Lissotriton vulgaris (Linnaeus, 1758)

Common Names

Common Newt (Shaw, 1802, Gen. Zool., 3(1): 295; Hellmich, 1962, Rept. Amph. Eur.: 42; Ananjeva, Borkin, Darevsky, and Orlov, 1988, Dict. Amph. Rept. Five Languages: 34; Arnold, 2002, Rept. Amph. Eur., Ed. 2: 46).

Great Water-Newt (Lacerta palustris [no longer recognized]: Shaw, 1802, Gen. Zool., 3(1): 296).

Common Water-Newt (Lacerta aquatica [no longer recognized]: Shaw, 1802, Gen. Zool., 3(1): 298).

Warty Eft (Triton palustris [no longer recognized]; Fleming, 1828, Hist. Brit. Animals: 157).

Water Eft (Triton aquaticus [no longer recognized]; Fleming, 1828, Hist. Brit. Animals: 158).

Common Eft (Triton punctatus [no longer recognized]: Jenyns, 1835, Manual Brit. Vert. Animals: 304).

Common Eft (Triton punctatus [no longer recognized]: Jenyns, 1835, Manual Brit. Vert. Animals: 304).

Common Smooth-newt (Lissotriton punctatus: Bell, 1839, Hist. Brit. Rept.: 132).

Small Newt (Lissotriton punctatus: Bell, 1839, Hist. Brit. Rept.: 132).

Small Eft (Lissotriton punctatus: Bell, 1839, Hist. Brit. Rept.: 132).

Small Evet (Lissotriton punctatus: Bell, 1839, Hist. Brit. Rept.: 132).

Brown Eft (Fleming, 1828, Hist. Brit. Animals: 158).

Smooth Newt (Wood, 1863, Illust. Nat. Hist., 3: 179 (as Lophinus punctatus); Flower, 1933, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1933: 837; Hellmich, 1962, Rept. Amph. Eur.: 42;Steward, 1969, Tailed Amph. Eur.: 40; Bruno, 1973, Natura, Milano, 64: 344; Arnold and Burton, 1978, Field Guide Rept. Amph. Brit. Eur.: 47; Ananjeva, Borkin, Darevsky, and Orlov, 1988, Dict. Amph. Rept. Five Languages: 34; Stumpel-Rienks, 1992, Ergänzungsband Handbuch Rept. Amph. Eur., Trivialnamen der Herpetofauna Eur.: 68; Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 36).

Northern Smooth Newt (Wielstra, Canestrelli, Cvijanovíc, Denoël, Fijarczyk, Jablonski, Liana, Naumov, Olgun, Pabijan, Pezzarossa, Popgeorgiev, Salvi, Si, Sillero, Sotiropoulos, Zieliński, and Babik, 2018, Amphibia-Reptilia, 39: 254). 

Smooth Newt (Triturus vulgaris vulgaris: Steward, 1969, Tailed Amph. Eur.: 40).

Rumanian Smooth Newt (Triturus vulgaris ampelensis: Steward, 1969, Tailed Amph. Eur.: 40).

North Swedish Smooth Newt (Triturus vulgaris borealis: Steward, 1969, Tailed Amph. Eur.: 40).

Dalmatian Smooth Newt (Triturus vulgaris dalmaticus: Steward, 1969, Tailed Amph. Eur.: 40).

Southern Smooth Newt (Lissotriton vulgaris meridionalis: Steward, 1969, Tailed Amph. Eur.: 40).

Transylvania Smooth Newt (Lissotriton vulgaris ampelensis: Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 347).

Distribution

British Isles and western France through southern Norway and southern Finland to Slovenia, adjacent Croatia and Montenegro, and central and northern Italy, east to the Urals and south to the northern Balkans, and northern Kazakhstan; introduced and feral in Victoria, southeastern Australia. 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom

