Museum London

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Giant salamander: Not a species, but three

A newly discovered amphibian is perhaps the largest on The Planet , according to DNA from museum specimens.

Reach almost two meters in length, in The South of China, the giant Salamander is critically in danger of extinction the railway is threatened in The Wild .

scientists say that renewed efforts need to be if The Animal saved from extinction.

the harvest for the luxury food trade led to a collapse in numbers in China.

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

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

Prof Samuel Turvey of ZSL (Zoological Society of London), said The Decline in numbers in The Wild have been "catastrophic".

The specimen in London's Natural History Museum goes back to the 1920s

"We hope that this new understanding of their species diversity arrived In Time to support their successful conservation, but measures are urgently needed to protect viable giant salamander populations, which may still," he said.

the Co-researchers, Melissa Marr , of the Natural History Museum in London, said, action must be taken, that the preservation of the genetic integrity of each of the different types. to save

"These results come at a time where urgent interventions are required, Chinese giant Salamander in The Wild ," She Said .

What is the Chinese giant Salamander is?

giant salamanders were once a large area of Central, Eastern, and southern China.

Over-exploitation has increased in the last decades, the supply of domestic luxury food market.

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

What has the research? to consider

scientists, museum specimens, the genetic history of the Chinese giant Salamander, a tree so old that The Animal is regarded as a "living fossil".

the idea that The South -the Chinese giant Salamander was a species of my own was first suggested in the 1920s, then abandoned, based on an unusual animal that was kept in the London Zoo .

The Team used the same animal, which is now preserved as a specimen in the Natural History Museum, for the Definition of the characteristics of the new species.

The research is published in the journal.

to follow Helen.

animals, endangered species, genetics, fossils, conservation, amphibians, zoological society of london

Source of news: bbc.com