Triturus
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 Triturus cristatus, the Great Crested Newt
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Italian Crested Newt (T. carnifex) |
Triturus (from Triton, son of Poseidon and Greek: ura, meaning tail) is a genus of newt, commonly known as the crested newts.
[edit] Behavior
Members of this genus spend part of the year ashore, visiting the water for reproduction. The males develop a flexible skin crest on back and tail, sometimes brightly coloured.
Triturus shows an unusual mating ritual during which the male courts the largely passive female. He wafts her with his tail, occasionally striking her and finally releasing a sperm sac (spermatophore), over which she moves to accept into her cloaca. The female later lays the eggs individually, attaching them to aquatic plants or leaves lying at the water bottom.
[edit] Taxonomy
The genus Triturus is a problem for taxonomists. One member, the Southern Crested Newt, has been classified eighteen different ways, and likewise the Marbled Newt.[1] Triturus has recently been split into four genera: Lissotriton for the small bodied species (formerly T. boscai, T. helveticus, T. italicus, T. montandoni and T. vulgaris), Ommatotriton for the banded newts (formerly T. ophryticus and T. vittatus), Mesotriton (containing only the Alpine Newt, formerly T. alpestris) and the remainder remain in Triturus.
[edit] Notes
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