C.e. popei (Tokashiki Island variety)

[TJ]

This newly acquired pair of mine is from Tokashiki, a 15 square km island located some 30 km west of Okinawa Island. I'm told that the C.e.p there tend to have bellies that are darker, more mottled than those on Okinawa. They're certainly darker than any others I have.

 

[mark]

very nice tim.
i love the second picture so cute.

Mark

 

[paul]

Interesting pic Tim!
Some of my C.e.p. breeding have a belly coloration like this. But some of them have only few black parts (same group).

Paul

 

[TJ]

Thanks guys. But keep in mind that it's just hearsay as to there being this belly pattern difference between the groups. I also have other C.e.p with extensive (but not AS extensive) black coloration on their bellies...

http://www.caudata.org/forum/messages/13/2944.html?1047402038

...but for all I know, they may have also been caught on Tokashiki!

I once saw a group of around 20 C.e.p that were all from the same location on the northern tip of Okinawa Island, and they almost all had NO black coloration on their bellies.

(I acquired 4 at the time but am no longer able to identify them without a doubt as I lost almost all of my carefully organized (but obviously not carefully stored) pics some months back in a computer crash

)

By the way, Paul, isn't this the same island that Sparreboom did his research on?

Sparreboom, M. & H. Ota (1995): Notes on the life-history and reproductive behaviour of Cynops ensicauda popei (Amphibia: Salamandridae) - Herpetological Journal 5: 310 -315

 

[paul]

Hi Tim,

Sparreboom wrote in this article:
"The observations were made on C.e.p. on Zamami-jima.... This island is located some 40 km W of Okinawa-jima."

Paul

 

[TJ]

Thanks Paul. Different island but a neighboring one, as can be seen in the map above...and a little more clearly in this one:

I'm planning a camera safari adventure to the Kerama Islands (incl. Tokashiki and Zamami) early next year with my newt-loving fiance...so stay tuned

 

[TJ]

For comparison purposes, here are the other 2 (I got a total of 4):

As you can see, their bellies are not as black as the ones in the first pics posted up above (I didn't want to give the impression that they're all that black).


(Message edited by TJ on September 30, 2003)