What newt species ?

del

del

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Hi all,
I took a pic of a larva's newt but i don't know what kind of species it is.
Maybe someone can help me ?

In the lake, there are :
I. alpestris
L. vulgaris
T. cristatus
L. helveticus (probably)
 

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oi, with such a tiny larva it may be impossible to tell....the stripy-ness hints at cristatus, but then again, the others are more or less stripy too at that age.
 
Ok thanks.
For information, lot of eggs on plants were white, if it can helps to determine..
 
LOL its more than impossible. At that age... :D It could be anything from these here :p





  • I. a. alpestris
  • I. a. apuanus
  • I. a. cyreni
  • I. a. inexpectatus
  • I. a. lacusnigri
  • I. a. montenegrinus
  • I. a. piperianus
  • I. a. reiseri
  • I. a. serdarus
  • I. a. veluchiensis
So you see how near to the impossible it is... If its Triturus, you would only know a bit before metamorphosis because the larvae are identical. But Lissotriton and Mesotriton could be differentiated apart from 1 month old larvae I guess...
 
My initial thought was triturus marmoratus...but that is because it looked just like one of the larvae .
Molch said:
oi, with such a tiny larva it may be impossible to tell....the stripy-ness hints at cristatus, but then again, the others are more or less stripy too at that age.
Click to expand...
 
It could be any of those species. A size comparisson would have narrowed things down, possibly, but with no size reference, it´s an impossible task.You should be able to differenciate Lissotriton, Triturus and Ichthyosaura once they start developing the front legs, as each genus becomes distinctive at that stage. If you return to that spot in a couple of weeks or a month, it will be much easier.
 
There is no recorded marmoratus in this forest (North of France), just some cristatus for the Triturus gender.
Thank you all :)
 
del said:
lot of eggs on plants were white, if it can helps to determine..
Click to expand...

Eggs of Triturus are white, eggs of Lissotriton/ Ichthyosaura are grey or brown; so it sounds like these eggs are more likely to be T. cristatus.
 
My Ichthyosaura eggs have been white as snow, and they were certainly fertile. Maybe there is variation between subspecies ?
 
Azhael said:
My Ichthyosaura eggs have been white as snow, and they were certainly fertile. Maybe there is variation between subspecies ?
Click to expand...

yeah, my Alpine eggs are also white. The marmoratus eggs I got have more of greenish tint - who knows, maybe it's the light?
 
All the alpine eggs I've seen have been noticeably coloured, maybe there's some variation. Even if they're mainly white, there should be a darker spot at one pole.

Arnold & Burton's key says:

Triturus:
"Eggs pale, yellowish white or greenish-white. Relatively large, about 2 mm, capsule about 4.5 mm maximum diameter. Eggs more frequently greenish white in Marbled newt."

Lissotriton/Ichthyosaura:
"Eggs pale brownish, grey-brown, or greyish above. Relatively small, about 1.5 mm or a little more, capsule up to 4 mm maximum diameter but usually smaller."
 
Hello,
2 weeks later, I can confirm that this larvae is a Triturus cristatus

In the pic, we can see all of the features about the species :
  • long fingers
  • large ventral and dorsal crests finished by a filament
  • black tasks on crests and milky borders
  • tallest and bigest than other species larvae in the same age
 

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