius ikioi), was the senior name for this species. This makes for some confusion, but not insurmountable. Tominaga, Matsui, Tanabe, and Nishikawa, 2019, Zootaxa, 4651: 401–433, revised the species, recognizing three additional species (Hynobius guttatus, Hynobius tsurugiensis, and Hynobius kuishiensis) from within the range of the former, larger, Hynobius stejnegeri. Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 109–112, provided an account, summarizing systematics, life history, population status, and distribution (including a polygon map).

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