环渤海地区分布存疑物种
鉴于大鲵、钩盲蛇、翠青蛇和双斑锦蛇于环渤海地区仅有1笔分布记录或分布记录存疑，本书暂未予收录，待日后研究查证。
1 Introduction
Amphibians and Reptiles of the Bohai Sea Rim
The Bohai Sea, also called the North Sea, is an inland sea near the western Pacific on the coast of northeastern and north China and bounded by Liaodong and Shandong Peninsulas.The Bohai Sea and the land surrounded it is called the Bohai Sea Rim.The China provincial-level divisions that have a Bohai Sea coastline are Beijing, Tianjin,Shandong, Hebei, and Liaoning Province.
The Bohai Sea Rim, in terms of a biogeographic region, is a contiguous area of the southern and northern Palaearctic in China on the east coast of Eurasian continent in which east monsoon prevails.Its climate, influenced by the monsoon circulation, is the Monsoon Climate of Medium Latitudes.The distinguished natural, geographic and climatic features determine the diversity of amphibians and reptiles and distributional features of this region.
Plains and hills make up the main part of the Bohai Sea Rim.In addition, Bashang plateaus cover only 8.5 % of the territory of northern Hebei Province.The Northeast Plain and the North China Plain, including the Liaohe Plain covering 33.4 % of Liaoning Province,the Hebei Plain covering 43.4 % of the Hebei Province and the plain, covering 55 % of northwest Shandong Province, which is a significant agricultural region in the Bohai Sea Rim.The terrain is relatively flatand the habitat patten is mainly including bushes, reed marshes and farmlands.The common species of amphibians and reptiles including Bufo gargarizans, Strauchbufo raddei, Pelophylax plancyis, Pelophylax nigromaculatus, Kaloula borealis, Elaphe diones, Orientocoluber spinalis and Rhabdophis tigrinus.
The composition of hilly and mountainous regions is relatively complex, including those located in Liaodong, mountainous regions in Liaoxi, the Yanshan Mountains, and Taihang Mountains in Hebei Province and hilly and mountainous areas in south central and hilly areas in Jiaodong Peninsula of Shandong Province.
The terrain of Liaoning Province includes hilly and mountainous areas of Liaodong and hilly areas of Liaoxi, accounting for 59.8 % of the total land area of that province.The hilly and mountainous areas of Liaodong are composed of the Changbai Mountains and their branches, the Qianshan Mountains and the Jilin Province of China and bounded by Korea in the northeast, running from the northeast to the southwest with the altitude ranging from 500 to 1000m.Laotudingzi at Huanren in Liaoning tops the spot with the altitude of around 1,306m.Liaodong Peninsula is mainly composed of hilly areas in the south of the Yalu River mouth and Liao River mouth and the Qianshan Mountains.The southwest corner of the Liaodong Pennisula is located in the Bohai Strait in which lies the national nature reserve for protecting Gloydius shedaoensis.Amphibians and reptiles are mainly Takydromus amurensis, Elaphe schrenckii, Hynobius leechii, Gloydius intermedius, Gloydius shedaoensis shedaoensis, Gloydius shedaoensis qianshanensis, Bufo stejnegeri and Rana dybowskii.The hilly region of western Liaoning is located in the west of Liaoning and its elevation rises from the east to the west: hills in the east is 300 to 500m above sea level while the Nuluerhu Mountain and the Hongshilazi Mountain of Lingyuan, the highest mountain in western Liaoning in the east of Liaoning is over 1,000m above sea level.Amphibians and reptiles are mainly Gekko swinhonis, Eumeces capito and Rana chensinensis.There appeared new records of reptiles such as Gloydius halys halys (Gloydius intermedius) and Eremias brenchleyi.
