Cynops pyrrhogaster in the wild - Special!

TJ · Mar 28, 2004

TJ · Mar 28, 2004

Here's another next to an H.tokyoensis egg sac:

(these are night shots, by the way

)

(Message edited by TJ on March 28, 2004)

samuel · Apr 3, 2004

Tim, u never cease to amaze

. Hmm, not much plants in their pool i realized. I thought they lived in heavily planted lakes and pools.

TJ · Apr 3, 2004

Heya Sam. Thanks

Well, I think they just happened to be in this part of the pond at this particular time. A lot of these ponds have fallen leaves in them and I'm told the newts spend a lot of their time among and under these leaves. Anyway, I'll be visiting this very pond tomorrow during the day so let's see what there is to see then

jesper · Apr 3, 2004

Hi Tim,
Very nice pics.
How about getting us some habitat pics?

It seems to be very beautiful over there. I can see why C.Ensicauda, C.Pyrrhogaster and T.Johnson chose Japan

samuel · Apr 4, 2004

Hey, while ur there do try to check out the natural prey items of them. shd be very informative for Pyrrhogaster keepers.

.

Sam

TJ · Apr 6, 2004

Sorry to keep you in suspense but last weekend's trip was postponed due to heavy rain. It's been reset for Saturday.

The lowland, stillwater target species are C.pyrrhogaster and H.tokyoensis (Tokyo Salamander), while the highland, river-dwelling target species are H.kimurae (Hida Salamander) and Onychodactylus japonicus (Japanese Clawed Salamander).

Jesper, I'll be sure to post more habitat pics.

Sam, budding amateur naturalist I may be

, but I doubt I'd be able to identify their natural prey items. There is, however, a detailed report around somewhere about it that I'll try to dig out. I met the person who wrote it and he assured me no newts were sacrificed in the process. Their stomachs were pumped, not dissected. One thing I do know is that C.p are fattening up on tadpoles this time of year

mark · Apr 7, 2004

Hi Tim nice pics,
Do you know what kind of plant that is in the third pic?
And another question, in your last post you said,
"One thing I do know is that C.p are fattening up on tadpoles this time of year",
does this mean they will be eating the H.tokyoensis larvae that will hatch out of that egg sac?

TJ · Apr 7, 2004

Thanks, Mark. But sorry to say I know next to nothing about plants

As for the H.tokyoensis larvae, I think they're too sharp and quick to be caught in any numbers, if at all, by C.p adults. They have much more to fear from...other H.tokyoensis larvae! The larvae of this species are highly cannibalistic.

TJ · Apr 11, 2004

These were found in this stream pool:

A broader view of the same:

(Message edited by TJ on April 11, 2004)

TJ · Apr 11, 2004

TJ · Apr 11, 2004

reinder · Apr 11, 2004

Hi tim

wow i really like these pics, gives me a good idear how they live,in the mean time my
Cynops pyrrhogaster kanto and intermediate race have started laying eggs and i,m planning to raise about 40 per race.
any breedings out there with other c.p races?

my animals are with locality data and i will post pics soon

Greetings reinder

jesper · Apr 11, 2004

I must say that the nature seems pretty amazing over there, something in between what we have here and a jungle.

Why do I get the feeling that you are constantly on field trips Tim?
I thought one had to work 24/7 to afford living in Japan

Two japanese girls have come to work on the lab I am at, they are so polite that they make me feel like an ogre

TJ · Apr 11, 2004

Hi Reinder, glad to hear of your breeding plans. I am currently raising some C.p larvae myself with locality data for the adults, but not seriously. I look forward to seeing those pics

Jesper, I made a resolution to get out and about more this year. Last year, I only talked about doing so

This pic gives a good idea of how they can be really hard to spot:

TJ · Apr 11, 2004

chris · Apr 12, 2004

Have you seen what they eat in those pools?, it looks less abundant in food sources than the ponds you have photgraphed before
Chris

TJ · Apr 12, 2004

Chris, I was at this location for only a half hour or so, so I had no time to observe their feeding habits. But I doubt they lack for food as there are plenty of insects and tadpoles in the wider area. The stream is just a short distance away from paddy fields where we had expected to find them, but couldn't. In fact, we were surprised to find them in the stream instead.

Also, I should point out that some of those photos are of newts caught in the meter-deep pool seen in the back in the habitat pics but released in shallow water for observation and picture-taking, so one shouldn't really infer much from them

The pool itself was much too murky to get decent pics. Most of the newts emerged from under fallen, decaying leaves that had sunk to the bottom of the pool. In the shallow area of the stream, the water flow was way too fast for it to be a suitable feeding area for them.

I'll be going back to this site on occasion for more detailed observations, so stay tuned

TJ · Jun 14, 2004

This time I visited C.p habitats in the northern prefecture of Fukushima, guided by a local amphibian expert.

In a valley filled with rice paddies, we found two morphologically dissimilar "types" of pyrrhogaster in close proximity to each other. The first group, gathered from a small irrigation pond, was comprised of newts that were relatively small, smooth and uniformly dark colored on the dorsum, The second group -- found closer to the forest, at a slightly higher elevation, and in only a couple of paddies and adjoining small irrigation canal -- comprised larger newts with lighter color on the dorsum, some of them faintly spotted, and with a somewhat different pattern of venter markings than those of the first group.

(Message edited by TJ on June 15, 2004)

TJ · Jun 15, 2004

Considering local variation, I thought it'd be interesting to show belly patterns of newts caught in the same pond, rather those from the same prefecture, same district or same village even. These are all from the first group:

(Message edited by tj on June 15, 2004)

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