Wetland, Extinct Population? (Hasumi)

Wetland (Extinct Population?)

A wetland having several branched rapid streams (water temperature = 13.0 C, pH = 7.2) in Hokujo, Hakuba-mura, Nagano Prefecture, Japan (photographed on 29 April 2005). I felt the streams were just like those for breeding of the salamander Hynobius lichenatus. Note the dominance of Lysichiton camtschatcense along with a stream through the wetland that was covered with much remaining snow.

At the time of examination, only 1 egg clump of the frog Rana ornativentris was found in an inundated site on land at the side of a stream. The egg clump got out of shape and included embryos of the morula stage. We could not discover any individuals or egg sacs of the salamander Hynobius hidamontanus, although we searched for them everywhere such as under logs and among decaying leaves above ground on land or in backwaters of the streams within the wetland. Since the present species had actually dwelled in the wetland until 1992 when 15 adult males and females were observed, this population may have become extinct.

Accompanied Research Collaborators (alphabetical order): Masaichi Kakegawa (Tokyo Metropolitan Komatsugawa Senior High School), and Fujio Kishi and Yuko Saikawa (Shirouma Association of Naturalists).