I.D. please

I recently had a discussion that left me doubting the I.D. of my Paramesotriton.
I was certain they were Hongkongensis, but I was told they are protected and it is unlikely any have been imported into Canada in the last ten years. This is the best pic i could get as of now, but I'll keep trying. Possibly Chinensis? but the skin seems too smooth compared to other Chinensis I've seen. Help please.

In my opinion - certain hongkongensis.

I would say its honkongensis because chinensis has not that prominent dorsolateral ridge.

Looks like P. hongkongensis to me; the skin is relatively smooth for Paramesotriton, the red line at the bottom of the tail/cloaca looksmore like hongkongensis than chinensis, the cranial ridges are prominent and there are no yellow spots at the base of the limbs.
Do bear in mind that hongkongensis was only recently(ish) separated from chinensis (1962, i think), and is considered a subspecies, still, by some authorites. Not sure what the molecular evidence is on this - I have apaper, but need to get round to reading it.

Re the importation, these newts are widely exported despite protection inside their range (like a whole host of other Chinese amphibs, e.g. various Tylototriton). When it comes to the international trade in amphibians, local protection means very little, particularly from SE Asia, unfortunately.....
I think, also, that this species is protected on Hongkong itself, bu the populations on mainland China are not - I'm not sure about this, though, maybe someone with more specific knowledge could comment.
Chris

froggy said:

I think, also, that this species is protected on Hongkong itself, bu the populations on mainland China are not - I'm not sure about this, though, maybe someone with more specific knowledge could comment.
Chris

Click to expand...

Uuhhh, do P. hongkongensis live in continental China? I thought that they live only in Hong Kong... In Wikia you can read that they are found also in "coastal regions of Guangdong province".

Yes, their range includes both Hong Kong and coastal China. I don't know what the legal status is in either location, but there have been zillions of them exported in the past 10 years.

Thanks everyone. I was pretty sure they are hongkongs. But it's nice to have reassurance.

Cheers, Ben