Triturus pygmaeus

[Jesper]

Sorry seems I have forgotten how to search on this site...
Anyway, just a simple question regarding the status of the Triturus split. No I havent kept updated for the last years... Isnt it strange that they split Triturus according to what seem to be morphology?
I assume the split is the results of genetic analysis and morphology(body size in this case) just happens to not have changed much within the genus. Then T.pygmaeus comes along... Eh?

 

[Azhael]

As far as i know the main differences are genetical. Morphologycally both species are highly similar with some populations being almost imposible to identify without a DNA analysis.
However, it seems that the genetic differences are big enough to clearly separate two species.

 

[eljorgo]

what I think that happend to the marmoratus split up into m. pygmaeus and m. marmoratus was the percentage (%) of G-C and A-T in the DNA stucture, a small diference and there are very diferent animals... As far as I learned.

 

[wouter]

I'm interested in the populations that look so much like T. marmoratus! Besides genetics T. pygmaeus has different courtship behaviour, different larval morphology and I think that the majority of the populations can easily be identified as being different than T. marmoratus, if only due to their belly colors. Ecology of the two species also seems to be different, with T. pygmaeus seeming to be more oppertunistic than T. marmoratus. Actually, T. pygmaeus "wins" terrain over T. marmoratus were they meet in central Portugal. Some ref's;

Espregueira-Themudo, G. & Arntzen, J. W. (2007): Molecular identification of marbled newts and a justification of species status for Triturus marmoratus and T. pygmaeus. HERPETOLOGICAL JOURNAL 17: 24-30.

Espregueira-Themudo, G. & Arntzen, J. W. (2007): Newts under siege: range expansion of Triturus pygmaeus isolates populations of its sister species. Diversity and Distributions 13, 580–586.

Malkmus, R. (2007): Einige Bemerkungen zur Larve des Südlichen Marmormolches (Triturus pygmaeus). Amphibia 2

Hidalgo-Vila, J., Pérez-Santigosa, N., Díaz-Paniagua, C. (2002): The sexual behaviour of the pygmy newt, Triturus pygmaeus. Amphibia-Reptilia 23(4): 393-405.