URODELA NEWSLETTER 3: JUNE 2001

By Henk Wallays

Tylototriton verrucosus

One the former questions was if anyone had information on this ‘new’ species. In fact I did get quite some replies stating that it has never been oficially declared a new species, others that it was not entirely new. Here I copy the most complete comment –to my opinion, by Max Sparreboom- :

"Tylototriton wenxianensis was described in 1984 by Fei, Ye and Yang. See: Ye et al., 1993. Rare and economic Amphibians of China, p. 72 and 81. It was initially considered a subspecies of T. asperrimus but was then raised to species status. Whether the species belongs to the genus Tylototriton or Echinotriton is under debate. Better stay on the safe side and consider it to belong to Tylototriton"

Kurt Rimpp

For most of the German salamanderkeepers K. Rimpps book ‘Salamander und molche ‘ has been what Robert Thorn’s book was for the French speaking keepers : a standard. Now that Robert’s book has been actualised (by J. Raffaelli & R. Thorn), Kurt also takes up the pen and will re-edit his work. He has recently asked me to help him pictures of salamanders, which I have already agreed upon. But he still searches other pictures that I can not help him with, especially the colorfull and intruiging South- and Middle American plethodonts are of concern. If anyone thinks he can help with these, please feel free to send me an email.

NEW WEBPAGE : http://www.caudata.org

A new urodela webpage has been setup since February this year, it holds various topics like: book reviews, journals, societies, internet links and the some forums. Why is this website different then other, well (to me) because it seems being the only one so far that divides it’s discussion into different categories (easier access + storage of info) + it lets you upload images (making identification of Asian newts easier, for instance). So now there are (finally) forums for specific species. Of course,much of what it will become, depends both on (1) the input from the visitors and (2) the maintenance / constructive work of the webmaster, but so far it does look promising. I have copy/pasted the introduction of the webpage which gives you a clarification what it stands for.

Welcome to Caudata.org. Created in February 2001, this web site is an information portal for newt and salamander enthusiasts and specialists around the World, particularly those who maintain and breed these animals in captivity. Its goal is to promote communication and information exchange between like-minded individuals of all nationalities, be they novices or experts, scientists or laymen. Caudata.org's Discussion Forums are the primary focus of the site.

Here's what you will find on Caudata.org:


About Caudata.org

Caudata.org is non-commercial - no one earns money from this site. It exists to promote learning and accurate information exchange between enthusiasts. Although written in English, it is our hope that this web site will have a wider audience than just English speaking countries. If you would like to suggest ideas or help us reach more enthusiasts,

The philosophy of the site is such that if you find something to be inaccurate or incorrect, we would like to know about it so that it can be rectified. Obviously, the discussion forums are subject to the accuracy of the knowledge of those who use them, but all points are open to discussion in the forums themselves. If you would like to help or submit articles or ideas for the site, please make contact

OUTDOOR ENCLOSURE INVADED

I had constructed an outdoor enclosure with the specific aim to raise the Hynobius larvae in a more naturally controlled environment. At least this was my plan. A new wooden box (85 by 150c and 85 cm deep) was put together and a large sheet of pondplastic was put in. Later followed some waterweeds and no soil. Unfortunatelly when I finally wanted to put in the Hynobius larvae I discovered some endemic newts in it : T. helveticus and T. vulgaris, who would only have benefited from this ‘extra food’. So I didn’t put in any larvae. Now about 2 months later I notice that the pond is filled with green Triturus larvae…: ‘The invasion of the Triturus’ in a way. Despite this little bandits sabotaging my Hynobius plans I do still love to sit around there and observe them. I guess this will stay my Triturus pond for now.

