The fire belly newt or fire newt is a genus (''Cynops'') 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 ...
s native to
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
and
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. All of the species show bright yellow or red bellies, but this feature is not unique to this genus. Their skin contains a toxin that can be harmful if ingested.
Species
Species recognized as of October 2019:
[
(A * means that the newt has been moved into the genus ''Hypselotriton'' in some classifications )
]
Taxonomic controversy
The genus ''Cynops'' has been suggested to be due for a split, with the Chinese species being placed in a separate genus from the Japanese ones.Chemnitz
Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt , ) is the third-largest city in the German state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the 28th largest city of Germany as well as the fourth largest city in the area of former East Germany a ...
Zoo, but the F2 animals have not bred well, which could suggest they are in fact a hybrid of ''C. cyanurus'' and ''C. chenggongensis'' or an undescribed ''Cynops'' species.
References
External links
{{Taxonbar, from=Q390135
Amphibians of Asia