Triturus Marmoratus

[coen]

These are my 2 year old marmoratus posing on some bark:

Cheers,

Coen

 

[jacob]

Yours pose so well! I can never get a decent photo of my group.

 

[dane]

beauty eh

 

[cameron]

Nice looking ones right there!

 

[coen]

Thanks!

Setting up the spot and camera (put controls on manual, set up the lighting and focus, keep focus distant controllable) before you move in the animals helps a lot. This way you won't have to handle them that much, and it's just 'positioning' the newts, and, after a minor focus change, clicking!

 

[coen]

By the way, if you look at the top photo, you can clearly see a difference in head-shape between the two, could this say something about the gender?

 

[joao]

Coen, your marmoratus are very beautiful.
About your last question, I'll translate something that is written in the book 'Anfíbios e Répteis de Portugal',a book about my country's herpetological fauna:
"Triturus marmoratus (...) Sexual Dimorphism - The males show the head proportionally smaller than the females, and feet proportionally bigger. (...)"

Hope this had helped you...

---João

(Message edited by black_snake on November 29, 2006)

 

[coen]

That is really interesting Joao, thanks for the information. Why isn't this information 'widely available'? Is it uncertain?

 

[joao]

Maybe because it is a more irrelevant sexual difference.
As you know, the size of the cloaca or, like in this specie, the male crest, is a more reliable way to identify the gender...

Just my 2 cents...

---João

 

[coen]

That's true Joao, but these are still pretty juvenile at 2 years, so they still have an orange line on their backs, but it could well be a male and a female because of that determination.

I can't see any differences in their cloaca

 

[joao]

Males cloaca turns a bit larger in their breeding season...At least in this specie of caudate...

 

[coen]

..which probably explains the whole "no difference" thing because I still have to hibernate them

Thanks for the information Joao!

 

[joao]

You're welcome...
Maybe one day I'll need some information from you about the A. mexicanum...

 

[joao]

I've read that the orange vertebral line is more pronounced in females.
This link may help, too:
http://www.rieo.net/amph/saramand/imori/tritu/madara.htm

 

[jacob]

The orange line is usually not a solid line or not even present in males.

 

[simon]

Wow. fantastic animals!