However, a study published in 2018 found that the Chinese giant salamander actually consisted of numerous clades restricted to different river basins, with many of them being distinct enough to be considered separate species.

However, living captive individuals discovered in Japan in 2024 were found to very closely resemble A. davidianus and A. jiangxiensis despite genetically matching with A. sligoi, indicating that Boulenger's morphological diagnosis may have been inaccurate.

At the time, "Megalobatrachus maximus" referred to both the Chinese and Japanese giant salamanders, so it is possible that Boulenger may have compared A. sligoi with an individual of A. japonicus to find these morphological differences, as opposed to A.

[7] The South China giant salamander is highly endangered by overharvesting due to its status as a delicacy and use in traditional Chinese medicine, and it is unknown if any wild populations survive today.

A large commercial trade in the species and its relatives was already established by the late 20th century, and very large-scale farms now exist for breeding giant salamanders for food and medicinal purposes.

Proposed conservation actions include creating a separate management plan for A. sligoi, identifying and protecting sites that remnant wild populations may possibly occur at, identifying captive individuals and preventing hybridization or translocation, and creating a genetically pure founder population for the purpose of captive breeding and release.

Some of these individuals may be surviving members of a group of over 800 salamanders (including at least A. sligoi and A. davidianus) that were imported from China in 1972 and kept in an artificial pond in Okayama Prefecture, with over 300 dying within one year of captivity.