INTRODUCTION
It's about time that I (try) to resurface again. The period from January to March is always the busiest period in my professional life, and as such I didn't have much spare-time... I still have quite some unanswered emails from some of you, which I would like to react upon : for instance how to recognize the different Paramesotriton species (this is a question that surfaces up from time to time) or how to overwinter some species.
I also had some comments and inputs on the questions and remarks that I wrote in my former Urodela newsletter which I will comment/add to here. I wish to thank both Rainer Schulte, Serge Bogaerts, and Terrel V. Norris for their responses.
Also, on the net I discovered that a new Tylototriton species has been discovered/described. We do not have details on it yet, but there's a good image of this species.
Aside from this, I will also give an overview of the recent status of affairs over here just before the start of the breeding season.
And lastly, I will discuss a new French salamander book that discusses captive care.
POSSIBLE DATABASE for STUDBOOKKEEPING (Terrell V. Norris)
As a response to my email, Terrell V. Norris has been kind enough to check and scan the Internet for possible downloadable databases for the studbook process. He gave me a possible candidate that I will still need to download and test. I will try to do so in the next weeks (and I will try to put myself in contact with the people who created it). We will keep you updated on this (important) tool. If you would like to use it too, feel free to send your feedback to us as well. Thanks also to Terrel for his help. Address for the database : http://www.uni-x.se/~phans/Welcome.html
VIDEO OBSERVATIONS (Rainer Schulte)
The American firm X-10 sells some interesting little cameras that can possibly be used for observations. This information was submitted by Rainer Schulte : Another useful comment for the Urodela folks and working groups: Tiniest Color Video "Spy" or "Burglar control" cams with a high quality image and crisp sound are sold by X 10 in the USA (go to the X 10.com website). These cameras transmit the video and audio signal via microwaves and can work in a set of 4 on a split laptop computer or monitor screen. The cameras can be switched off and on remotely. There are infrared motion detectors available and even a tiny infrared camera for night surveys. We are using those cameras in Dendrobatid research (Bromeliad survey to check the home range and breeding rituals). Such cameras even can be installed into a tree canopy. Transmitting distances are nominal 100 feet up to even kilometers, if using a microwave amplifier stage and a solar panel- motorcycle battery buffered power supply. And the best thing: the prices are EXTREMELY CHEAP- some US$60 -70 each. We are currently designing a complete system for Dendrobatid field research. 'There is a European distributor here , but their choice of cameras is quite limited compared to the USA dealer. For instance: I failed to find their motion detectors ontheir web pages (they might have them though)."
BOLITOGLOSSINA in PERU ( Rainer Schulte )
Well I wouldn't want to spare you another comment on the observations that Rainer Schulte has made so far on some Bolitoglossina in Peru. Most of us are dreaming of these interesting and quite curious salamanders, but beware they are not that easy to keep (unless your name is Fonoll...). Anyway:
I recently had the chance to see several Bolitoglossa in the forests around Iquitos. Do you have any info about their breeding? I heard that Bolitoglossa commits suicide in captivity - fragmentation of the tail and later the death - while a tail fragmentation in the wild is SURVIVED easily. I saw now several Bolitoglossa in the bushes, which had fragmented, but well regenerated tails. The patterns of these Salamanders are incredibly variable - I shot some good photos of several types and we are struggling in identification - what is B. peruviana and what in reality is B. altamazonica. I suspect that we have several new species around here - see the ones with fine black stripes along the dorsum at the Yurimaguas area. There are also considerable size differences among the samples. I would recommend to set up a study group for the Peruvian Bolitoglossas at a science institution level, but with engaged hobbyists linked to a captive breeding program supervised by the science institute.
A good partner for such research might be the Instituto de Investigacion de la Amazonía at Iquitos, which maintains a fine biological field station in the new Reserva Allpahuayo-Mishana, some 27 km out of Iquitos, where Bolitoglossas are often seen on night excursions.
