Triturus is a genus of newts found from Great Britain through most of continental Europe to westernmost Siberia, Anatolia, and the Caspian Sea region. Historically, most European newts were included in the genus, but taxonomists have split off the alpine newts, the small-bodied newts and the banded newts as separate genera. The genus name Triturus was introduced in 1815 by the polymath Constantine Samuel Rafinesque, with the northern crestednewt as type species.
About Triturus in brief
Triturus is a genus of newts found from Great Britain through most of continental Europe to westernmost Siberia, Anatolia, and the Caspian Sea region. Historically, most European newts were included in the genus, but taxonomists have split off the alpine newts, the small-bodied newts and the banded newts as separate genera. As of 2020, the genus contains seven species of crested newts and two species of marbled newts. The genus name Triturus was introduced in 1815 by the polymath Constantine Samuel Rafinesque, with the northern crestednewt as type species. All species are legally protected in Europe, and some of their habitats have been designated as special reserves. They typically have a total length of between 10 and 16 cm, with some crestedNewts of up to 20 cm described. Females are slightly larger and have a proportionally longer tail than males in most species. Males court females with a ritualised display, ending in the deposition of a spermatophore that is picked up by the female. After fertilisation, a female lays 200–400 eggs, folding them individually into leaves of water plants. Larvae develop over two to four months before metamorphosing into land-dwelling juveniles. Although not immediately threatened, crested and marbledNewts suffer from population declines, caused mainly by habitat loss and fragmentation. The Balkan and the Anatoliancrested newt, the most recent species formally described, was only recognised through genetic data; together with the Southern crested Newt, they form a cryptic species complex with no morphological differences known.
Their black blotches is characteristic for individuals. Females and juveniles of some species have a yellow line running down their back and tail. In most species, this crest is the feature of the crets and can be up to 1.5cm high and very jagged in the northern Marbled newt. Another feature of males at a time is a silvery-white band along the sides of the tail in some species, forming a pattern of dark yellow to dark black spots forming a belt. The closest relatives of Tritus are the European brook newts, which are the closest relatives to the crested newts and are found in most of Europe. The monophyly of the genus Tritius in the strict sense is supported by molecular data and synapomorphies such as a genetic defect causing 50% embryo mortality. The species were originally described as Triton cristatus by Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti in 1768, but Linnaeus had already used the nameTriton for a genusof sea snails ten years before, making a new genus name for the newts necessary. That species was originally described in 1772, but it was substantially revised after it was shown to be polyphyletic. Substantial genetic differences between subspecies were, however, noted and eventually led to their recognition as full species.
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This page is based on the article Triturus published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 06, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
