Andrias cheni
Andrias cheni Xu, Gong, Li, Jiang, Huang & Huang, 2023
The Qimen giant salamander (Andrias cheni) is a species of giant salamander in the family Cryptobranchidae. It is endemic to Anhui Province, China, where it inhabits streams and caves in the Huangshan Mountains. The species name honors Pihui Chen, a herpetologist at Anhui Normal University. The common name references its type locality in Qimen County.
As with all other Chinese species of the genus Andrias, it was formerly lumped into Andrias davidianus, but its heavy genetic divergence from other members of the genus was known as early as 2001. It was also identified as a distinct lineage in a 2018 study by Yan et al., who identified at least seven highly endangered cryptic lineages, none of which were known to have wild populations and all of which are affected by extensive hybridization in captivity. One such lineage was "Clade E", identified from wild specimens caught before 1995 from the Huangshan Mountains. "Clade E" was confirmed as representing a distinct, undescribed species in a study the following year, and was finally described as such in 2023.
Where it has been recorded
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
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In the stacks
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Every page naming Andrias cheni in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
From the Catalogue of Life (catalogueoflife.org), compiled from its specialist databases; CC BY 4.0. This name in the Catalogue of Life.