Sexing Taricha granulosa

[TJ]

Would somebody with some knowledge of this species (not just wild guesses please) let me know whether these two are both females?

<u>T. granulosa A</u>

(Message edited by TJ on September 17, 2004)

 

[TJ]

<u>T. granulosa B</u>

I'm hoping against the odds that one of them is a male...

P.S. John, these pics are taken using the Canon 10D that my wife borrowed from work while my Canon Rebel is being repaired -- quite some difference in quality!

(Message edited by TJ on September 17, 2004)

 

[TJ]

Another view:

 

[TJ]

The larger one is enormous -- 20 cm -- though I think I read on Pin-pin's caresheet that they can reach 22 cm.

 

[TJ]

The smaller and darker of the two is still pretty huge at 19 cm:

 

[pin-pin]

The top lighter-coloured one (Taricha A) is female. The bottom one I am not sure.

The identifying traits for males (smoother skin, enlarged vent and cornified toe pads) only become very noticeable when they are breeding.

Easiest is to see if anyone goes into amplexus.

P.S. Those are some mighty sexy Tarichas there, Tim. Mind if I use these pictures for my website? I'll put the copyright on them since you didn't "watermark" them...*cough*.

(Message edited by apples on September 18, 2004)

 

[john]

Nice dslr Tim

. B might be male alright.

 

[TJ]

Pin-pin, go right ahead! I'm overjoyed to hear I might have a male

Enlarged vent? you mean like an engorged cloaca? Like with C.ensicauda? I'll be on the lookout for cornified toe pads...

John, I'm using a 28-135mm lens (w/ image stabilizer) with this test camera. Would have loved to have had access to this when I went to Okinawa! I'm definitely going to get a lens of this sort before making my next trip though.

 

[TJ]

 

[uwe]

sorry to tell you Tim,

but I think they are both female.

Uwe

 

[isaiah]

I was told males will have a dark bar across the vent. I have seen this in my newts.

 

[pin-pin]

I'm not exactly sure if the band across the cloaca for grans are a definite indication of sex, Uwe is a better authority on this.

This is a photo of what I mean by enlarged vent:

Handsome male, isn't it? I'm pretty sure it is either T.torosa or T.granulosa. I lean more towards granulosa.

 

[TJ]

What a great-looking (and well-cloacaled) guy

Here's another pic of my Taricha harem:

 

[nesaraj]

Can't you just give them a survey to fill out?

 

[pin-pin]

Heya Tim, very sexy harem that is.

Browsing the caherps.com site, I found a very clear shot of "cornified toe pads" by Gary Nafis (this is T.t.torosa, but all Taricha share this characteristic). Although OUCH, seems like someone is holding that poor fellow a bit too tight.

 

[jonathan]

I know it's a crime to bump a thread this ancient, but this is a really good thread. The only thing missing is the answer. Were A&B both female, or was B a male?