Wen Xian Knobby Newt
0.0.6
Nomenclature: Tylototriton wenxianensis
IUCN Red List: Vulnerable
Country of Origin: Wen Xian county in Gansu province and Pingwu & Qingchuan in Sichuan province, China.
Information: This species is 1 of approximately 15 known species in the Tylototriton (Crocodile and Knobby Newt) genus and is completely terrestrial in it's juvenile and adult life stages until it reaches it's Courtship & Breeding Period where males and females travel to pools to produce their offspring, which is similar to the European genus of Triturus. The species is only found in a select few locations in Gansu and Sichuan provinces, they are also hardly if ever bred in a captive environment.
It is one of the rarest and most endangered within the Tylototriton genus and is very sort after in both the Private Pet Trade and in Zoological Collections. It's main causes for the species decline is due to Habitat-loss, Pollution, Traditional Chinese Medicine and of course the Pet Trade. However, many wild caught individuals of "Tylototriton wenxianensis" are exported from China but are not guaranteed specimens, some of them being possibly Hybridised or Unknown/New species to science.
