Is this normal? I am finding oddly colored T. granulosa

[sde]

Hello everyone,

So I wanted to share some pictures of oddly colored T. granulosa I have found. I have found three in the last five months, but only have pictures of two.

One is a adult male ( the one I don't have pictures of ). He was found ( like both the others ) crossing the road. I dismisst it though, thinking he was just a random oddball. I wish I wouldn't have though, and would have taken a picture. But my first thought when I looked at his belly was "he looks like a T. mazamae!" But I just thought maybe he was an oddly colored one and moved on.
So here's the best description I can give. He was a normal looking newt from the top, but it was his belly that was odd. I flipped him over and he had the dark from his dorsal running into his belly more than usual. So basically the dark on the sides of his belly were farther in towards the middle of his belly than any other T. granulosa I have ever seen. So he sort of looks like a T. mazamae. Man am I kicking myself for not taking a picture, learned my lesson though.

Number two. My juvenile T. granulosa Nemo. I will attach pictures of him at the end.
Nemo has some add coloration to him, he's not an average looking T. granulosa. He is spotted, pretty much all over his dorsal surfaces, and his tail. But not his belly. I honestly don't have a clue why this would be. But it is very interesting. I am keeping him, so well see what happens. He doesn't look like a T. mazmae but he does have very odd coloration/pigmentation.

Number three. Yesterday I found a extremely oddly colored female T. granulosa, or at least from what I know. I will attach several pictures of her as well.
So, yesterday I was biking to the marsh where they breed to see if I could find any males, when I saw her crossing the road. From the top she looked like a normal T. granulosa, ( like the male I found ), but her underside was a different story! On her throat there a dark spot, definitely no dirt, it was pigmentation. But her legs were odd too. All of the T. granulosa that I have found have had orange colored legs on the underside, but hers weren't. They were dark. All the way to her hands. Everything else about her was normal, but here throat had a large spot and the undersides of her legs were dark. It was very odd, and prompted me to make this thread.

So what's going on here? Is it normal to find oddly colored T. granulosa? Or is there some significance to this?

Thanks! -Seth

 

[Otterwoman]

pics?

 

[sde]

Sorry, I totally forgot to add them. After typing that post I was really tired of typing and just wanted to get the post done, and I forgot to add them. I am really sorry about that guys, my bad.

Here they are. First three are the juvenile, all the ones after that are the adult female. Sorry again guys -Seth

 

[AfroNewtkeeper]

This is off topic, but that last picture is great! I wish I wasn't in the middle of a 6 year drought... xD

 

[sde]

Thanks Daniel!

Its not the original though, it has been re-colored, re-lighted, re-tinted, and re a lot of things xD

Here is the original one. Not nearly as good.

 

[sde]

Anybody got any ideas? Is there any significance to this or is it just odd coloration?

 

[supergrappler]

The coloration seems like that of a newly morphed juvenile. However it looks larger than a newly morphed juvenile. I suppose it could be a juvenile that overwintered and recently morphed at a larger size.

 

[sde]

The one that is on the white background is a juvenile, and how do you know juvenile have coloration like that?

The second one that is not on a white background is a adult female that was migrating to the breeding grounds, not a juvenile.

 

[supergrappler]

The one that is on the white background is a juvenile, and how do you know juvenile have coloration like that?

The second one that is not on a white background is a adult female that was migrating to the breeding grounds, not a juvenile.

I've been keeping and observing these newts for years from larva to adult. The second specimin has nice belly coloration, but its not unusual or anything.

 

[sde]

I have found 3 more like the adult pictured in the original post. Brown blotch on the neck, and is some cases brown extending from the front limbs onto the belly. So that is 4 adults with this out of approximately 120 or so newts.

 

[Sith the turtle]

The female I had owned had that type of coloration on her cloaca and behind of her front right arm too. It's not just limited to animals in the wild for those wondering :happy:

 

[Neotenic_Jaymes]

Years ago when Taricha granulosa were available in pet stores I would see many with dark coloration on their bellies. Maybe some locales have dark color on their bellies and other locales don't.

 

[sde]

The female I had owned had that type of coloration on her cloaca and behind of her front right arm too. It's not just limited to animals in the wild for those wondering :happy:

Almost all T. granulosa i have seen have brown on their cloaca, dark bars extend from both sides.

Years ago when Taricha granulosa were available in pet stores I would see many with dark coloration on their bellies. Maybe some locales have dark color on their bellies and other locales don't.

Interesting. I don't recall reading it in literature other than for some populations in Oregon and Alaska, so i wasn't sure how common it is. Thanks for the info.

 

[Sith the turtle]

Almost all T. granulosa i have seen have brown on their cloaca, dark bars extend from both sides.

That's not what I meant, my male had the dark band, but my female had random brown splotches on hers and behind her right arm