Taiwan Lesser Salamander

Hynobius fucus is an endemic species of Taiwan, which is mainly distributed around the northwest mountain range, approximately an altitude of 1500 meters. It is one of Taiwan’s amphibian most recently discovered amphibians, as well having the lowest altitude habitat of all of Taiwan’s salamanders. Their main feature is that their body is covered in small blue and white dots. The cloaca is 5 cm and body length 8 cm (up to 10 cm). It only has 4 toes in the front and back limbs. Only the Taiwan Hynobius formosanus has the same number of toes as this species. The other types of salamander, including Hynobius arisanensis Maki, Hynobius sonani, and Hynobius glacialis have 5 toes in the hind limbs. This is the one of main methods to differentiate between types of salamander. Currently, the Hynobius fucus is listed as class 1 endangered species.