Hills and mountainous in Hebei Province, including hilly areas of the Yanshan Mountains and hilly and mountainous areas of the Taihang Mountains, have four relief type zones: the Mid Elevation Area, the Low Elevation Area, the hilly area and the intermontane basin area with the elevation of less than 2,000m.There are more than 10 montains of less than 2,000m above sea level, among which Mount Xiaowutai, with the elevation of 2,882m, is the highest mountain in the Hebei Province.Mountainous areas account for 48.1 % of the total land area of the province.The hilly areas of Yanshan Mountains are located in the north of Hebei Plain of the Hebei Province, adjacent to Lingyuan in Liaoning and the north of Beijing, with the elevation of more than 500m.Amphibians and reptiles are Eremias argus, Eremias brenchleyi, Plestiodon capito, Gloydius stejnegeri.
Hills and mountainous in Shandong Province, including hilly and mountainous areas in south central and hilly areas in Jiaodong Peninsula of Shandong Province, account for 28.7% of the total land area of the province.Three major mountains are located in this area with the absolute altitude of over 700m.The mountains that cover over 150 square kilometers are Mount Tai, Mount Meng, Mount Lao, Mount Lu, Mount Yi, Mount Culai, Mount Kunyu, Mount Jiuding, Mount Aishan, Mount Ya, Mount Daze.Hilly and mountainous areas in south central Shandong are located in the central and southern part of the Shandong Province, composed of Mount Tai, Mount Culai and Mount Meng, with Mount Tai being the highest, which is 1,545m above sea level.Hilly areas in Jiaodong Peninsula of Shandong Province, composed of Mount Kunyu, Mount Ai, Mount Lao, with Mount Lao the highest, which has the altitude of 1,133m, lie in the eastern part of the province between the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea, extending from southwest to northeast.Amphibians and reptiles are Gloydius brevicaudus, Gloydius lijianlii, Takydromus septentrionalis, Rana kunyuensis,Hyla immaculata, Rana culaiensis and Rana chensinensis.
Bohai Sea is 77,284km2 in area, more than half of which has the water depth of less than 20m.Its coastline covers 2,668km, with the mean water depth of 18m and maximum water depth up to 85m.Marine reptiles are mainly migatory sea turtles and sea snakes,scattered across islands in Liaoning, Shandong, Hebei and Tianjin of the Bohai Sea.The Snake Island in Liaoning and islands in Changdao are famous.Jiaodong Peninsula of Shandong Province Liaodong Peninsula of Liaoning Province share similarity in geography and animal species distribution: both enter the Bohai Bay and have similar species distribution of amphibians and reptiles.For example, special distribution of speices of genus Gloydius (Gloydius shedaoensis and Gloydius changdaoensis) exist in both areas, with similarity in arboreal life and predatory activity but great differences in shapes, partly due to the influence of migration of birds.
2 Research Background
2.1 Reserach of Foreign Expert s
Zoologists, explorers and missionaries in France, Britain, America, Russia and Japan have carried out their research of natural resources and herpetological resources from Beijing to the Bohai Sea Rim in China since 1900.They defined amphibiants, reptiles unique to China such as Andrias davidianus, Rana chensinensis, Elaphe anomala, Elaphe davidi, Kaloula borealis independently or with the help of taxonomist from other nations.Research on the Bohai Sea Rim by foreign experts is as follows:
French naturalist and missionary Armand David made a field study and sample collection in China in 1862.He collected amphibians and reptiles specimens in Beijing and Hebei in the Bohai Sea Rim during his visit in China.Rare plants and animals such as Ailuropoda melanoleuca, Elaphurus davidianus and Davidia involucrata were taken to the west by him and well known to the world.He collected large quantities of specimens of amphibians and reptiles for Muséum National D'Histoire Naturelle, among which Elaphe davida was named after David by French zoologists Henry Emile Sauvage.American scholar Thomas Barbour named Kaloula borealis in Dandong of the Liaoning Province after Cacopoides borealis in 1908.British naturalist and explorer Arthur de Carle Sowerby has done a research in northern China since 1913 and published the Naturalist in Manchuria in 1930.He recorded 16 species of amphibians, 20 species of reptiles, collected 11 species of amphibians and 7 species of reptiles respectively in the fourth volume of the Naturalist in Manchuria.French geologists, paleontologist and archaeologist Emile Licent came to China as a priest of the society of Jesus and set up Musée Hoangho Paiho in Tianjin in 1914.He has carried out his field study and archeology survey centered around Tianjin throughout northern China up to 25 years and collected more than 200,000 specimens, including those of large quantities of amphibians and reptiles.
