Zhang Yaping, Vizepräsident der Chinesischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, spricht bei einer Pressekonferenz zur Studie über riesensalamander Arten in Kunming City
Zhang Yaping, Vice-President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, speaks at a press conference on the study on giant salamander species in Kunming city, southwest China's Yunnan province, 21 May 2018. Five giant salamander species have been identified in China but they are all facing the imminent threat of extinction. It has been discovered that the world's largest amphibians, which weigh in at more than 60kg, are not one species but at least five. Research published in the journal Current Biology suggests Chinese giant salamanders represent distinct species despite their similar appearances. This is because the salamanders inhabit three primary rivers in China, and given they cannot move across the land, salamanders living in different river systems have had the opportunity to diverge over time into what should now be recognised as distinct species ¨C a theory that is supported by genetic evidence. "We were not surprised to discover more than one species, as an earlier study suggested, but the extent of diversity - perhaps up to eight species - uncovered by the analyses sat us back in our chairs, " said Che Jing from the Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. "This was not expected."
