Ommatriton accepted?

[wouter]

Hi all,

I just noticed on www.amphibiaweb.org that the genus Ommatriton is finally accepted for the species vittatus and ophryticus. I guess this means that O. o. nesterovi is also accepted...

For more info: Litvinchuk, Zuiderwijk, Borkin & Rosanov (2005), "Taxonomic status of Triturus vittatus (Amphibia: Salamandridae)in western Turkey: trunk vertebrae count, genome size and
allozyme data", Amphibia-Reptilia Volume 26, No. 3.

 

[nate]

AmphibiaWeb has it spelled Ommatotrtion.

Just imagine what will happen when this much scrutiny is applied to the Asian salamandrids

 

[sergé]

Well, i think the last word on splitting vittatus and ophryticus in two speceis and place them in a separate genus is not yet said. This is a first attempt to solve the puzzle, but it gives only a few pieces.
I have seen the results of a russian herpetologist who presented his data (collected of all known subspecies) on Triturus vittatus in Bonn (European Herpetological congres) and that looked like there is too little support from a genetical point of view and also in the variation of the vertebrae count to support this thesis...
So we will perhaps change it again when he has published his data...

 

[william]

very interesting which side of the fence does cilliensis (right spelling?

?) fall?

 

[sergé]

Ciliciensis is still a subspecies of Triturus vittatus and will stay like that (as ophryticus is for the northern form).

 

[william]

how do you distinguish between O. o. nesterovi and O. o. ophryticus?

 

[sergé]

Good question..download the article on www.caudata.ru...you have to count the rib bearing vertebrae...(but even that is not 100% giving you the right answer..).

 

[william]

perfect so i need to gut my animals to find out what subspecies they are!

 

[sergé]

Well, it all comes down to something very basic. If people don't know exactly where their animals originate from and just think a name is enough they always end up mixing animals which could be something different. We learn more and more that there is much more variety. In the fish hobby of killi fish for instance or in the dendrobatid world they always keep their bloodlines clear. In the caudata world many people mix up animals from different origins. It is not important if you just keep a pet until it dies, but if you want to breed them it is necessary to keep animals more pure. Sadly most T. ophryticus around are without any origin.

 

[justin]

That is an interesting point. There is a push in the US to have animals in a form of registry. Dendrobatids coming into the US right now from legal importations from Peru are given codes to keep lines pure. These codes include locality information etc. I personally believe on keeping locality specific species pure, a step forward from even keeping species or subspecific lines pure.
j