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A bit different T. kweichowensis

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Three weeks ago i bought a pair of T.Kweichowensis (they looks like 2 female to me but i'm far away to be an expert on sexing tylototriton). They come from the pet store where i work , my "boss" bought them from his exotic animals dealer , he took some other caudates from him , C.pyrrhogaster - C. ensicauda ensicauda and some Cyanurus, this thing was absolutely strange for me because the only amphibians he usually took for the store are Bombina orientalis Cynops Orientalis and Ambystoma tigrinum , so i have started to investigate and after a couple of question and some phone calls i know almost for sure that this animals come from the last Hamm show in september.
I dont know if this animals are wc or cb , they are in good condition and are voracious eater , anyway now the reason why i opened this thread, they looks quite different to the other Kweichowensis i saw around the net and especially here , as you can see from the pics the two orange lines that run along the dorsal area are not fused but clearly separeted and more "bumpy", also the tail look different , it's alot less laterally compressed and look more rounded .
About the tail, maybe this could be because they are 100% terrestrial at the moment , but i saw many pics of freshly morphed terrestrial Kweichowensis with more high and laterally compressed tail...so i guess this make no sense.
If any of you have this kinda of Kweichowensis(if they are really different) have you noticed any difference in set-up preference ? mine seems to ignore completely the water , i keep them in 50%land 50%water
now the pics
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FrogEyes

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I've got about 20 of these, wild-caught. This is the only Tylototriton I have seen in the last couple of years. They are consistently different from "typical" T.kweichowensis that I have seen in the past. The latter have fused, squarish, lateral glands which form solid stripes. Almost all specimens of this form average larger than T.shanjing, T.verrucosus, and the few T.kweichowensis I have seen, and almost universally have discrete glands which normally do NOT form stripes. I have preserved specimens of both forms which I intend to send for genotyping. Hopefully that will determine how distinct they are from one another. I refer to these animals as T.cf.kweichowensis.

This form thrives under fairly dry conditions at "room temperature". Most of mine have spent much of this dismally cool and damp 'summer' outside. When the weather was warm, they would prowl at night, especially after or during rainfall. As the weather cooled to near-freezing, they spent all of their time clustered under the leaf litter. A couple females spent much of their time under water in their pool. Indoors, a planter tray with dome lid, a bit of soil, moss, and a log proved sufficient...until I watered it. The combination of ground moisture and humidity was lethal within days. One animal from that group survived by transferring it to an open-topped lotarium. Another local keeper had a similar experience. Damp substrate is fine, but dry air or air circulation are a must.
 

FrogEyes

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It means "confer", and is used to indicate that the species name is assigned with doubt or reservations. In other words, "Tylototriton a-lot-like kweichowensis but-we're-not-sure-it's-the-same-species". It's also used in a sense of "compare to".
 

hoiwai65hk

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Thankyou, I have two of T cf kweichowensis from my local distributor last month, he said he was directly get the kweichowensis from China and distribute to other countries, next time I will try to equire him, the species about cf, and normal one is from the same regoin or other places.:happy:
 

Chamaeleo

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My male kweichowensis has a bit shanjing-like, isolated dorsolateral tubercules, too (I'm not sure about his origin, he may be WC).
 

FrogEyes

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Everything I have seen in the last three years or so has been larger, with distinct lateral warts. Everything before that had more or less fused lateral warts [one of the traits used to define the species originally]. The fact that there has been a consistant change in morphology of exported animals, and the fact that the two groups were apparently never much mixed, suggests that they DO come from different populations. If they were from more or less the same, or connected, populations, there should have always been some mix of forms, and this would likely have been known long ago - likely at the time of the species description. Since there is a population noted by IUCN as occuring far south of the main range of the species, and in fact much closer to the range of T.shanjing, it seems to me likely that these animals come from somewhere closer to that isolated population, and are more than likely a new and distinct species.
 

troutnerd

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I wasn't sure whether to start a new thread or not but figured I'd just post it here. Two weeks back I received four kweichowensis. They came to me mostly in good shape, although one was not well. In fact it seemed and looked all but DOA, and at one time I would have just buried it. But I've learned about tylo! It has made a decent come back.

Anyway,three of four seem more similar to classic kweichowensis than different,at least to me.But they all are a bit smaller overall than my two LTC kweichowensis.Those are beasts. One of the new group,however, is quite different. It is nearly black, and seems smoother skinned all around.It is also the least healthy of the group and was the one that came in nearly dead. It is somewhat active though,and its eyes look good. No sores or anything else so here is hoping. The rest are doing great. I'll attach some pics.

The container they are in (for now) was bought for $20 at a pet store here and is really nice. It is fully screened and even came with nice hides that I've mostly removed for photographic reasons. I'm keeping them cool and dark in my newt room/office in the basement.

GE
 

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Jennewt

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... it seems to me likely that these animals come from somewhere closer to that isolated population, and are more than likely a new and distinct species.

Or else all of the verrucosus/shanjing/kweichow populations could be a single species with color variants. Like the situation with Notophthalmus viridescens or Ensatina.
 

hoiwai65hk

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Hello, I went to the pet shop and got two more normal T.Kweichowensis today, I have asked the shop keeper about normal and cf of T.Kweichowwensis, he said two kinds of them are come from different regions. He got both of them from Wild, and normal Kweichow is caught from Kweichow or Szechwan, and cf type is caught from Yunnan, and cf type maybe related the spiece of T.verrucosus. The may not true, but can give some hints or reference.

About two new Kweichow, I have chosen from about 100, the colour is quite sharp very active and I prevent to get the sick one.
But after returned home , I put them in the water and washed the mut on the body, unluckly that after clean the body, I found a wound on the head., as before, I am sure, there was a black skin covered, -_-, we have three people checked them OK from the shop but we have this. Now, I have to take care of her, I hope the wound would not be larger, and healing as possible.:(
 
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