E. andersoni name game

[TJ]

Is there anywhere where one can find out the "official" English name of E.andersoni (if there even is one)?

I've seen Anderson's Salamander, Alligator Newt, Anderson's Alligator Newt, Anderson's Crocodile Newt, and Island Crocodile Newt (this last one at Caudate Culture).

(Message edited by TJ on September 10, 2004)

 

[ira]

considering that T. shanjing has just about as many english names, i would not be suprised if all those are acceptable answers.

 

[chris]

If you add all the names pet stores would find for them, if they ever got their hands on them, you'd lose count...
It just goes to show how much better scientific nomenclature is...
Chris

 

[ira]

i know shanjing are called emperor, mandarin and Crocodile newts, and pretty much any combination of those names

(check out my new mandarin cocodile newt emperor!!)

 

[TJ]

Well, on the American Museum of Natural History's site, there is a database called Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference, which has this to say about E.andersoni:

"Anderson's Newt (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World, : 35). Ryukyu Spiny Newt (Fei, 1999, Atlas Amph. China, : 44)."

Link:
http://research.amnh.org/herpetology/amphibia/references.php?id=23264

The book referred to above is "A Complete Guide to Scientific and Common Names of Reptiles and Amphibians of the World", which was published in 1995. I wonder if this is regarded as an authoritative work...

 

[ar]

I think the correct common name is Ryukyu Spiny Newt, "Ryukyu", is the archipelago of South Japan, and Spiny which we usually call the Echinotriton species in China.

 

[edward]

I have usually seen them referred to as Anderson"s newt.

Ed

 

[philipp]

Hi all
I agree with Ed.
But Andersons Spiny Newt would be the best, cause "cocodile Newt", is more connected to Tylototriton sp..
And Spiny is supported by the Genus´name , Echinotriton.
In Germany, we call Aneides lugubris "Alligator whateversalamander,...."
Greets,
Philipp

 

[TJ]

The newly published Guide to the Amphibians and Reptiles of Japan by Richard Goris and Norio Maeda (ISBN 1-57524-085-8) has adopted the name "Japanese Warty Newt" for andersoni, saying:

"The common name 'crocodile newt' is often used in the pet trade, and the name 'alligator newt' has also been used in print; but 'warty newt' seems more appropriate, since it is closer to the Japanese vernacular."

Indeed, "ibo" is the Japanese word for "wart" and "imori" is the word for newt. But "ibo imori" is also applied to newts of the genus Tylototriton, such as "minami-ibo-imori" (literally "southern warty newt") for T.shanjing or "akamimi-ibo-imori" (literally "red-eared warty newt") for T.taliangensis.

This guide does not have a problem with that as it calls the species in question Tylototriton andersoni instead of Echinotriton andersoni, explaining as follows:

"The genus Echinotriton was erected for this taxon (Nussbaum & Brodie, Herpetelogica, 38(2), 1982), but Japanese specialists argue that there is not enough genetic differentiation from Tylototriton to justify this."

It seems a bit confusing though to call andersoni "warty newt", because aren't the Paramesotriton species referred to as "warty newts"? The Japanese language gets around this by calling Paramesotriton species "kobu-imori" or "lumpy newts"

Incidently, does anybody have a copy of the above-mentioned Herpetelogica article that they could share with me? A scanned copy would do nicely!

(Message edited by TJ on September 14, 2004)

 

[TJ]

Checking out that guide how come Hynobius dunni isn't listed? Has it been merged into another species?

 

[TJ]

Hi Tim (uh oh, same name...I can predict some confusion!).

Thanks for pointing that out. You're right, of course. It's simply not there! No, the species has not been merged to the best of my knowledge and I doubt that would happen as it's a pretty distinctive species.

That's a pretty shocking omission, especially considering Hynobius dunni is one of my favorite species!

Also I see it is missing Hynobius katoi, though that is a perhaps forgivable since it was only formally put forward as a new species this year.

Did you buy the book?

Oh well, I suppose those things will be fixed in time for the 2nd edition

(Message edited by TJ on September 14, 2004)

 

[edward]

Hi Tim,
I'll check for the article in my archives.
Ed

 

[TJ]

Thanks, Ed. That'd be great. I'd love to reciprocate but most of my articles about this species are in Japanese.

On the H.dunni thing, the salamander identified as an H.tokyoensis on page 32 looks...well, to me at least, a bit like an H.dunni ! For now, at least, I'll accept that it's a H.tokyoensis, but it makes me wonder if there might have been some sort of mixup at the publishers...

Ar Oi, I personally like the name Ryukyu Spiny Newt but I haven't seen it used much outside of Chinese publications, sorry to say.

As for Anderson's Newt, well, I'm really not fond of animals being named after the Western scientists who first found or recorded them for science. It's like calling C.ensicauda popei Pope's Newt instead of Sword-Tailed Newt. For example, there is a very rare woodpecker in Okinawa called the Pryer's Woodpecker but more and more often it's being called now the Okinawa Woodpecker or even Noguchi's Woodpecker after a Japanese.

(Message edited by TJ on May 26, 2006)