• Proceedings of the Zoological Society Korea Conference
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• 1996.04a
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• pp.54.1-54
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• 1996

• Proceedings of the Zoological Society Korea Conference
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• 2003.08a
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• pp.128.2-128
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• 2003

No Abstract, See Full Text

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.111-121
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• 1995

The ultrastructure of spermatozoa in Hynobius leechii was examined with transmission electron microscope and compared with those of other urodeles and anurans. The perforatorium and the tail show most of the common feature of urodeles. However, there were several ultrastructural characteristics in an acrosome, nucleus, neck, axial rod and mitochondria related to the nucleus. The acrosome was trifoliate in transverse sections and the perforatorium consisted of two different concentric parts with a fine sharp point in a subacrosomal lumen. The nucleus consisted of two different regions of chromatin area and nuclear ridge. The nuclear ridge was composed of several bundles of five to ten minute tubular subunits of 19 nm diameter in this species, while in higher urodeles it was well developed in multi layers. The protoplasmic bead was separated by a cytoplasmic canal except the connection with only the distal portion of the nucleus. The neck was a short cylinder and contained pericentriolar material with transverse striations. In Hynobius the ring was not elongated to the tail and the mitochondria were distributed only in the protoplasmic bead around the nucleus as in Cryptobranchus, while in higher groups of urodeles it elongates to the length of the middle piece and the mitochondria follow the ring. The ring elongation may be related to the distribution of mitochondria. Hynobiidae and Cryptobranchidae are closely related based on structure of neck, the axial rod and location of mitochondria, although they are different in the composition of the axial rod.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.253-264
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• 1996

The ultrastructure of spermatozoa in urodeles and primitive anurans was examined and compared. The spermatozoa of urodeles are characterized by seven plesiomorphies in subacrosomal cone, endounclear canal. perforatorium, ring, marginal filament, undulating membrane and tail axis. Most primitive anuran spermatozoa have no marginal filament, subacrosomal cone and ring structure with the exception of having the subacrosomal cone in Ascaphus and the ring in Discohlossus as compared with those of urodeles. Persistence of the subacrosomal cone and the ring structure is typical in most urodeles and is further linked with the primitive anurans. Therefore, these characters are regarded as symplesiomorphies in urodeles and primitive anurans. The organization of sperm tail, endounclear canal and perforatorium indicates a close phylogenetic relationship between urodeles and the primitives anurans.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.414-422
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• 2004

To infer phylogenetic relationships among Epinephelus species inhabiting coastal regions of Korean peninsula, mitochondrial cytochrome b genes from 9 species belonging to the subfamily Epinephelinae were PCR-amplified, cloned and sequenced. Aligned cytochrome b sequences of 10 species containing one additional sequence from GenBank were 1,140 base pairs in length, including 439 variable and 330 parsimony informative sites. The cytochrome b genes of 10 species, as other vertebrates studied to date, exhibit unequal base compositions: an entirely low G content ($15.2{\pm}0.3{\%}$on average) and almost equal T, C and A contents ($29.3{\pm}0.8{\%},\;30.7{\pm}1.0{\%},\;and\;24.8{\pm}0.5{\%}$ on average, respectively).In third codon positions, transitional substitutions especially between Epinephelus species and outgroup species are almost certainly saturated or near saturation. Phylogenetic analyses were performed with sequence data from 8 Epinephelus species and 2 outgroup species (Cephalopholis urodela and Vaviola louti) by using distance-based (neighbor-joining and minimum evolution) and parsimony-based (maximum parsimony) methods. The results showed that the monophyly of the genus Epinephelus was supported by relatively high bootstrap values. However, phylogenetic relationships among E. areolatus, E. moara, E. septemfasciatus, and Epinephelus sp were poorly resolved. Within the genus Epinephelus, three resolved monophyletic groups were found: clade 1 included E. akaara and E. awoara;, clade 2 included E. fasciatus and E. merra; and clade 3 included E. akaara, E. awoara, E. fasciatus, E. merra, E. areolatus, E. moara, E. septemfasciatus and Epinephelus Sp.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.71-78
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• 2009

To clarify the reproductive function of vibration signals in Hynobius, which has externally fertilized eggs, we quantitatively analyzed the body and tail undulations of male Korean salamanders (Hynobius leechii) in sixteen mating events. One large and one small male, and one female were used in each mating event. We analyzed behaviors recorded over a total of 3 hrs for each mating event; 2 hrs before and 1 hr after female's oviposition. Males touched females using their snouts or body trunk throughout the entire mating periods, but females touched males increasingly more after approximately 1 hr before oviposition. Males conducted body undulations more than 50 times per 10 minutes at a mean frequency of 0.64 Hz. Large males conducted more body undulations than small males, particularly on the tree twig where females attached their egg sacs. Males responded to other males' body undulation throughout the mating period by orienting their head towards, approaching, and touching the undulating male. Females only responded for about 10-20 min before ovipositing, and most responses were directed to the large male's body undulation. Males conducted tail undulations 3.0 times per 10 min at a mean frequency of 1.7 Hz and most tail undulations occurred after one male bit the other male. These results suggest that body undulations function in both male-female and male-male interactions, while tail undulations mainly functions in male-male competition. Also, male H. leechii appear to actively attract females, while females respond to the males only at times close to oviposition.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.315-322
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• 2010

We studied and compared the age structure, body size, and growth rates of field populations of two Korean salamander species (Hynobius yangi and Hynobius quelpaertensis) to elucidate important aspects of basic population dynamics of these two endemic Hynobius species. In both populations, females were sexually mature at three years of age, while H. yangi and H. quelpaertensis males matured at two and three years of age, respectively. Both males and females of H. yangi and H. quelpaertensis attained a maximum age of 11 years and 10 years, respectively. In both species, the snout-vent length (SVL) and body weight (BW) of the females were greater than those of the males. The SVL, BW, and asymptotic SVL of both male and female H. yangi were smaller than those of H. quelpaertensis. The adult growth rates after sexual maturation of male and female H. yangi were lower than those of H. quelpaertensis, possibly resulting in the smaller body size of the former, although overall growth coefficients were not significantly different between the two species. We also compared the age structure and growth rates of three Korean and three Japanese species of Hynobius.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.480-489
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• 2021

Climate change poses great threats to wildlife populations by decreasing their number and destroying their habitats, jeopardizing biodiversity conservation. Asiatic salamander (Hynobiidae) species are particularly vulnerable to climate change due to their small home range and limited dispersal ability. Thus, this study used one salamander species, the Korean clawed salamander (Onychodactylus koreanus), as a model species and examined their habitat characteristics and current distribution in South Korea to predict its spatial distribution under climate change. As a result, we found that altitude was the most important environmental factor for their spatial distribution and that they showed a dense distribution in high-altitude forest regions such as Gangwon and Gyeongsanbuk provinces. The spatial distribution range and habitat characteristics predicted in the species distribution models were sufficiently in accordance with previous studies on the species. By modeling their distribution changes under two different climate change scenarios, we predicted that the distribution range of the Korean clawed salamander population would decrease by 62.96% under the RCP4.5 scenario and by 98.52% under the RCP8.5 scenario, indicating a sharp reduction due to climate change. The model's AUC value was the highest in the present (0.837), followed by RCP4.5 (0.832) and RCP8.5 (0.807). Our study provides a basic reference for implementing conservation plans for amphibians under climate change. Additional research using various analysis techniques reflecting habitat characteristics and minute habitat factors for the whole life cycle of Korean-tailed salamanders help identify major environmental factors that affect species reduction.