Identification of Newt Larvae (Triturus/ Lissotriton)

[Terry Schild]

Hello fellow enthusiasts!

Could not find my password so I made a new account. Let me reintroduce myself: Hi I am Terry and I live in The Netherlands. I just recently came back to the hobby after a long hiatus due to work and lack of time for my little four legged ones.

I bring to your attention a group of newt tadpoles i discovered at my workplace. I work in a garden center and we have a huge water lily basin. A month ago i noticed tiny newts and decided to document their growth. Upon closer inspection, they first resembled Lissotriton vulgaris but today as I looked at them from the side they do not appear to be anything I encountered.

These supposedly wild newts were brought in with anew shipment of waterlilies, possibly as eggs. I have taken the liberty to snap a few photos. The newt tadpoles were a little too large to be common smooth newts. My guess is they look more like marbled newt tadple. They seem pretty large, almost 4.55 cm long.

If anyone with a good knowledge of these newts please look at the enclosed photographs and lend me your opinion? If they do turn out to be normal Lissotrititon then there is no problem. If they turn out to be a species not native to the Netherlands...then we may have an alien species swimming in our lily basin.
Hope to hear from you all.
Terry

 

[Azhael]

Definitely Triturus, not Lissotriton. I can´t really tell between all the Triturus species but my vote would probably go for carnifex.
If it happens to be a local species i´m pretty sure it´s forbidden by law to catch them. Check you local laws.

 

[Terry Schild]

Hello all,

Got a confirmation on the dutch forums. This species is confirmed to be Triturus cristatus. an amazing discovery. Its funny to find out that a group of rare caudates made a colony in a garden center!
I am well aware of the laws in the Netherlands, the newts were only transfered to a tank at work for photography but they were returned to water lily basin at my workplace. No one is actually keeping them since they hatched there by accident. So they remain as an odd addition to our basin! they will be safe amd will grow up with an abundance of food and hopefully will populate in the surrounding area.
To be honest I´d much rather see them in a real pond than to discover them amidst our plants in a commercial nursery. Life finds a way.
Terry

 

[will_j]

perhaps they were transported to their current location as eggs on the plants. I know that's how some introduced populations of mesotriton are thought to have started in the UK. Definitely cristatus too!

Nice to see you back on the forums Terry!