earticle

영어

The genus Hynobius is one of the largest Asian salamander group in Hynobiidae. Up to now, there are three known species (H. leechii, H. quelpaertensis, and H. yangi) and three candidate species (HC1, HC2, and HC3) reported in Korean peninsula. However, due to conserved external characteristic it is hard to identify the species by eyes. Therefore genetic approaches are essential for species identification. Mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit Ⅰ(CO1) is proper marker for species identification and for statement of undescribed species. Hence, we analyzed the CO1 gene for the Korean Hynobius species to confirm the species identification and richness. The results from the partial 1,464 bp of CO1 gene revealed that there are four cryptic groups of Hynobius in Korean peninsula, of which three coincide with the results of Baek et al., 2011 (HC1, HC2, and HC3) and one from Uiryeong County is newly discovered (HC4). The sequence divergence between HC4 and other Hynobius groups in Korean peninsula is relatively higher than which observed in ordinary level between other species of Hynobius. Furthermore, we made the species map for Korean Hynobius salamanders according to the genetic results from mtDNA data. Consequently, the southern part of Korean peninsula is seemed like the hotspot for the diversification of the genus Hynobius.