I found Bolitoglossas in Peru at completely different sites: at 1800 m at the cold and windswept summit of Cordillera Azul, than at daytime walking on the leaflitter in full sunlight at 32°C at Yurimaguas Lowland forest! But I did NOT RECORD Bolitoglossa from our San Martin Selva Alta range. One record is from Moyobamba (900 m level), but this was never reconfirmed. The Salamanders are present in the Lowland forest in front of the Cordillera Oriental to Yurimaguas (rare). I checked out the possibility of doing molecular genetic Reserach on those Salamanders- but the hands and feet are not useful, because Bolis have reduced toes. The only way to get a tissue sample without killing the animal would be a tail point cutting (a millimeter or so)."
ECHINOTRITON WENXIANENSIS
To my large surprise I discovered a new Echinotriton species on the webpage of Mr. Kawamura ( http://www.rieo.net/amph/saramand/imori/ibo/wenxianensis.htm). So far, all I know is what is mentioned on that webpage. DISTRIBUTION:Southern Gansu and northwestern Sichuan,China. LENGTH :130-190mm
The animals look like T. taliangensis to me, but without the red coloration on the cheeks. Just wanted to share this information to you all. I'm currently trying to find out more on them and will comment on this if I get more. I can't wait to see Mr. Fleck's reaction on this! Anyway, if you are interested in Hynobius species: just check out the nice images on this site, including eggs and larvae.
Tylototriton shanjing rearing
The 3 juveniles from the A. Bouwman stock are growing really well. One of them started getting thinner and had a little wound on his tail, a part of his shedding skin stayed stuck on. I have cured this by putting the animal in a little bit of water and gently removing the remaining skin from its tail. Despite both buffalo and bloodworms in the tank, this animal stayed thin. At that particular time, it froze outside and it was difficult to find earthworms, so there I was outside hammering through the hard soil to find some... and (lucky enough) I did. I also checked the compost heap in my garden, which proved to be a rich harvest. Both the ordinary earthworms and the compost worms were offered and... eaten. Apparently this species (like T. verrucosus) has no trouble with digesting compost worms (making things quite easy for me now). Checking the animals 3 hours after introducing the earthworms I found all 3 of them with (well) filled bellies, looking just fine. Since then, I always make sure that, in addition to the other food items, they have a weekly supply of little earthworms and so far I have not encountered any other troubles. In my opinion, this might just have saved this 3rd animal.
The 9 larvae I got from the F. Pasmans stock are also doing pretty well, although they are still somewhat smaller in size. All of them look good and showed no troubles (until now). Their coloration is somewhat less orange than Bouwman's animals (but they are both shanjing)
Both groups are raised (separately) in a leave compost setup as described in axolotl newsletter no. 27. Temperature: 20-22°C. Food : earthworms, buffalo & bloodworms, fly maggots and slugs (when available in the garden).
Tylototriton taliangensis
After noticing that the animals had a more wet looking back, I though I would try putting them from a forest litter setup into a setup having stones and water. The animals were housed in this setup for about 1.5 months: since the animals didn't go into the water but remained (almost) motionless under the stones I have decided to put them back into their first forest litter habitat. It was also not as easy to feed them in this 'wet' setup and as a consequence they started loosing weight (not a dramatic loss, but still... better to avoid problems). So it looks like this will still take a year (or longer) before we can attempt breeding them again. Their care and setup is close to the shanjing raising process, be it that the temperature is around 13°C here.
Hynobius setups : preparations for breeding
I have cleaned up all the Hynobius tanks (+ Pachyhynobius). The water was refreshed. The breeding of H. dunni so far has occurred each time when we had a warmer break in the winter weather and when the sun started to shine. At that time the water was changed (or just before) the animals seemed to be activated. Since they are forecasting warmer weather now, I wanted to change the water already. Currently H. dunni & okiensis are active already. The other forms are still a bit 'sleepy'. If all goes well, breedings might occur in the following 4 to 6 weeks. I keep my fingers crossed, and when breeding occurs I will get back at you. The male Hynboius leechi are starting to get active, and the female H. retardatus and okiensis are clearly loaded with eggs. As 'hot news' I can already tell that due to warmer and sunnier weather the animals are starting to get active: yesterday I discovered 7 of the 9 adult H. dunni active around the cut-up branches (deposition places). In fact this was the first observation of active females so far...
