AVOIDANCE-RESPONSE BY ADULT NEWTS (CYNOPS-PYRRHOGASTER AND NOTOPHTHALMUS-VIRIDESCENS) TO CHEMICAL ALARM CUES

Many fishes and aquatic invertebrates use chemical alarm cues to avoid predation, however relatively little is known about the occurrence of chemical alarm cues in amphibians. We tested the response of adult fi re-bellied newts (Cynops pyrrhogaster) and red-spotted newts (Notophth almus viridescens) to chemical cues from damaged tissues of newts and other salamanders. Both species avoided chemical cues from a conspecif ic skin extract. Notophthalmus viridescens also avoided chemical cues from C. pyrrhogaster skin extract, but the converse was not true. Neit her species avoided chemical cues from a conspecific viscera extract, plethodontid salamander (Desmognathus and Plethodon) skin extracts, or a conspecific skin extract which had been heated. These results indic ate that the avoidance behaviour is an alarm response to chemical cues released from damaged newt skin and is not a general response to chem ical cues from damaged salamander tissue. This study provides the best evidence to date for an avoidance response by caudate amphibians to c hemical alarm cues.