A Genetic Study of a Newly Found Population of Siberian Salamander, Salamandrella keyserlingii (Amphibia, Caudata)

We sequenced mitochondrial cytochrome b gene of 14 samples of Siberian salamander, Salamandrella keyserlingii, from a population newly found in Kamishihoro-cho, eastern Hokkaido, Japan, and conducted phylogenetic analysis to reveal genetic identity of the population. The Kamishihoro population was most closely related to the geographically adjacent Kushiro population from Hokkaido, but possessed a single, unique haplotype. This result indicates that the Kamishihoro population is not an introduced, but a native population. Salamandrella keyserlingii is thought to have been once widespread throughout Sakhalin to Hokkaido, but the range was greatly narrowed subsequently in Hokkaido, with the divergence of the Kamishihoro and Kushiro populations at 0.34 MYBP, Middle Pleistocene.