''Lissotriton'' is a genus of

newt A newt is a salamander in the subfamily Pleurodelinae. The terrestrial juvenile phase is called an eft. Unlike other members of the family Salamandridae, newts are semiaquatic, alternating between aquatic and terrestrial habitats. Not all aqua ...

s native to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and parts of

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

. As most other newts, they are aquatic as larvae and during breeding time but live in terrestrial, humid environments over the rest of the season. These rather small species used to be included in genus ''

Triturus ''Triturus'' is a genus of newts comprising the crested and the marbled newts, which are found from Great Britain through most of continental Europe to westernmost Siberia, Anatolia, and the Caspian Sea region. Their English names refer to thei ...

'', but

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups ...

analyses demonstrated that genus as

paraphyletic In taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In ...

. In the following, the name ''Lissotriton'', originally introduced by Thomas Bell in 1839, was reinstated for the small-bodied species related to the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specim ...

''Lissotriton vulgaris'' (the smooth newt). Their exact phylogenetic placement within the newts (subfamily Pleurodelinae) is still uncertain.

Species

Currently, ten species are listed in ''Amphibian Species of the World'' – the rank of some of these as species or subspecies is however controversial: *''

Lissotriton boscai Boscá's newt (''Lissotriton boscai'', formerly ''Triturus boscai'' ), also known as the Iberian newt, is a species of newt in the family Salamandridae. The species is found in Portugal and western Spain. Etymology The specific name ''boscai'' ...

'' (Lataste, 1879) – Bosca's newt *''

Lissotriton graecus The Greek smooth newt or Greek newt (''Lissotriton graecus'') is a newt species found in the southern Balkans, from southern Croatia (Dalmatia) over Montenegro, Albania and North Macedonia to Greece and south-westernmost Bulgaria. Willy Wolters ...

'' (Wolterstorff, 1906) – Greek newt *''

Lissotriton helveticus The palmate newt (''Lissotriton helveticus'') is a species of newt found in Western Europe, from Great Britain to the northern Iberian peninsula. It is long and olive or brown with some dark spots. The underside is yellow to orange, and the thr ...

'' (Razoumovsky, 1789) – Palmate newt *'' Lissotriton italicus'' (Peracca, 1898) – Italian newt *''

Lissotriton kosswigi ''Lissotriton'' is a genus of newts native to Europe and parts of Asia Minor. As most other newts, they are aquatic as larvae and during breeding time but live in terrestrial, humid environments over the rest of the season. These rather small s ...

'' (Freytag, 1955) *''

Lissotriton lantzi ''Lissotriton'' is a genus of newts native to Europe and parts of Asia Minor. As most other newts, they are aquatic as larvae and during breeding time but live in terrestrial, humid environments over the rest of the season. These rather small s ...

'' (Wolterstorff, 1914) – Caucasian smooth newt *''

Lissotriton maltzani ''Lissotriton'' is a genus of newts native to Europe and parts of Asia Minor. As most other newts, they are aquatic as larvae and during breeding time but live in terrestrial, humid environments over the rest of the season. These rather small s ...

'' (Boettger, 1879) *''

Lissotriton montandoni The Carpathian newt, or Montandon’s newt, (''Lissotriton montandoni'') is a species of salamander in the family Salamandridae found in Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Ukraine. The total length of adults of this species is arou ...

'' (Boulenger, 1880) – Carpathian newt *''

Lissotriton schmidtleri Schmidtler's smooth newt (''Lissotriton schmidtleri'') is a newt species found from northwestern Greece and southeast Bulgaria over East Thrace across the Bosphorus to northwest Anatolia. Its range borders that of the smooth newt (''L. vulgaris ...

'' (Raxworthy, 1988) *'' Lissotriton vulgaris'' (Linnaeus, 1758) – Smooth newt

Gallery

Mate selection

Female

mate choice Mate choice is one of the primary mechanisms under which evolution can occur. It is characterized by a "selective response by animals to particular stimuli" which can be observed as behavior.Bateson, Paul Patrick Gordon. "Mate Choice." Mate Choic ...

is an important concept in evolutionary biology because it bears on female and male reproductive success. Experiments were carried out with '' Lissotriton vulgaris'' in which female newts were paired sequentially with two males having different degrees of genetic relatedness to the female. It was found that the more genetically dissimilar male had a higher paternity share than the less related male. Female choice may reflect an avoidance of inbreeding with related males that could lead to less fit progeny (

inbreeding depression Inbreeding depression is the reduced biological fitness which has the potential to result from inbreeding (the breeding of related individuals). Biological fitness refers to an organism's ability to survive and perpetuate its genetic material. ...

References

External links

* * Taxa named by Thomas Bell (zoologist) Amphibian genera {{Salamandridae-stub