T. arntzeni / ivanbureschi breeding

[otolith]

Here are a few pictures of my 2.2 group of T. arntzeni/ivanbureschi. I acquired them as T. arnzteni before the species changed. From what I've read and seen they appear to most closely align with what is now described as T. ivanbureschi, but of course without locality info it is very difficult to know for certain.

They are kept aquatically year round. They have floating islands which they only appear to use at night for sleeping. Water temp ranges from 55-68F seasonally. They are very capable hunters and happily eat pretty much anything, although worms and pellets make up the bulk of their diet. The males started cresting up as soon as the temperature dropped in the fall and have been madly courting the females ever since. Found the first eggs two weeks ago at a water temp of 60F. So far I have collected close to 60 eggs and all appear to be developing well (although half will inevitably fail to hatch). I will hopefully be able to raise a fair number up this year, I will be sure to post pictures of their development if there is any interest.

 

[Chinadog]

They're stunning, Perry. The females really really remind me of C. pyrrhogaster for some reason...

 

[Stupot1610]

They look great, good luck with breeding.

Stuart

 

[otolith]

They're stunning, Perry. The females really really remind me of C. pyrrhogaster for some reason...

It must be that comedic blimp-like profile they both share . They are definitely the "roundest" of any Triturus I've kept, not even the karelinii come close to how massive these ladies get.

 

[caleb]

I acquired them as T. arnzteni before the species changed. From what I've read and seen they appear to most closely align with what is now described as T. ivanbureschi, but of course without locality info it is very difficult to know for certain.

The range of T. ivanbureschi completely contains the the range of 'arntzeni', so yes, all genuine 'arntzeni' will now be T. ivanbureschi.

 

[JM29]

Not exactly.
T. arntzeni was the name given to a population of T. macedonicus variously mixed with T. ivanbureschi.

For more detailed info, read :
Kicking Triturus arntzeni when it's down: large-scale nuclear genet... - PubMed - NCBI

So T. arntzeni from the type locality is not T. ivanbureschi.

 

[caleb]

Yes, strictly speaking, that is the case.

I guess what I was really trying to say is that all newts of the karelinii group from the range suggested for 'arntzeni' (east Balkans to western Turkey) are now T. ivanbureschi.

Anyone interested can read most of the publications via Ben Wielstra's homepage:
https://benwielstra.wordpress.com/publications/

 

[otolith]

This article does a good job of hashing out the particulars of the T. karelinii "complex"

http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2013/f/zt03682p453.pdf

I am going off of the information in this article as well as "Salamanders of the World" by Max Sparreboom which also addresses the taxonomic changes. The range originally proposed for T. arntzeni was split into two isolated populations, the smaller of which has been re-classified / included as T. macedonicus.

 

[Stupot1610]

How are you getting on with these? I imagine you've probably got a lot of larvae now

 

[otolith]

How are you getting on with these? I imagine you've probably got a lot of larvae now

The temperature in the basement has been fairly cool and I've sent a lot of eggs to friends so I actually only have about 30 larvae so far. There are close to 100 developing eggs that will hatch any day though.

They are very undemanding to raise so far. Much less delicate than Dobro larvae (of which I've had heavy losses this year). They are primarily eating moina for now and the most advanced larvae are developing their rear legs. I'll post some pictures when they are a bit further along.

 

[otolith]

No new real updates, I have about 50 larvae now and the largest are budding rear legs. Lots of eggs, gigantic females. Heres a glamour shot of the fanciest male.

 

[otolith]

I got a few pictures of the larvae today, they are developing very well and growing quickly. Still primarily feeding them daphnia but the largest are eating blackworms now as well. So far they are very resilient larvae. I've had hardly any losses and they do not seem to be as prone to cannibalism as other triturus. They are very active feeders which is a lot of fun to watch. The females are still laying but I think the near 50 larvae I've got are plenty for this season :happy: