Some Reptiles and Amphibians From Korea

Part 1

Produced by Simon Gardner, Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

Transcriber's Notes

This Plain Text version has been prepared for Smooth Reading using the ASCII and Latin-1 character sets.

Italic typeface has been represented using underscores; Bold typeface has been represented using =equals symbols=; Small caps typeface has been represented using UPPER CASE.

Note that some unexpected spellings have not been changed from the original:

Page 155 onwards: "parotoid" appears for "parotid".

Page 172 (two references by Mori): "Quelpaert" appears for "Quelpart".

The following changes to the text have been made:

Page 159: changed "planyci" to "plancyi" (The most trenchant characters of plancyi seem to be ...)

Page 169: changed "juvenal" to "juvenile" (... does not conform to the juvenile pattern of either subspecies.)

* * * * *

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS PUBLICATIONS MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

Volume 15, No. 2, pp. 149-173

January 31, 1962

Some Reptiles and Amphibians from Korea

ROBERT G. WEBB, J. KNOX JONES, JR., AND GEORGE W. BYERS

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS LAWRENCE 1962

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS PUBLICATIONS, MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

Editors: E. Raymond Hall, Chairman, Henry S. Fitch, Theodore H. Eaton, Jr.

Volume 15, No. 2, pp. 149-173 Published January 31, 1962

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Lawrence, Kansas

PRINTED BY JEAN M. NEIBARGER, STATE PRINTER TOPEKA, KANSAS 1962

28-8517

Some Reptiles and Amphibians from Korea

ROBERT G. WEBB, J. KNOX JONES, JR., AND GEORGE W. BYERS

In 1954, two of us (Jones and Byers) collected reptiles and amphibians in Korea incidental to field studies relating to hemorrhagic fever. The 382 specimens thus obtained were deposited either in the Museum of Natural History of The University of Kansas (KU), or in the Museum of Zoology of the University of Michigan (UMMZ), and are the basis for the present report. Continuous American military operations of one sort or another in Korea since 1945 have afforded opportunities for interested persons to obtain there collections of amphibians and reptiles, the study of which has resulted in several recent publications (Babb, 1955; Dixon, 1956; Hahn, 1959 and 1960; Shannon, 1956 and 1957; Stewart, 1953 and 1954; Tanner, 1953; Walley, 1958a and 1958b). This paper, which contains comments on the natural history and taxonomy of 22 species, all previously reported from Korea, supplements earlier studies, especially Shannon's (1956) annotated list of the herpetofauna of the country.

Shannon (loc. cit.) recorded 36 kinds of reptiles and amphibians from Korea. Subsequently, Bufo stejnegeri (previously omitted) was added by Shannon (1957), Takydromus takydromoides oldi was described by Walley (1958a), and Takydromus kwangakuensis was relegated to synonymy under T. amurensis by Walley (1958b). Presently, then, 37 kinds are on record from the Korean Peninsula.

In the accounts beyond, Jones and Byers are mostly responsible for the remarks on natural history, whereas Webb is mostly responsible for the taxonomic comments. The synonymies include (1) the original description, which is followed by (2) the first use of the name-combination here employed if it differs from the name as originally proposed, and (3) any synonyms having type localities in Korea. All measurements are in millimeters and all dates refer to the year 1954 unless otherwise indicated. A gazetteer of localities mentioned in the text and a list of literature cited follow the accounts of species.

Part 2

We are grateful to the officers, enlisted men and civilians associated in 1954 with the Field Unit of the Commission on Hemorrhagic Fever, Armed Forces Epidemiological Board, who aided our efforts in Korea; we are especially mindful of the contributions of Dr. Albert A. Barber, Dr. Marshall Hertig, Mr. Louis J. Lipovsky and Dr. Warren D. Thomas. We are grateful also to Mr. Yoshinori Imaizumi, National Science Museum of Japan, for his translations of several papers in Japanese, and to Dr. Edward H. Taylor for making certain pertinent references available to us.

=Hynobius leechii= Boulenger

Hynobius Leechii Boulenger, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 5, 19:67, January, 1887 (type locality, Gensan [=Wonsan], Korea).

Hynobius leechii quelpaertensis Mori, Jour. Chosen Nat. Hist. Soc., 6:47 (Japanese) and 53 (English), March 25, 1928 (type locality, Quelpart Island [=Cheju Do], Korea).

Specimens examined (3).--1 mi. SW Inje, 1 (KU); 4 mi. NNE Sogwi-ri, Cheju Do, 2 (KU).

Description (KU 38774 from 1 mi. SW Inje).--Total length, 86 (head 13, body 40, tail 33); costal grooves (including axillary and inguinal), 13; two costal grooves between adpressed toes; length of inner branch of series of vomerine teeth less than distance between outer border of naris and peak of opposite series (tooth-rows V-shaped, approximately as long as broad); dorsal surface yellowish brown or buff (yellowish in life), having numerous blackish marks; venter yellowish cream, having an indistinct grayish mottling.