NEURERGUS & GARDEN DISCOVERIES

Yesterday while working in the garden I discovered some interesting animals. In fact I was cleaning up some remains of an old rotten wood pile. Under it I found 5 Bufo bufo, 1 Neurergus crocatus juvenile and 1 Salamandra s. gallaica juvenile (at least 2 years of age). Altough I do noty intend to set out my animals in the wild ( it were escapades) I was especially suprised to find a N. crocatus. The animal looked larger and better then the other juveniles that I am still busy rearing. The skin of the animal was dry and rough. I had already noticed that the juvenile N. strauchii strauchii preferred a very dry area to live in (they grow larger and more robust when reared on drier surfaces) and so I started keeping my last years N. crocatus dry too. What was an estimated guess with N.s. strauchii prooved to be a tremendous help with N. crocatus. I did loose some of the tiniest juveniles (which after this observation were reinstalled in the water, with more success) but if I reared the larger metamorphosed ones on dry land and in water environment, it was clear that the drier climat was benificiary : they grow larger. To my opinion and experiences we should really need to consider raising N. crocatus more like Triturus marmoratus or even T. vittatus. These animals also kind of ‘hate’ wed habitats outside of the breeding period.

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HYNOBIUS BREEDING

Hynobius dunni

As stated before I have in fact been able to solve the trouble of the large die-offs which I had in the larvae of this species. While last 3 years I had removed the larvae and tried-out all kinds of different food-items and waterqualities, I decided to do it differently this year. I have let the egg-sacs in the parental tank and let the larvae hatch in it. The risk I took was that the adults would eate their larvae. This might probably have happened in limited numbers, but I have not noticed any predation : the adults are not that quick and the larvae swim away quite quickly on disturbance. In order to avoid troubles I have finally removed the parents from the tank. The larvae were offered daphnia’s, tubifex and musketoo larvae as food, all of which were ‘welcome’. Normally they are bottom dwellers, but when clouds of daphnia’s are dwelling around they let themselves stratificate (as noticed in nocturnal behaviours of Ambystoma larvae). As time got by, they grew and it became clear that the breeding had been successfull : the bottom of the tank was filled with larvae. In order to avoid die-offs by waterpollution, cannibalism and maybe stress larvae where removed from time to time and setup in separate raising tanks (currently 12 other tanks are filled with these larvae). Some larvae were even placed in an outdoor enclosure (a round swimmingpool of 3 meter diameter and 80 cm high). In all these setups the larvae continued growing real well. Currently the are stoutlooking larvae , most of which are close to meamorphosis. I have not counted them yet exactly, but I’m very sure that the numbers will get over 150 animals. With all these larvae I have not noticed any cannibalism, which is odd, since it this is thought to occur widely among Hynobius larvae. Anyway the larvae were fed each 2 or 3 days. This is the fourth consecutive season that I have bred this Japanese ‘endangered’ species. I’m keeping track of this species in a studbook, so it looks like my animals ointend to give me plenty of work. The offspring of 1999 which was spread among various keepers has also done very very well, only some minor casualties have been reported, but no breedings yet. It looks as if these animals will take 3 years to reproduce. Although that with Ad Bouwman he noticed one of his females had eggs developping, but the males were not active (my offspring of that same year yielded active males but no eggdeveloping females).

For the next letter I will write out my observations on the breeding / male behaviour. I have just checked out the slides I made on this behaviour and they truthfully represent the chronology of the male behaviour. Unlucky enough I have not been able to see the actual egg-deposition : when I waswatching the nervous males where so active that they kind of pushed the female off the twig when she tried to get closer… perhaps I’ll see that next year ?? If all goes well my offspring of 1999 (24 animals) will also be ready to breed. Currently the parental group, which were born in 1995 and started with 10, still counts 8 animals. So far they have bred every year since 1998…

Hynobius retardatus

This story is quite the same as the one on H. dunni. I left the eggs in the tank, some part developped real well, the other part were alkso developped but offered malformations in the larvae (which died off). About 60 % still survived. Last year I had 100% of these malformed egg/larvae. Anyway after exovation I did catch up all the al the larvae out of the parentla tank : at that time I found the H. retardatus quite often in the waterparts and feared that they would predate on their larvae. Since his was my first succesfull breeding of this species I also wanted to follow them up more closely then the H. dunni and took some larvae inside. An other part was set outside in the swimmingpool too. Currenly the inside larvae are close to metamorphosis : the coastal grooves are developping. Yesterday I counted my larvae they are 41. I’m sure to have captured at least 4 more H. retardatus from the outside pool and one of them is still in it since it has a habit of outbeating me in quickness when I’m trying to cath it. On last Wednesday the first 5 retardatus juveniles metamorphosed at a total length that varied between 6 –6.2 cm. H. retardatus larvae are having a quite longstretched appearance (tail versus body).

