Age structure and growth rates of two Korean salamander species (Hynobius yangi and Hynobius quelpaertensis) from field populations

Figures & data

Figure 1.  Phalangeal cross-sections of Hynobius yangi and Hynobius quelpaertensis. An arrowhead indicates a metamorphosis line, and arrows indicate the lines of arrested growth (LAGs). MC=marrow cavity, ML=metamorphosis line. (A) A juvenile (SVL=23.8 mm) of H. quelpaertensis caught in February 2008. Only a metamorphosis line was observed. (B) A female of H. yangi (SVL=59.2 mm) caught in March 2006. A metamorphosis line and three LAGs were observed. This individual was three years old. (C) A male of H. quelpaertensis (SVL=63.3 mm) caught in March 2008. Seven LAGs were observed. This individual was seven years old. The scale bars represent 50 µm.

Figure 2.  Age distributions in populations of Hynobius yangi (A) and Hynobius quelpaertensis (B).

Table 1. Snout-vent length (SVL), body weight (BW), mean age, age at maturity, adult survivorship (S), life expectancy (LEP), asymptotic SVL, and growth coefficient in populations of Hynobius yangi, Hynobius quelpaertensis, and Hynobius leechii. The data for H. leechii were calculated from published data (Lee and Park 2008) for comparison among three Korean species in the genus Hynobius.

Species name	Sex	SVL(mm)	BW (g)	Mean age(yrs)	Age at maturity(yrs)	S(no./ year)	LEP(yrs)	Asymptotic SVL (mm)	Growth coefficient
H. yangi	Male (n=288^*/258)	52.8±0.2(41.0–67.2)	4.8±0.1(2.6–8.2)	4.82(2–11)	2	0.70	3.87	54.6±0.7	1.0±0.1
	Female(n=220^*/156)	56.8±0.3(48.1–73.2)	5.5±0.1(3.0–9.9)	5.04(3–11)	3	0.67	3.55	58.1±0.9	1.1±0.2
H. quelpaertensis	Male(n=76^*/73)	61.7±0.6(47.1–75.7)	6.5±0.2(3.2–11.0)	5.21(3–10)	3	0.69	3.74	66.0±3.0	0.6±0.2
	Female(n=47^*/41)	64.2±0.8(56.7–79.2)	7.7±0.4(3.5–14.1)	5.54(3–10)	3	0.72	4.10	66.8±4.0	0.7±0.3
H. leechii	Male(n=43)	61.3±1.0(47.0–71.0)	6.8±0.2(3.5–9.8)	4.49(1–9)	1	0.70	3.89	63.6±1.7	0.7±0.1
	Female(n=32)	65.1±0.8(56.8–72.0)	8.3±0.3(5.4–12.1)	5.31(3–9)	3	0.78	5.07	65.1±1.4	0.8±0.2
^* indicates the sample size for the SVL and BW data only.

Figure 3.  Growth curves for males (A) and females (B) of Hynobius yangi (open dots and dotted line) and Hynobius quelpaertensis (solid dots and solid line). The growth curves were fitted to von Bertalanffy's growth equation.