American scholar of amphibians and reptiles Clifford H.Pope paid a visit to China together with Central Asian research team of American Museum of Natural History in 1921.He went to Hebei, Anhui, Hainan and Fujian and recorded Elaphe anomala and Plestiodon captito in Hebei and wrote The Reptiles of China in 1935 after he returned to America,which first systematically and scientifically recorded the categories and resources of amphibians and reptiles in China.
Japanese set up South Manchuria Railways Co.and Chinese Acamedy of Science of Manchukuo from 1900 to 1945.Researchers surveyed and collected materials and published a number of research papers.For instance, A Hand-list of the Manchurian and Eastern Mongolian Vertebrata Reptila in 1927 by Mori T., Amphibia and Reptilia of Jehol in 1935 by Okadaya Itirou, General History for Korea and Manchukuo in 1936 by Muradasi Gamoro and A Survey of Terrestrial and Aquatic Animals of Guanton and Manchukuo in 1940 by Kawamura Tamisi made a study and record of amphibians and reptiles of the Bohai Sea Rim.Russian scholar Anatoly A.Kostin has studied amphibians and reptiles in Manchuria for years and published articles such as Amphibians of Northern Manchukuo and Adjacent Area from 1934 to 1935, Amphibians Distribution of Manchukuo in 1937 and The Check-list of Snakes of Manchukuo in 1942.
2.2 Reserach and Studies by Chinese Scholars
There were records of amphibians and reptiles of the Bohai Sea Rim in China but the scientific study started relatively late.There existed local records of amphibians and reptiles, some of which can be defined in terms of genus or even species.For example,according to Records of Ba County, the Ranidae “ in cyan with long feet is tiger frog, whose rear thighs are edible”-it should be Pelophylax plancyi or Strauchbufo raddei.“Those whose bodies are short with lumps on their backs are called toad.They are poisonous.”They are Bufo gargarizans or Strauchbufo raddei.“ Those who are cyan and glittering and whose bodies are short without lumps on their backs are called cyan toad”-they should be Bombina orientalis.Snakes “have great varieties.Those with black back are poisonous and those with yellow back are not poisonous.” They should be Gloydius spp.and Elaphe dione.“Geckos have shorter tails than lizards, and their tails are easy to fall off.” They should be Gekko swinhonis.According to Records of Andong County, Hyla japonica has four feet with four toes respectively.The unwebbed forefeet are short.The hind legs are rather long with webbed feet, each of which has five toes respectively.Therefore, they are skilled in jumping and swimming.They are small and green, inhabit on the treetop and call after rain.”Thus it gains the name of Hyla japonica…Rana chensinensis gives birth to a baby and produces oil in late autumn and early spring.” It should be Hyla japonica and Rana chensinensis.“The snake giving birth to various kinds of Ptyas dhumnades, grey, as long as one meter, growing up in piles of straw, coming out after rain, climbing the tree or the roof, eating birds' eggs, temperate, thus avoid being hurt by humans” should be Elaphe schrenckii.“Skinks, a category of lizard, with five black stripes (juvenile) in male and with one black stripe on each side of the back in female (adult)” should be Plestiodon capito.“A lizard species which looks like a skink but is not as bright as the latter one, whose tail is several times longer than its body, should be Takydromus amurensis or Takydromus wolteri.”“The one which looks like a skink, with stripes” should be Eremias argus.“The one in grey green, with light brown stripes on its back and yellow light spot beside its stomach and annular stripes on its tail, likes to inhabit in the sand” should be a kind of Phrynocephalus.The description corresponds with the morphological characters of these species currently available.Thus the Chinese people have gained an intuitive understanding of the shape and hahit of amphibians and reptiles of the Bohai Sea Rim.
