Triturus

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Triturus
Northern crested newt (Triturus cristatus), male in transition from water to land costume

Northern crested newt ( Triturus cristatus ), male in transition from water to land costume

Systematics
without rank: Amphibians (Lissamphibia)
Order : Tail amphibian (caudata)
Superfamily : Salamander relatives (Salamandroidea)
Family : Real salamanders (Salamandridae)
Subfamily : Pleurodelinae
Genre : Triturus
Scientific name
Triturus
Rafinesque , 1815
species

Triturus is a genus of tailed amphibians from the family of real salamanders and newts (Salamandridae). It traditionally contains around 15 species , including all the newts native to Central Europe. As a result of molecular genetic and morphological relationship analyzes, only the crested newts and the two types of marble newtsare now placedin the genus Triturus and the remaining species are assigned to three separate genera.

etymology

The word "Triturus" is composed of two ancient Greek words:

  • from Triton , the name of one of the sons of the sea god Poseidon , whose upper body is human and lower body is fish,
  • and ura , the word for 'tail' or 'tail'.

“Triturus” therefore means something like torn water god. The name was introduced in 1815 by the American biologist Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz as a replacement for the generic name Triton, which had been in use until then and was coined by the Austrian naturalist Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti in 1768 . This was previously only 10 years from the famous Carl Linnaeus in an alleged mollusc awarded genus * and was therefore no longer free for amphibians.

Characteristics, mating behavior

The representatives of the genus Triturus spend part of the year on land, but at least seek out waters for reproduction. The males develop a species-typical water load, which is mostly characterized by bright body colors and / or a flexible skin crest on the back and tail. Newts show a characteristic courtship behavior in which the male woos the largely passive female. Usually the male fanned the female with the tip of his tail, and occasionally gave him a whip-like blow. Finally, it deposits a package of semen, known as a spermatophore , on the ground, over which the female moves in order to ingest it with the cloaca (indirect internal fertilization). Later, it usually lays the eggs one by one, attaching them to aquatic plants or to leaves lying on the bottom of the water and "wrapping them up" in the process.

Systematics

In addition to the current seven crested newt species after their revision only the two marble newts (here: Triturus marmoratus ) to the genus Triturus counted
  Salamandridae  



 Mertensiella


   

 Chioglossa



   

 Salamandra


   

 Lycia Salamandra




   

 Salamandrina


   


 Tylototriton


   

 Pleurodeles



   


 Notophthalmos


   

 Taricha



   

 Euproctus


   

 Triturus



   

 "Triturus"
 vittatus  (=  Ommatotriton )


   

 Neurergus


   

 Mesotriton  (=  Ichthyosaura )


   

 Cynops


   

 Paramesotriton


   

 Pachytriton





   

 Lissotriton


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Relationships of the Salamandridae. The topology of the cladogram shows the genus Triturus according to traditional understanding (bold taxa) as a paraphyletic grouping.

The following species and subspecies are traditionally assigned to the genus Triturus (these scientific names are still often used today by taxonomically more conservative herpetologists ; plus newly delimited taxa ):

Several times in herpetological history there had been attempts to further differentiate the genus Triturus taxonomically. A closer relationship seems obvious on the one hand to the small-stature species such as pond newt, thread newt or Italian newt, and on the other hand to the large crested newt and marble newt. In 1928 , István József Bolkay proposed dividing the genus Triturus into three sub-genera called paleotriton , mesotriton and neotriton .

In 2004, based on the results of molecular genetic relationships , a collective of Spanish authors recommended the classification of the small newts and the mountain newts as separate genres, accompanied by a revival of the names Lissotriton and Mesotriton, which were already coined in the 19th and early 20th centuries .

Another proposal was made in 2005. This also provides for the placement of the mountain newt in a separate genus Mesotriton and wants to keep the crested newt and marble newt species in the genus Triturus . However, the small newts should not be called Lissotriton , but Lophinus and the banded newt should also be raised to the genus rank as Ommatotriton and its two previous subspecies should be given species status - with Ommatotriton vittatus as the name for the southern and Ommatotriton ophryticus as the name for the northern population.

