Nanhu Hypsilophis lives in high-altitude mountainous areas with harsh environments. The population is very small and it is endemic to China.
It is listed in the second level of the "List of National Key Protected Wildlife in China".
Endemic to China, distributed in Taiwan (Nanhu Mountain in the northern part of the Central Mountain Range).
Lives in mountainous areas at an altitude of 3000-3536m, close to the frozen ground, usually inhabiting springs or soaking places near tributaries of small rivers, hiding under gravel during the day.
The head is round and flat, with the length greater than the width; the tip of the snout is round, the nostrils are located between the tip of the snout and the eyes, and there are no lip folds; the skin on the back of the head is smooth, with a longitudinal skin groove from behind the eyes to the neck fold; there is a ridge groove in the center of the back of the body, and the back of the living body is light yellow-brown with irregularly and evenly distributed short black-brown stripes on it; there are light yellow patches on the ventral side of the body.