INTRODUCTION 



The Siberian newt f Salamandrella keyserlingii Dybowski, 1870) 

 is in some respects a unique amphibian. It is a member of the 

 most primitive amphibian family, the Hynobiidae, and is of 

 interest from a phylogenetic viewpoint. This newt occurs in 

 arctic, subarctic, and temperate regions, living in a variety of 

 habitats from tundra to steppe. Its geographic range is one of 

 the largest among amphibians and stretches from the east and 

 north of European Russia eastward to Chukotka, Kamchatka, 

 Sakhalin, and Hokkaido, and from the Yakut ian tundras southwards 

 to central Mongolia, Manchuria, and northern Korea. 

 Astonishingly, with such a large range, this newt has not 

 differentiated into any distinct geographic populations. All 

 subspecific and specific forms proposed for S. keyserlingii have 

 eventually proved to be invalid. 



Morphological, ecological, and geographical peculiarities of 

 the Siberian newt make it an important object of biological 

 studies. To now, it has been mentioned in more than 700 

 publications. This massive literature requires a summary, and a 

 two volume monograph Siberian Newt: Morphological Description of 

 the Species is being published by Nauka, a Moscow publisher. 

 This monograph summarizes the published and unpublished data of 

 42 researchs authors on different aspects of the newt's biology. 

 This monograph issue is not a complete survey of all publications 

 on this species, rather it provides a detailed overview of its 

 biology. Hence a complete bibliographic survey, encompassing two 

 centuries, seems a useful adjunct to the monograph. 



Owing to the species distribution, most publications have 

 been written in Russian, Chinese, and Japanese, thus unknown and 

 inaccessible to most western biologists. Further, much of the 

 research was published in limited editions and/or serials of 

 limited distribution. So that, the publications are frequently 

 little known even in the country of their publication. Some of 

 these works are of high scientific value. 



I faced several difficulties in compiling this bibliography. 

 First, some sources are quite rare. Fortunately, many were 

 traced and examined during my 12-year bibliographic search. 

 Nevertheless, a few items remained unavailable; the pages and 

 subject matter of these are not included with their citations 

 since I could not confirm these data. Second is the goal of 

 bibliographic completeness. For future information needs, the 

 list is as complete as possible and includes even single notes 

 referring to the species. Third has been the problem of 



