C.e.popei spermatophore

[TJ]

I actually saw this one being deposited! The female ignored it though...

 

[TJ]

By the way, can anybody explain the function of these hairs that cling to the cloaca? Are they only temporary?

 

[TJ]

 

[loser]

Bum fluff?

 

[TJ]

Ah hah, I found it

These are papillae -- "small hair-like structures that protrude from the cloaca of the male during breeding season"

source: http://www.caudata.org/caudatecentral/articles/sexing.html#glossary

 

[john]

I've seen a male Tylototriton verrucosus open his cloaca so that the edges peeled up and it's quite amazing to see the number of these structures inside the animal. They are white in the case of Tylototriton verrucosus.

 

[leonardo]

also my ensicauda has these papillae...
while they are very evident in Cynops (also orientalis in my experience) they are not as evident in Triturus carnifex...here are two pics during courting...

Leo