Cynops variants (red/orange dorsum)

[TJ]

This is apparently the reddest C.pyrrhogaster among several caught in the same location and kept by a Mr. Suzuki:

Source: http://www.cityfujisawa.ne.jp/~shonanaq/z,%20akaharaimori.htm


(Message edited by TJ on June 17, 2004)

 

[TJ]

I stumbled across this astonishing pic while browsing through tropical fish magazines at a used book store:

Picture by: Mr. Jun Ikeda
Source: Aqua Life, No. 12, December 2001

(Message edited by TJ on June 17, 2004)

 

[TJ]

There are apparently less than a dozen cases on record of C.pyrrhogaster like the one above. It may or may not be the same newt as this one:

Source: Peponi (reptile & amphibian shop, Japan)

http://www.remix-net.co.jp/Peponi/Image/226ikou/6gatu/6.15/akaimori1.JPG

(Message edited by TJ on June 17, 2004)

 

[TJ]

I've posted this C.orientalis pic before:

(This is my pic but the newt belongs to Mr. Yamamoto)

Along with some others at:

http://www.caudata.org/forum/messages/13/4859.html

(Message edited by TJ on June 17, 2004)

 

[TJ]

Here's a red variant C.ensicauda ensicauda:

Photo: Mr. Norio Maeda
Source: A Photographic Guide: Amphibians and Reptiles of Japan

(Message edited by TJ on June 17, 2004)

 

[TJ]

Here's a link to an earlier thread discussing red variants of C.pyrrhogaster:

http://www.caudata.org/forum/messages/13/11300.html

 

[TJ]

Here's a link to Paul's abnormally colored C.ensicauda popei:

http://www.caudata.org/forum/messages/985/6753.jpg

(Message edited by TJ on June 17, 2004)

 

[TJ]

This is an illustration of a C.pyrrhogaster from the book:

A Monograph of the Tailed Batrachians of Japan (Sato, I. 1943)

 

[TJ]

Here are some red/orange variant Cynops cyanurus:

http://www.livingunderworld.org/gallery/photos/caudata/salamandridae/cynops/cyanurus/cynops_cyanurus_seguin_2.jpg

http://www.livingunderworld.org/gallery/photos/caudata/salamandridae/cynops/cyanurus/cynops_cyanurus_seguin_3.jpg

Here's where those photos are credited:

http://www.livingunderworld.org/gallery/photos/caudata/salamandridae/cynops/cyanurus/

(Message edited by TJ on June 17, 2004)

 

[TJ]

And/or this one:

http://www.hkr.ne.jp/~rieokun/saramand/imori/cynops/akahara4.jpg

 

[TJ]

This is an orange rather than a red variant C.pyrrhogaster:

(picture taken with permission of Pau Pau Aqua Garden, Tokyo, Japan)

More pics of the same can be found at:

http://www.caudata.org/forum/messages/13/16479.html?1086279051

 

[TJ]

Source: Red Variants of the Japanese Newt Cynops pyrrhogaster (Amphibia: Salamandridae: Review of Records and Captive Observations on the Heredity of Coloration
By Kumi Matsui, Junsuke Marunouchi, and Masahisa Nakamura
Current Herpetology 22(1) 2003

It's interesting to note that most of the cases come from western Japan. Kouchi and Ehime prefectures are both on Shikoku Island.

 

[TJ]

Here are two pics from the above report:

 

[sergé]

Hi Tim,

just to give you some compliments, thanks for sharing these pictures! I am not at all interested in eastern asiatic species, but it is good to see some differences within species (goes the same for the Hynobids you show us regularly). It is good to have someone over there who is actively searching and actually coming up with new pictures never published before. Never thought of writing your own english idetificatiuon guide to Japanese salamanders and newts? You have all the pictures..

 

[TJ]

One of these days, Serg, one of these days. But I'll leave the simplistic identification guides to others. I tend to go way overboard on any project, so my book would surely be 10 years in the making, entailing dozens of field trips and running to over 1,000 pages

Anyway, thanks for the compliment. I'm just keen on information compiling and information sharing. With the language barrier and all, not all the much info on Japanese caudates makes it out to the English-speaking world. I just wish we had somebody in China doing something similar!

 

[TJ]

C.pyrrhogaster:

Photo: Mr. Ryu Uchiyama
Source: A Photographic Guide: Amphibians and Reptiles of Japan

 

[joeri]

Can I order a copy already Tim?