Introduced: Australia

Comment

See accounts by Kuzmin, 1999, Amph. Former Soviet Union: 146–160, and Kuzmin, 2013, Amph. Former Soviet Union, Ed. 2: 76–82, for area of former USSR. Raxworthy, 1990, Herpetol. J., 1: 481–492, provided an account and key to the subspecies (several of which are now recognized as distinct species). See also discussion of relevant literature and distribution by Kuzmin and Zuiderwijk, 1997, in Gasc et al. (eds.), Atlas Amph. Rept. Eur.: 88–89. Gislén and Kauri, 1959, Acta Vert., Stockholm, 1: 209–242, reported on northern populations. Arnold, 2002, Rept. Amph. Eur., Ed. 2: 46–47, provided a brief account, figure, and map, as did Obst in Engelmann, Fritzsche, Günther, and Obst, 1993, Lurche Kriechtiere Eur.: 96–99, in both cases in the sense of including populations now assigned to other species of Lissotriton. Pikulik, 1996, Zemnavodnyia Pauzuny: 123–126, provided an account for the Belarus population. Nöllert and Nöllert, 1992, Die Amph. Eur.: 202–209, provided a brief account and polygon map. See account by Schlüpmann and Van Gelder, 2003, in Grossenbacher and Thiesmeier (eds.), Handbuch Rept. Amph. Eur., 4(IIB): 847–967 (including populations now assigned to Lissotriton graecus, Lissotriton kosswigi, Lissotriton lantzi, Lissotriton meridionalis, and Lissotriton schmidtleri. Naumov, 2005, Acta Zool. Bulgarica, 57: 391, provided records for Bulgaria. Babik, Branicki, Crnobrnja-Isailovic, Cogǎlniceanu, Sas-Kovács, Olgun, Poyarkov, García-París, and Arntzen, 2005, Mol. Ecol., 14: 2475–2491, reported on mtDNA and a comparison with morphological variation among populations (most now recognized as distinct species). Raffaëlli, 2007, Les Urodèles du Monde: 106–108, provided accounts by subspecies (most of which are now regarded as distinct species). Iftime and Iftime, 2008, Russ. J. Herpetol., 15: 93–96, discussed morphological variation in southwestern Romania and evidence of intergradation among named populations. Skorinov, Kuranova, Borkin, and Litvinchuk, 2010, Russ. J. Herpetol., 15: 157–165, discussed range and conservation status in western Siberia and Kazakhstan. Dubois and Raffaëlli, 2009, Alytes, 26: 39–40, discussed their rationale for considering several former subspecies of Lissotriton vulgaris to be species; see accounts for Lissotriton graecus, Lissotriton kosswigi, and Lissotriton lantzi. Introgresses with Lissotriton graeca in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, with Lissotriton kosswigi in northwestern Turkey according to Babik, Branicki, Crnobrnja-Isailovic, Cogǎlniceanu, Sas-Kovács, Olgun, Poyarkov, García-París, and Arntzen, 2005, Mol. Ecol., 14: 2488. Başoğlu and Özeti, 1973, Türkiye Amphibileri: 44–50, and Özeti and Yilmaz, 1994, Türkiye Amfibileri: 68–79, provided accounts for the Turkish populations (now Lissotriton kosswigi and Lissotriton vulgaris schmidtleri). Maanen, 2009, in Creemers and van Delft (eds.), Amph. Rept. Nederland: 124–131 provided a detailed account for the species in the Netherlands. Stojanov, Tzankov, and Naumov, 2011, Die Amph. Rept. Bulgariens: 131–143, provided a fairly detailed account and range map for Bulgaria. Ivanović, Sotiropoulos, Üzüm, Džukić, Olgun, Cogǎlniceanu, and Kalezić, 2011, J. Zool. Syst. Evol. Res., 50: 116–124, reported on skull size and shape within a phylogenetic framework. Gherghel, Strgariu, Ambrosă, and Zamfirescu, 2012, Acta Herpetol., Firenze, 7: 49–55, documented the hybrid zone in Romania with Lissotriton montandoni. Nöllert, Kwet, Grosse, and Hill, 2013, Mertensiella, 19: 1–21, reviewed the biology of German populations. Bringsøe and Fog, 2013, Mertensiella, 19: 22–25, reported on the ecological distribution throughout Denmark. Raffaëlli, 2013, Urodeles du Monde, 2nd ed.: 119–121, provided a brief account, photos, and map. Pabijan, Zieliński, Dudek, Chloupek, Sotiropoulos, Liana, and Babik, 2015, J. Biogeograph., 42: 671–683, reported on mtDNA phylogeography in the Balkans, revealing several Pleistocene refugia. Sos and Hegyeli, 2015, North-West. J. Zool., Romania, 11: 34–40, discussed the range of Lissotriton vulgaris ampelensis in Romania. Tingley, Weeks, Smart, van Rooyen, Woolnough, and McCarthy, 2015, Biol. Invasions, 17: 31–37, reported an