Major Breeding Habitat (Hasumi)

Major Breeding Habitat

A major breeding habitat of the salamander Hynobius hidamontanus, inhabiting Hokujo, Hakuba-mura, Nagano Prefecture, Japan (surveyed on 3 May 2004). This habitat was a wetland with several slower-flowing streams formed by emanant water from the slope of the mountain (water temperatures of 6-14 C; also see another population).

(A) Gross appearance of this wetland. Of H. hidamontanus, 1 breeding male and 1 spent female were found in the water; 1 spent female, near the edge of the water; 3 spent females, 3 subadults, and 1 juvenile, under decaying logs on ground; and 69.5 pairs of egg sacs, including embryos between the 2-cell stage and the neural-fold stage, under decaying logs and twigs or among decaying leaves in the water. Among these 69.5 pairs, about half of 1 egg sac was composed of unfertilized eggs. There was 1 juvenile of the frog Rana ornativentris under a decaying log in the water.

(B) An oviposition site having 17 pairs of egg sacs of H. hidamontanus under a decaying log in the water. Many of the following collaborators assembled themselves in this site.

Accompanied Research Collaborators (alphabetical order every organization): Yoko Arai, Yoko Iwata, Kazuko Uenami, and Yoko Yamauchi (Association for the Conservation of Hynobius tokyoensis inhabiting Hillsides); Yoshiteru Harada (free lance); Masaichi Kakegawa (Yashio Senior High School); and Fujio Kishi, Akiko Nakayama, and Yuko Saikawa (Shirouma Association of Naturalists).