Breeding Behaviour And Embryonic Development Of Tylototriton Wenxianensis

The amphibian Tylototriton wenxianensis Fei,Ye et Yang,1984 belong to the genus Tylototriton under the family Salamandridae in the order Caudata. It is distributed in Gansu, Sichuan, Guizhou, Anhui and Hunan Province and Chongqing City, it's a rare species endemic to China. In order to clarify the breeding behaviour and the process of embryonic development of the Tylototriton wenxianensis that distributed in Hunan Province, and also in order to enrich the content of basic research and provide scientific basis for protection of the species effectively, wild field observation as well as indoor feeding were held to investigate the breeding behaviour and embryonic development of Tylototriton wenxianensis from 2008 to 2010.The results show that the reproductive period of Tylototriton wenxianensis in Huangyan, Huaihua is from early April to early June, and its breeding peak is from later April to early May. The male and female show significantly difference in appearance in the breeding season. The female salamander has significantly larger body size, wider abdomen, and shorter and uplifted anal fissure, which is surrounded by grooves. However, the male anal fissure is relatively thin, longer, slightly uplifted, and grooves absent. Tylototriton wenxianensis choose the temporary water pool, small ditches, paddy fields and wells near the foot of mountain or between mountains as breeding grounds, with at least one slope being its edge. At the beginning of breeding season, the male salamanders will move into breeding grounds early, and the female salamanders will occur around the breeding grounds 1 week later; after the female salamanders entering breeding grounds, the male salamanders will identify and trace by the sense of smell, and begin its courtship by fishtailing later, then the male and female salamanders amplexus, the female salamanders immediately leave breeding grounds to find the slope as the spawning ground after amplexus. The egg-laying amount of a female salamander is 80 or so. The egg is solitary, lacks of viscosity, and often remains in pile in the ground. After hatching, young salamanders go into the breeding ground through rainwater for accresence.Through the indoor feeding the male and female salamander at breeding period, collecting and culturing fertilized eggs, the results show that the embryonic development of Tylototriton wenxianensis can be divided into 21 periods under the room temperature maintained between 19 and 21℃. It requires 513.3 hours to complete the embryonic development.It is shows that Tylototriton wenxianensis in Huaihua, Hunan Province have significant differences in configuration and reproductive behavior to that in Wenxian County, Gansu Province, and the reasons are need further studied.