Liu Chengchao, a world famous herpetologist and Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences, studied Anura in Beijing during his study at Yenching University at the end of the 20th century.With the help of his supervisor Alice M.Boring, he published Secondary Sex Characters and Sexual Behavior of Frogs and Toads in North China in 1980, Schedule of Way of Life of Frogs and Toads in North China and Sexual Behavior of Bufo raddei and Pelophylax nigromaculatus in 1931.Liu Chengchao, Boring and Zhou Shuchun published Handbook of Amphibians and Reptiles in North China in which there was a detailed account of shapes of amphibians and reptiles and an introduction to breeding habit of various kinds of amphibians and reptiles.He collected amphibians and reptiles specimens,including those of Elaphe davidi, at Dongling, Shenyang and Mount Qipan during his teaching in Northeastern University after graduated from Yenching University.He named Kaloula manchuriensis after Kaloula borealis gathered at at Dongling, Shenyang in 1932.This is what the Chinese scholars contributed to the study of amphibians and reptiles in the Bohai Sea Rim at an early stage.
Chinese scholars pursued their studies of amphibians and reptiles in the Bohai Sea Rim henceforth.Experts of amphibiotic reptiles in universities and institutions made a deeper survey on amphibians and reptiles in Liaoning, Beijing, Tianjin, and Shandong,published large quantities of papers and discovered new recorded species and new speices in a number of places especially after the founding of the P.R.China.The works include Liaoning Fauna: Amphibian and Reptilia, Record of Piscium and Amphibians and reptiles in Beijing, and Hebei Fauna: Amphibians, Reptiles and Mammals.
The Bohai Sea Rim, which has the richest diversity of amphibians and reptiles in northern Palaearctic of China is considered one of the differentiating centers of Gloydius halys and Rana amurensis Boulenger.Authors of this books have devoted to the biodiversity and ecological study of these ecological groups these years.Li Peipeng and Lu Yuyan studied the diversity of genus Rana in the Bohai Sea Rim funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China and the National Science Foundation of the Province.Li Jianli and Shi Jingsong studied the systematic classification of genus Gloydius in the Bohai Sea Rim, The authors accomplished the research into the resources and habitats of Gloydius shedaoensis, Rana huanrenensis and Rana kunyuensis of the Second Natural Research on Resource of Terrestrial Wild Animals.What deserves to be mentioned is Shi Jingsong, under the guidance of Professor Li Peipeng, put forward in 2016 that Gloydius intermedius in China is a complex group of different subspecies of Gloydius halys, including Gloydius halys, Gloydius halys stejnegeri and Gloydius halys cognatus.Further molecular phylogenetic study indicated that Gloydius halys, Gloydius halys stejnegeri and Gloydius halys cognatus do not constitute monophyletic group, in reference to differences in body shapes, habit and geographical distribution, it is believed that Gloydius halys stejnegeri and Gloydius halys cognatus should be independent species, thus there is one more species of genus Gloydius in the Bohai Sea Rim.
Up till now there are approximately 19 families, 41 genus and 68 species among the recorded animal species of amphibians and reptiles in the Bohai Sea Rim, 4 species of which are endemic species to China are Onychodactylus zhaoermii and Ranaculaiensis belonging to the Amphibia, Gloydius shedaoensis and Gloydius lijianlii belonging to the Reptilia.
3 Arguable Species of the Bohai Sea Rim
This book does not contain the Andrias davidianus, Ramphotyphlops braminus and Elaphe bimaculata since there is only one record of them or there is doubt about the distribution of the record in the Bohai Sea Rim.