T. Karelini?

[duncan]

Hi All,
I have had 6 "crested newts" for over a year now and recently one has started to crest up. This male is different than the other 5, which I am pretty sure are all T. cristatus. I think this male might be T. karelini. I was wondering if anyone might confirm this?
Thanks,
Duncan

 

[duncan]

Here's another shot of him.
Duncan

 

[eric]

I have all 4 Crested species, and your male looks like my Karelinii. Usually Karelinii don't have small white spots on the body side, or very few, and they are the only crested with yellow/orange throat. Note that they are the bigger of all crested and if I remember well the ones who have the smaller number of ribs....
On the other hand, this is maybe a Hybrid.....
Hope I help
Eric

 

[elisabeth]

He's beautiful, whatever he is!

 

[mark]

Hi Duncan,
I would agree with your origanal guess that this newt is T.karelinii.

 

[juraj]

Hi Duncan,

I would like to ask how will you keep him ? Separately or let him with Cristatus together ?

 

[duncan]

Hi Juraj,
For the time being I'll keep him in with the T. cristatus. They're in a 66 gal aquarium and haven't shown any extended signs of breeding. In fact, since I took the pictures above, his dorsal crest, what little there was, has started to recede. When I make a serious effort to breed them or they show true signs that they might reproduce, I'll take him out so that he doesn't inadvertently fertilize the cristatus and create hybrids.
Duncan

 

[juraj]

Thanks Duncan,
I`m always curious if mixing (sub)species in captivity doesn`t tend possible hybrids.

 

[duncan]

Here's a pic of one of my male T. cristatus that are in with the above T. karelini. Is there a difference? I think so based on the amount of white spotting on the sides, and the fact the belly orange and black spotting doesn't extend to the throat as much in the cristatus specimens I have (compared to the one karelini). What do you think?
Duncan