In the meantime (2009/2010) a mixture of these suggestions seems to have prevailed for the time being, with the mountain newch having to correct its generic name from mesotriton to the older and thus priority ichthyosaura after the evaluation of historical literature .

According to this, the traditional Triturus species, along with newly described taxa, are divided into the following genera:

Lissotriton Ichthyosaura Triturus Ommatotriton
Spanish newt
( Lissotriton boscai ) 		Mountain Newt
( Ichthyosaura alpestris ) 		"Anatolian crested newt"
( Triturus anatolicus ) 		Northern banded newt
( Ommatotriton ophryticus )
Newt
( Lissotriton helveticus ) 		Alpine crested newt
( Triturus carnifex ) 		Southern banded newt
( Ommatotriton vittatus )
Italian newt
( Lissotriton italicus ) 		Northern crested newt
( Triturus cristatus )
Carpathian newt
( Lissotriton montandoni ) 		Danube crested newt
( Triturus dobrogicus )
Pond newt
( Lissotriton vulgaris ) 		Buresch's crested newt
( Triturus ivanbureschi )
Asiatic crested newt
( Triturus karelinii )
Macedonian crested newt
( Triturus macedonicus )
Marble Newt
( Triturus marmoratus )
Dwarf marble newt
( Triturus pygmaeus )

Remarks

*The (early) taxonomic history of both the genus Triturus Rafinesque , 1815 and the genus name Triton is relatively confused and complicated. So Triton Linnaeus in 1758, also for some time no longer in use because it is unclear what he was called for an animal. Charles Darwin speculated that it was the moult ( exuvia ) of a barnacle .

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Mario García-París, Albert Montori, Pilar Herrero: Amphibia: Lissamphibia. In: María de los Ángeles Ramos Sánchez et al. (Ed.): Fauna Iberica. Vol. 24. Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid 2004, ISBN 84-00-08292-3 , pp. 41 f., 47 ff., 169-274 (Spanish)
  2. ↑ SN Litvinchuk, A. Zuiderwijk, LJ Borkin, JM Rosanov: Taxonomic status of Triturus vittatus (Amphibia: Salamandridae) in western Turkey: trunk vertebrae count, genome size and allozyme data. Amphibia reptilia. Vol. 26, No. 3, 2005, pp. 305-323.
  3. ↑ Josef F. Schmidtler: The roots of a Bavarian herpetofaunistics in the 18th and early 19th century. Journal of Field Herpetology. Vol. 14, 2007, pp. 93–119 ( PDF 622 kB, cf. in particular p. 105).
  4. ↑ B. Wielstra, JW Arntzen: Description of a new species of crested newt, previously subsumed in Triturus ivanbureschi (Amphibia: Caudata: Salamandridae). Zootaxa. Vol. 4109, No. 1, 2016, pp. 73–80, doi: 10.11646 / zootaxa.4109.1.6 ( Open Access )
  5. ↑ Using the example of the pond newch, detailed in Josef F. Schmidtler: Der Teichmolch ( Triturus vulgaris (L.)), a prime example of systematic confusion and a flood of names in the early history of research. Secretary. Vol. 4, No. 2, 2004, pp. 10-28 ( PDF 3.9 MB); see also under web links
  6. ↑ Hermann von Jhering: The Linne'schen generic names of the marine nudibranchs. News bulletin of the German Malacoological Society. Jhrg. 39, 1907, pp. 218–221 ( BHL , compact downloadable from archive.org ); Note that Jhering uses the name Molge for the amphibian genus, which was coined in 1820 by the German biologist Blasius Merrem as a replacement name for Triton Laurenti , 1768, and is thus a more recent synonym for Triturus Rafinesque , 1815.
  7. ^ Charles Darwin: A Monograph on the Sub-Class Cirripedia. The Lepadidæ or Pedunculated Cirripedes. London 1851, doi: 10.5962 / bhl.title.2104 , footnote p. 164

Web links

Commons : Triturus  - collection of images, videos and audio files