Tylototriton verrucosus

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Tylototriton verrucosus
Tylototriton verrucosus.jpg
Image of Tylototriton verrucosus
Tylototriton verrucosus -held in hand-8a.jpg
A image of Tylototriton verrucosus in a person's hand showing its size
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Urodela
Family: Salamandridae
Genus: Tylototriton
Species:
T. verrucosus
Binomial name
Tylototriton verrucosus
Anderson, 1871

Tylototriton verrucosus is a species of newt found in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Common names include: Himalayan newt, crocodile newt, crocodile salamander, Himalayan salamander, red knobby newt. [1]

Contents

Description

This newt can reach a length of 20 cm. The tongue is small and is free on the sides and only slightly towards its base. The teeth on the palate are in two oblique rows that meet at the front of the mouth. The skull has a thick, bony fronto-squamosal arch, a feature of all salamanders. [2] They have five toes and the tail is flattened to aid swimming. [3]

The head is wide and the snout is short and the head has three prominent bony ridges with pores, one along the center and two along the back of the sides of the heads (the parietal ridge). There are no lobes on the lips. The body is 3 to 3.5 times as long as the head. There is no crest running along the dorsal midrib as in some newts but there is a prominent vertebral ridge with a series of knobs formed from the expansion of the neural processes of the dorsal vertebral bones. There is a series of 15 or 16 knob-like porous glands along the sides with the last three behind the leg. The legs are moderately long with the fingers and toes within webbing but are slightly flattened. The tail is at least as long as the head and body and is flattened to help in swimming. The tail has an upper and lower crest which meet at the tip of the tail. The anal opening is a longitudinal slit, and its borders are not raised. The skin is rough and the parotoid glands are large. There is a strong fold on the chin. The entire newt is uniformly blackish brown, slightly paler on the lips, snout, chin, throat, and under surface of limbs. The lower edge of the tail is orange-yellow. [3]

During the breeding season in May and June these behavioural differences between the sexes. Courtship and mating occur at night and as in many salamanders involves the male moving around it while bending, pushing and curving its tail. [4]

Diet

They feed on spiders, worms, millipedes, scorpions, molluscs and a range of insects. [5]

Range

T. verrucosus is found in mountains of Yunnan, Kakhyen Hills, Sikkim, Manipur and Northern Burma. [6] Preservation efforts are on in its habitat in Darjeeling (India), where it breeds in good numbers. [1] In Thailand, it is only known from Doi Chang in Chiang Rai Province. [7] Other populations in Northern and Northeastern Thailand, as well as populations in Laos and Vietnam, were described in 2013 and 2015 as the new species T. anguliceps , T. panhai and T. uyenoi . [8] [9]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anderson's crocodile newt</span> Species of salamander

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pyrenean brook salamander</span> Species of amphibian

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wenxian knobby newt</span> Species of salamander

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<i>Tylototriton ziegleri</i> Species of amphibian

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Crocodile newt may refer to:

Tylototriton panhai is a newt found in Thailand and Laos. It was recently distinguished from Tylototriton shanjing by Nishikawa et al., 2013.

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<i>Tylototriton himalayanus</i> Species of salamander

Tylototriton himalayanus is a species of salamander in the family Salamandridae. It is known from the Ilam District in eastern Nepal, Darjeeling in northwestern India, and western Bhutan. It is one of the only two species of salamanders found in India.

<i>Tylototriton anguliceps</i> Species of salamander

The angular-headed newt, also known as angular-headed crocodile newt, is a species of salamander in the family Salamandridae from Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam. Its unique orange markings help to distinguish it from other species, and also gave it the nickname "Star-Trek newt", as it resembles the ridges on the head of the fictional Klingon species from the television show Star Trek.

Pachytriton inexpectatus is a species of salamander in the family Salamandridae. It is endemic to southern China and found in the Guizhou, Hunan, Guangdong, and Guangxi provinces. Its type locality is Mount Dayao of Jinxiu Yao Autonomous County, Guangxi. Prior to naming of this species in 2011, it was confused with Pachytriton labiatus. It is one of the several species that can appear in the pet trade as paddletail newt. The specific name inexpectatus is Latin meaning "unexpected" and refers to finding a species that is common in pet trade but lacked formal scientific description. Common name Yaoshan stout newt has been coined specifically for this species.

Tylototriton ngoclinhensis, the Ngoc Linh crocodile newt, is a species of crocodile newt native to the Central Highlands region of Vietnam. First discovered in 2018, it was described as a new species in 2023. Due to its small range, the newt is considered to be threatened and it has been proposed for it to be classified as endangered on the IUCN Red List.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Tylotriton verrucosus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species .
  2. ↑ William Edward Duellman, Linda Trueb (1994) Biology of amphibians. JHU Press. ISBN   0-8018-4780-X page 464
  3. 1 2 Boulenger, G.A. (1890). Fauna of British India. Reptilia and Batrachia. London: Taylor and Francis.
  4. ↑ Roy D; M. Mushahidunnabi (2001). "Courtship, mating and egg-laying in Tylototriton verrucosus from the Darjeeling district of the Eastern Himalaya" (PDF). Current Science. 81 (6): 693–695.
  5. ↑ Devi, N. T. (2005). "The food of the Himalayan Newt (Tylototriton verrucosus Anderson): A preliminary study". Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society . 102 (2): 166–168.
  6. ↑ The Myanmar Herpetological Survey Project
  7. ↑ Pomchote, P.; W. Khonsue; P. Sapewisut; K. Eto; K. Nishikawa (2020). "Discovering A Population of Tylototriton verrucosus (Caudata: Salamandridae) from Thailand: Implications for Conservation". Tropical Natural History. 20 (1): 1–15.
  8. ↑ Kanto Nishikawa; Wichase Khonsue; Porrawee Pomchote; Masafumi Matsui (2013). "Two new species of Tylototriton from Thailand (Amphibia: Urodela: Salamandridae". Zootaxa . 3737 (3): 261–273.
  9. ↑ Le, D.T.; T.T. Nguyen; K. Nishikawa; S.L.H. Nguyen; A.V. Pham; M. Matsui; M. Bernardes; T.Q. Nguyen (2015). "A new species of Tylototriton Anderson, 1871 (Amphibia: Salamandridae) from Northern Indochina". Current Herpetology. 34 (1): 38–50. doi:10.5358/hsj.34.38.
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