the japanese giant salamander

the giant salamanders, the largest living amphibians, belong to family cryptobranchoidea interesting name, isnt it. in spite of this giant salamanders are significantly less known by the large public than their analogous in reptiles world, the komodo dragons. the family cryptobranchoide has two genus with one cryptobabranchus alleganiensis respectively two species andrias davidianus, a. japonicus. a. japonicus is restricted to japan, a. davidianus in china while c. alleganiensis lives in north america. a. japonicus lives in the cold fast flowing mountain streams and smaller rivers of kyushu island and western honshu in japan. thirty million years old fossilized giant salamanders have been found in europe as well. the giant salamanders are considered true biological relicts. leading scientists admit that they did not evolve in the last 20-30 million years. for scientist these rather primitive salamanders are clues to the understanding o...