Very interesting, Michael. I'd like to see more pictures of the female, which also looks to me to be
C. orientalis (the male is definitely
C. pyrrhogaster).
I wouldn't separate them for any reasons other than as a matter of principle. Realistically, the chances of their offspring making it to adulthood to begin are minimal. In my reckoning (somebody correct me if I'm wrong), there are very few people who have managed this with these species, which is why one only ever sees WC of either on the market. And assuming they <u>were</u> successfully raised to adulthood, the chances of them finding their way from where you are back into the wild in either China or Japan and messing up the gene pool there are so minute that it's hard to imagine. There are many, many more immediate threats to these two species than a SF Bay hobbyist.
Having said that, I can certainly understand the concerns expressed about hybrids in general. Right now, here in Japan, herpetologists are grappling with the problem of Chinese giant salamanders fouling the gene pool of Japanese giant salamanders. These were once imported in large numbers as a delicacy for the restaurant trade and some made their way into the wild where they have interbred with Japanese ones (yes, despite their being separate species).
I should also point out that there is a record of
C. ensicauda and
C. pyrrhogaster being successfully bred in the laboratory in Japan. There may be some scientific value in knowing whether
C. orientalis and
C. pyrrhogaster can likewise interbreed...though again, this is not to be encouraged as a matter of principle.
I've posted photos here before of a
C. pyrrhogaster male actively courting a
C. cyanurus female, so it wouldn't surprise me to hear of one courting a
C. orientalis. Anything beyond that would, however