Remarks.--The salamander described above was found in a foxhole with another desiccated individual (not saved) on a military compound on April 24. The only other occurrence of H. leechii on the mainland to come to our attention was the report of several larvae that were seen in a small pool on a hillside near Chip´o-ri in the summer of 1953.

Each of the two specimens from Cheju Do (KU 38775-76) differs from KU 38774 in having (1) the length of inner branch of the vomerine series slightly greater than the distance between outer border of naris and peak of opposite series (tooth-rows V-shaped, longer than broad), (2) a dorsal and ventral keel on the tail, (3) one costal groove (rather than two costal grooves) between adpressed toes, and (4) in being darker both dorsally and ventrally. The area of buff on the dorsal surface of each specimen is reduced by a fine, blackish mottling and stippling, and the venter of each is grayish. Respective total lengths of KU 38775 and 38776 are 84 (head 12, body 36, tail 36) and 89 (12, 35, 42), and the number of costal grooves 13 and 14. Although the two specimens are of approximately the same size, the tail of KU 38776 is noticeably the longer; the tail of KU 38775 is thicker and deeper than that of KU 38776.

The two specimens from 4 mi. NNE Sogwi-ri were taken on September 9 in damp substrate under volcanic rocks along a little-used road; although many rocks were overturned, only these two individuals were found. A South Korean soldier informed us that salamanders were fairly common on Cheju Do.

Mori (1928a:16) first mentioned in Japanese text the alleged distinctiveness of the salamander occurring on Cheju Do. Later, Mori (1928b:47 in Japanese, and 1928c:53 in English) provided valid descriptions of the subspecies, Hynobius leechii quelpaertensis. Okada (1934:17) questioned the validity of H. l. quelpaertensis and Sato (1943) regarded the salamanders of Cheju Do as inseparable from the Korean H. leechii. The English description of quelpaertensis is briefer than the preceding one in Japanese and lacks comparisons with related forms. KU 38775-76 seemingly differ appreciably from the description of quelpaertensis only in having the series of vomerine teeth narrowly V-shaped and longer than broad. We tentatively follow Sato in regarding quelpaertensis as a synonym of leechii.

=Bombina orientalis= (Boulenger)

Bombinator orientalis Boulenger, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 6, 5:143, pl. IX, fig. 2, February, 1890 (type locality restricted to Chefoo, China, by Pope, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 61:435, August 29, 1931).

Bombina orientalis, Stejneger, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., 58:51, figs. 30-43, pl. VII (reproduction from Boulenger, supra), July 22, 1907.

Specimens examined (87).--2 mi. N Chip´o-ri, 8 (KU), 5 (UMMZ); 1 mi. SW Inje, 1 (KU); 15 mi. NE Mosulp´o, Cheju Do, 6 (KU); Sangdaehwa, 2 (KU); Taehoesan-ni, 1 (KU); 1 mi. W Tangjonggok, 32 (KU), 17 (UMMZ); Tangnim-ni, 2 (KU); 3 mi. SW Yanggu, 1 (KU); 2 mi. N Yongdae-ri, 8 (KU), 4 (UMMZ).

Remarks.--Most of our specimens were taken from breeding congresses after heavy rains in rice fields and other shallow temporary waters. Thirteen individuals from Chip´o-ri were collected from foxholes around the edge of a military compound (two pairs in amplexus; no egg masses seen), and represent a small sample of frogs that were everywhere following a heavy rain on the night of May 13-14. On April 23, 32 Bombina orientalis and three Rana temporaria dybowskii were trapped in the water-filled bottom of an unused grease pit near Tangjonggok. Many tadpoles and two kinds of egg masses (small clusters and beadlike strings) were present; the small clusters of Bombina were commonest. On June 13 at the same locality, thousands of these toads were observed (hundreds in axillary amplexus) in foxholes, temporary rain pools, and backwashes along the Puk-ch´on [river]. On June 12 near Yongdae-ri many individuals were seen (several pairs in amplexus), along Route 24 paralleling the Puk-ch´on, in rain pools and in ditches and backwashes from the river; almost all available water contained small (approximately 10 × 10 mm.) egg masses. Numbers of eggs per mass, selected at random, were 5, 2, 2, 5, 2, 8, 8, 2 and 5. Some that were saved subsequently hatched on June 15-17.

The call is a quiet low trill or series of staccato whistles rising slightly at the beginning; a short peeplike note also was heard. The specimens from Cheju Do, which are generally smaller than those collected on the mainland in spring, were taken on September 6 in a small stream that had large volcanic rocks in many places and that was flanked by thick brush and small trees. The earliest and latest dates on which B. orientalis was collected were April 21 and September 6, respectively.

Continue reading Some Reptiles and Amphibians From Korea free in the Wunder reader →