Biting during chengg/cyanurus courtship

[Molch]

Hi all,
below are some videos of my cynops "chenggongensis" courtship.

Nobody knows really if chenggongensis and cyanurus are different species or subspecies.

I'd love to hear whether people who have other strains of cyanurus/chenggongensis have observed the male biting the female in the flank during courtship. I haven't seen this in my pyrrhogaster or in the European newts either.

the first, very short clip shows just the biting
the second, longer clip shows the whole courtship game with tail fanning

the videos are a bit grainy because it was night and the lights were low. Any snoring or grunting noises you hear in the background are from the dogs, not me


short clip: male biting female in the flank
MVI 7103 - YouTube

long clip: courtship sequence with tail fanning. There's more biting from 0:20 to 0:40
MVI 7106 - YouTube

 

[Molch]

bumpety bump - has anyone else seen the biting in cyanurus? That's all I wanna know...

 

[xMIDNIGHTx]

I know that when there is a trace of food in the water, my cyanurus nip at anything that moves, looks or smells like food and usually (harmlessly) nip at each other more than the food!

I usually see alot of excitement when male cyanurus are courting. Most of the time the males follow and brother the female relentlessly! Maybe it is out of frustration that the female is not giving him any attention!

C. cyanurus are definitely crazy,entertaining newts, especially during breeding season. I have seen one of my females doing something similar to tail fanning... weird.

BEAUTIFUL cyanurus btw!

Mitch