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Fire Belly Newt




  Name Fire Belly Newts
  Regnum Animal ia
  Phylum Chordata
  Classis Lissamphibia
  Ordo Caudata
  Familia Salamandridae
  Genus '''''Cynops'''''
  Genus Authority Tschudi , 1838


The Fire Belly Newts (''Cynops'') is a genus of newts native to Japan and China . All of the species show brights yellow or red bellies, however this feature is not unique to this genus.


SPECIES



TAXONOMIC CONTROVERSY

The genus ''Cynops'' is due for a split. The Chinese species will be placed in a separate genus from the Japanese ones. The species '' Cynops Cyanurus '' is at the centre of all this. There is much debate about the validity of ''Cynops cyanurus'' and '' Cynops Chenggongensis ''. All the known captive animals could be something different to ''cyanurus'' as they do not entirely match the original description of the species. the only known animals that match that are animals originating from Chemnitz Zoo but the problem is that they have not been able to get the F2 animals to breed well, which could suggest that they are in fact a hybrid of ''cyanurus'' and ''chenggongensis'' or an undescribed ''Cynops'' species. There have even been suggestions that the animals thought to be ''cyanurus'' in collections is in fact ''chennggongensis''. There is still much to be learnt from this genus, and only further analysis will clear it up.


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