Ambystoma m. macrodactylum

The first larvae have just metamorphosed. This being my 3rd consecutive breeding of the F-1 generation opens up positive prespectives of these animals midst keepers. Where 4 years ago I was in an isolated position keeping these salamanders , this has been positively expanding lately. I had formerly offered some of my offpsring to French breeders and they have been succesfull breeding them too : at least 4 people overthere are keeping descendants of my group, the first 3rd generation has been born this year. I have 42 larvae close to metamorphosis now. Already 4 animals have metamorphosed at this instance.

Neurergus

This year –for the first time- I had no breeding Neurergus species. In total I keep 3 species & 1 subspecies : N. strauchii strauchii, N.s. baranii, N. crocatus & N. kaiseri. I have seen courtship in all of them except N. kaiseri. Both N. crocatus and N. s. baranii kind of resembled a 'lazy' Triturus male (lower frequency of tailwaving). But despite this activity and females carrying eggs I had only one massive eggdeposition : N. crocatus. However all the eggs prooved to be unfertilised. Having still a large group of N. s. strauchii (including a ‘golddust pair’) and N. crocatus this was not a trouble. However it would have been nice. Next year I will put most of my effort into breeding N. kaiserii : I only hold 1 male and 2 females in this ‘rare’ species, so expansion would be wise. As far as I’ve heard most people keeping Neurergus also had no reproductions this year. The springtime weather stayed abnormally cold for quite a long while this year, maybe this might have influenced their behaviour…On the other hand this could mean we will get a fall breeding (like I already had with N. s. strauchii).

Overwintering N. crocatus larvae

Last year one of the larvae had trouble attaining it’s length to metamorphose. It was one of the tinest larvae and so it stayed a larvae during the whole winter only to develop it’s coloration rigt around a month ago. In the meantime it has become a large and healthy looking larvae. I will follow up shortly to see if it effectively metamorphoses. My guess is that it will do so. I have had a similar experience with N. s. strauchii. To my opinion it might thus been quite possible that in nature larvae do overwinter as well. Question is if these large larvae would or would not predate on the younger generation. In Hynobius tokyoensis overwintering larvae are one of the more serious predators on their younger generation (study by Mr. Kusano).

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APPALACHIAN SALAMANDERS

Either next year or preferably in the spring of 2003 I would like to do a trip to the Appalachians together with my Oregon friend Kurtz Russell. I would be interested to hear if anybody knows anybody that would know the areas overthere and either point out some good spots or eventually join in for ( a part or the whole) trip. The whole idea would be to work our way through a large area and find the habitats of the animals, do some observations and make loads of slides.

Since some of the species are having a very restricted habitat, having someone knowing the area would be real advantageous. This strategy seemed to have worked out real well in Oregon during the last trip. Personally I would love to see some habitats of Pseudotriton, Eurycea, Desmognathus and maybe some Ambystoma species. If anybody thinks he can help, please inform me. Again the whole aim is to see and observe, not to ‘take away’ (however tempting this sometimes prooves to be).

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Well so far some news from Belgium. Within 1 more week I’m back online with a new portable pc, which means that emails will get answered earlier. To my knowledge I have in the meantime been able to answer all the old unanswered mails … if not, tell me. To all of you that are out in the field : enjoy it, to the ones that are currently raising and breeding, continue .. it’s worth it.

Henk Wallays
Ter Goedingen 40
B-9881 Bellem (Aalter)
Belgium