Neurergus strauchii baranii
The males are starting to develop white little dots on the flanks (just above the belly) and some white little dots in the middle or the beginning of the tail. I found one mail crawling onto the thermometer in the aquarium, clasping it with his fore and hind limbs: I have only seen such behavior in Hynobius (the males also clasp onto the eggs). The females are thicker than ever and must have plenty of eggs in their bellies. To me everything looks good: they have fresh water, a circulation pump moves the water around and in between the many stones (there are no plants in this tank) and the water temperature measures 12°C now (up from 7°C last week). If they breed like the nominate form, they should start setting the eggs at around 14°C. However, T. Woeltjes found them active in water from 8°C in his last trip to Turkey, so they might need cooler temperatures and breed earlier. Well, I guess we'll just have to wait...
Neurergus crocatus
I have kept approximately 12 juveniles from last year's breeding to myself in order to constitute a second breeding group. Normally, it will take 3 to 4 years before they reach sexual maturity, so there's still a long way to go. The animals do well in a setup with leaflitter and stones with holes (in which they hide). One of the larvae developed so slowly: at this current status it is still a larvae (without coloration), so this animal might perhaps start to metamorphose within a month (if all goes well). I have no recollection if overwintering larvae have already been observed in nature, but judging from this experience they might. Unlike with N. strauchii, I have also raised some juveniles in a wet setup (remaining among stones with a cm of water) and these animals did well too) , one of them has even been kept in my garden house where temperatures have avoided the 0°C limit : it did just fine in a setup filled with moss. However, one thing is sure: the dry setup juveniles are the largest and healthiest looking ones, however in this setup the losses are greater (dehydration, not finding food). Overall, I consider them to be quite hardy animals (so far). The raising process of N. strauchii strauchii juveniles seems trickier to me.
Thorn & Raffaelli book
I just received a copy of this book on Euro-Asian salamanders. In 1968 Robert Thorn published a book on the salamanders of Euro-Asia. To my knowledge, this was the first book that was written on salamanders to include the captive care requirements of each species. For a long time, this has been the standard work on captive care management, aside some other interesting books like K. Rimmp. Only some years ago the book got re-published (in it's original form). Since 1968, a lot of things have happened with this little group of amphibians: new species and subspecies have been recognized, some animals got a new name... To bring about this book, Robert Thorn got the help from one of his 'disciples' : J. Raffaelli. The result is out now. The price is 320 FFr, which is somewhere between US$45 & 50. The book contains well over 300 pages of information. In the back you'll find colorplates on some species. Knowing both Jean and Robert, I have helped with some images of my animals, including my leopard Paramesotriton fuzhongensis female and my unknown Pachytriton 'C' species. I have also been helping out with the description on captive care requirements of Hynobius dunni, and have given some information on Pachytriton 'C' and Hynobius leechii quelpartensis . The book is written entirely in French.
20 anniversary book of the Workgroup Urodela, Holland
As a celebration for this anniversary, the workgroup intends to give out a book with articles emphasizing captive care (see former mail). I already stated that it will be written in Dutch. Serge Bogaerts (former chairman of the workgroup) tells me that they will see to it that English summaries are added for the articles, so that this book will be useful to English speakers too ... I hope you will like the effort they are putting into it. I intend to focus on my Hynobius and maybe Neurergus experiences...
Oregon trip
From April 6 - 15, 2001, I will again visit the wilds of Oregon and maybe upper California. The whole idea is to observe salamanders and ferns, make lots of slides, eventually take some measurements ( temperatures , lengths...) and the hardest but most rewarding job to do: leave it all where we found it. I hope to get back at you with more information on this trip in a later mail.
Well until the next letter, where I hope to bring you some news on breedings over here...