Marble pig
| Marble pig | ||||||||||||
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Marble Newt ( Triturus marmoratus ), female |
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| Triturus marmoratus | ||||||||||||
| ( Latreille , 1800) |
The marble newt ( Triturus marmoratus ) is a south-western European tailed amphibian from the genus Triturus .
features
Both sexes grow up to six inches long. Animals from southern Portugal and southern Spain that remain significantly smaller are now treated as a separate species of southern marble newt (also: dwarf marble newt, Triturus pygmaeus ). The top is characterized by a marbled pattern of green and black-gray spots. The males develop a high back crest during the mating season. In contrast to the crested newts, this skin border is not jagged, but more or less whole-rimmed and banded black-gray-brown-yellow. In the area of the tail root there is a notch between the dorsal and upper tail fin edge. The underside is uniformly dark (black-brown, gray) in both sexes and sometimes has many white dots. The females have no noticeable skin seams; often they have an orange longitudinal line on the middle of the back. In the national costume the green color becomes even brighter; the surface of the skin is then no longer smooth, but rather velvety. The laterally flattened oar tail becomes more rounded during this time.
Habitat, way of life
The marble newt is an adaptable species that colonizes a wide variety of landscapes and water biotopes. The activity time differs depending on the geographic location. In the north of the range, in north-west France, the spawning phase, during which the species visits waters, extends from March to August. There is no hibernation in the south of the Iberian Peninsula ; at this time of year the animals are also active in the water there. (For courtship behavior, compare: Northern crested newt .) The females lay 200 to 380 light yellow eggs per season in oval gelatinous shells, which they stick individually to aquatic plants. On land, marble newts hide under stones or dead wood and look for food for various invertebrates at night . During their stay in the water they also eat the smaller Spanish water newts ( Lissotriton boscai ) and their larvae. You yourself become victims of the viper snake ( Natrix maura ); their larvae are eaten by aquatic insects and aquatic insect larvae.
Spread, protection
Marble newts are widespread from France (with the exception of the east) across parts of Spain to Portugal . In north-west and central France, hybridization with the closely related northern crested newt is also observed. These animals are often "huge" with up to 18 centimeters.
Legal protection status (selection)
- Habitats Directive : Annex IV (species to be strictly protected)
- Federal Nature Conservation Act (BNatSchG): strictly protected
swell
literature
- Andreas Nöllert & Christel Nöllert: The amphibians of Europe. Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 1992. ISBN 3-440-06340-2
Web links
- Photos of the marble pig at www.herp.it
- Triturus marmoratus inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Posted by: Jan Willem Arntzen, Robert Jehle, Jaime Bosch, Claude Miaud, Miguel Tejedo, Miguel Lizana, Iñigo Martínez-Solano, Alfredo Salvador, Mario García-París, Ernesto Recuero Gil, Paulo Sá-Sousa, Rafael Marquez, 2008. Retrieved on November 20, 2013.