introduced population in Victoria, southeastern Australia. Wielstra, Canestrelli, Cvijanovíc, Denoël, Fijarczyk, Jablonski, Liana, Naumov, Olgun, Pabijan, Pezzarossa, Popgeorgiev, Salvi, Si, Sillero, Sotiropoulos, Zieliński, and Babik, 2018, Amphibia-Reptilia, 39: 1–8, reviewed the taxonomic literature and provided a range map, in which they followed Pabijan, Zieliński, Dudek, Stuglik, and Babik, 2017, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 116: 1–12 (a densely-sampled nuDNA study), in considering Lissotriton meridionalis, otherwise controversially recognized, to be a synonym (as a subspecies) of Lissotriton vulgaris. Lanza, 1983, Guide Reconoscimento Spec. Animali, Anf. Rett.: 76–79, reported on the Italian populations as a population of Triturus vulgaris. See comment under Lissotriton vulgaris. Dubois and Raffaëlli, 2009, Alytes, 26: 40, discussed their rationale for considering this population a species distinct, Lissotriton meridionalis, from Lissotriton vulgaris. See detailed account (as Lissotriton vulgaris meridionalis) by Razzetti, Lapini, and Bernini, 2007, in Lanza et al. (eds.), Fauna d'Italia, 42 (Amph.): 246–254, for Italian population. Speybroeck, Beukema, and Crochet, 2010, Zootaxa, 2492: 3, discussed the problematic nature of the evidence supporting recognition of this taxon and refrained from recognizing it as a species distinct from Lissotriton vulgaris. Raffaëlli, 2013, Urodeles du Monde, 2nd ed.: 122, provided a brief account, photo, and map as Lissotriton meridionalis. Maura, Salvi, Bologna, Nascetti, and Canestrelli, 2014, Biol. J. Linn. Soc., 113: 590–603, reported on molecular phylogeography and biogeography. Speybroeck, Beukema, Bok, and Van Der Voort, 2016, Field Guide Amph. Rept. Brit. Eur.: 83–85, provided a brief account and distribution map. Wielstra, Canestrelli, Cvijanovíc, Denoël, Fijarczyk, Jablonski, Liana, Naumov, Olgun, Pabijan, Pezzarossa, Popgeorgiev, Salvi, Si, Sillero, Sotiropoulos, Zieliński, and Babik, 2018, Amphibia-Reptilia, 39: 252–259, reviewed the taxonomic literature and provided a range map. Dubey, Lavanchy, Thiébaud, and Dufresnes, 2019, Amphibia-Reptilia, 40: 13–27, documented an introduced populations of Lissotriton vulgaris meridionalis on the outskirts of Geneva, Switzerland, as well as estimating the source populations on the basis of molecular analysis. Sparreboom, 2014, Salamanders Old World: 233–240, reviewed the biology, characteristics, distribution, reproduction, and conservation of the species in the sense of that taxon including including Lissotriton graecus, Lissotriton kosswigi, Lissotriton lantzi, and Lissotriton schmidtleri. See Dufresnes, 2019, Amph. Eur., N. Afr., & Middle East: 122, for brief summary of identifying morphology and biology, a range map, as well as a photograph (see p. 199 for photographs and map of subspecies). Niedzicka, Głowacki, Zieliński, and Babik, 2020, Amphibia-Reptilia, 41: 489–500, reported on a hybrid zone with Lissotriton montandoni in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania. Gvozdenović and Iković, 2022, Nat. Montenegrina, Podgorica, 14: 94, included this species in the fauna of Montenegro. Skorinov, Bozkurt, Olgun, and Litvinchuk, 2022, Acta Zool. Acad. Sci. Hungaricae, 68: 261–276, discussed identification of this species from Lissotriton kosswigi and Lissotriton schmidtleri employing ventral and lateral spot patterns. Mollov, Natchev, Koynova, Kambourov, Rashkov, Dimitrov, Todorov, Petrova, Vladov, and Uzunov, 2022, Ecol. Balkanica, Spec. Edit. 5: 43–74, discussed the presence of this species in protected areas of southeastern Bulgaria. Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 343–348, provided subspecies (and continued recognition of Lissotriton meridionalis) accounts, summarizing systematics, life history, population status, and distribution (including a polygon map). Herczeg, Palomar, Zieliński, van Riemsdijk, Babik, Dankovics, Halpern, Cvijanovíc, and Vörös, 2023, Ecol. Evol., 13 (e10478): 1–12, reported on complex population structure in the Carpathian basin of southern Slovakia, eastern Austria, Hungary, eastern Slovenia, northern Croatia, and northern Serbia. 

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