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biggest amphibian :: Article Creator

World's Biggest Amphibian 'discovered' In Museum

Giant salamander: Not one species but three

A newly-identified amphibian is possibly the largest on the planet, according to DNA from museum specimens.

Reaching nearly two metres in length, the South China giant salamander is critically endangered in the wild.

Scientists say renewed conservation efforts are needed if the animal is to be saved from extinction.

Harvesting for the luxury food trade has led to a collapse in numbers across China.

Previously considered a single species, analysis of specimens, living and dead, suggests there are in fact three species found in different parts of China.

The South China salamander is the largest of the three, which researchers suspect it is the largest amphibian alive today.

Prof Samuel Turvey of ZSL (Zoological Society of London) said the decline of numbers in the wild has been "catastrophic".

The specimen at London's Natural History Museum dates back to the 1920s

"We hope that this new understanding of their species diversity has arrived in time to support their successful conservation, but urgent measures are required to protect any viable giant salamander populations that might remain," he said.

Co-researcher, Melissa Marr, of the Natural History Museum London, said measures must be put in place that preserve the genetic integrity of each distinct species.

"These findings come at a time where urgent interventions are required to save Chinese giant salamanders in the wild," she said.

What is the Chinese giant salamander?

Giant salamanders were once found across a large area of central, eastern, and southern China.

Over-exploitation has increased in recent decades, to supply a domestic luxury food market.

A large‐scale farming industry has developed, which may threaten wild populations through poaching and spread of infectious diseases.

What did the research find?

Scientists used museum specimens to look at the genetic history of the Chinese giant salamander, a family tree so ancient that the animal is regarded as a "living fossil".

The idea that the South China giant salamander was a separate species was first proposed in the 1920s, then abandoned, based on an unusual animal that was kept at London Zoo.

The team used the same animal, which is now preserved as a specimen in the Natural History Museum, to define the characteristics of the new species.


AERONAUTICS: Biggest Amphibians

TIME

November 10, 1930 12:00 AM GMT-5

In Bridgeport, Conn, last week Sikorsky Aviation Corp. Revealed to newsmen the nearly completed hulls of two 40-passenger amphibians being built for Central and South American routes of Pan American Airways, Inc. The planes will be the largest amphibians in the world, the only larger heavier-than-air craft being the Dornier DO-X and the Junkers G-38.

Devil Frog

Scientific Name: Beelzebufo ampinga Type: Prehistoric Animals

Beelzebufo ampinga, the so-called "devil frog," may be the largest frog that ever lived. These beach-ball-size amphibians, now extinct, grew to 16 inches (41 centimeters) in length and weighed about 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms). They inhabited the island of Madagascar during the Late Cretaceous, about 65 to 70 million years ago.

These largely terrestrial frogs may have been as ill-tempered and aggressive as their living relatives, the ceratophyrines of South America, scientists say. Ceratophyrines are nasty sit-and-wait predators that are eager to snap at just about anything that happens by, experts note. The ancient devil frogs may have snatched lizards, small vertebrates, and possibly even hatchling dinosaurs with their huge mouths and powerful jaws.

Scientists announced Beelzebufo in February 2008 more than a decade after the first bits of fossilized remains from the species were found. Its name is derived from Beelzebub, Greek for "devil," and bufo, Latin for toad. Ampinga means "armored," describing the prominent cranial shield the species had on its head.

The presence of Beelzebufo on Madagascar poses an important question for biogeographers: How is it that the modern relatives of this gigantic frog are only found halfway around the world in South America?

Most scientists think Madagascar separated from Africa about 160 million years ago during the breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana, then broke free from India and became an isolated island some 88 million years ago. But Beelzebufo and other Madagascan fossils with South American characteristics suggests a land connection between South America, Madagascar, and possibly Antarctica may have existed as late as 65 to 70 million years ago.





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