Publisher's Synopsis
Mountain salamanders of the genus Ranodon are among the most primitive, endangered and narrow-ranged amphibians of the world. These animals only live in Central Asia within Kazakhstan and China, and are still poorly known. This work presents a review of the data on the species available to date, including: historical; systematics; geographical distribution; palaentology; morphology; physiology; ecology; behaviour; anthropogenic influences; conservation; captive keeping; and breeding of these salamanders.;The work offers a revised diagnosis of Ranodon and discusses in detail the taxonomic relationships between the different forms. The highly fragmented, localized, patchy distributions at the generic and species levels are discussed in the context of historical changes in climate, landscape, and anthropogenic influences, as well as salamander habitat specializations.
