''Tylototriton verrucosus'' is a species of

newt A newt is a salamander in the subfamily Pleurodelinae. The terrestrial juvenile phase is called an eft. Unlike other members of the family Salamandridae, newts are semiaquatic, alternating between aquatic and terrestrial habitats. Not all aqua ...

found in the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

. Common names include: Himalayan newt, crocodile newt, crocodile salamander, Himalayan salamander, red knobby newt.

Description

This newt can reach a length of . 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. They have five toes and the tail is flattened to aid swimming. 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. 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.

Diet

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

Range

''T. verrucosus'' is found in mountains of

Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

, Kakhyen Hills,

Sikkim Sikkim ( ; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Koshi Province of Nepal in the west, and West Bengal in the ...

Manipur Manipur () is a state in northeastern India with Imphal as its capital. It borders the Indian states of Assam to the west, Mizoram to the south, and Nagaland to the north and shares the international border with Myanmar, specifically t ...

and Northern

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

. Preservation efforts are on in its habitat in

Darjeeling Darjeeling (, , ) is a city in the northernmost region of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the Koshi Pr ...

(India), where it breeds in good numbers. In Thailand, it is only known from Doi Chang in

Chiang Rai Province Chiang Rai (, ; , ) is one of Thailand's seventy-six Provinces of Thailand, provinces that lies in Northern Thailand#Regional classification of northern Thailand, upper northern Thailand and is Thailand's northernmost province. It is bordered ...

. Other populations in

Northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating ...

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''.

References

External links

Species account

In captivity
{{Authority control verrucosus Amphibians of Myanmar Amphibians of India Amphibians of Nepal Amphibians of Thailand Amphibians of Vietnam Amphibians described in 1871