Mesotriton alpestris (Laurenti, 1768)

Common Names

Alpine Newt (Hellmich, 1962, Rept. Amph. Eur.: 39; Steward, 1969, Tailed Amph. Eur.: 39; Bruno, 1973, Natura, Milano, 64: 310; Arnold and Burton, 1978, Field Guide Rept. Amph. Brit. Eur.: 46; Ananjeva, Borkin, Darevsky, and Orlov, 1988, Dict. Amph. Rept. Five Languages: 33; Stumpel-Rienks, 1992, Ergänzungsband Handbuch Rept. Amph. Eur., Trivialnamen der Herpetofauna Eur.: 64; Kuzmin, 1999, Amph. Former Soviet Union: 170; Arnold, 2002, Rept. Amph. Eur., Ed. 2: 44).

Alpine Newt (Triturus alpestris alpestris: Steward, 1969, Tailed Amph. Eur.: 39).

Spanish Alpine Newt (Triturus alpestris cyreni: Steward, 1969, Tailed Amph. Eur.: 39).

Balkan Alpine Newt (Triturus alpestris lacusnigri: Steward, 1969, Tailed Amph. Eur.: 39).

Laurenti's Alpine Newt (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 36).

Black Lake Alpine Newt (Ichthyosaura alpestris lacusnigri: Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 361).

Bakony Alpine Newt (Ichthyosaura alpestris bakonyiensis: Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 362).

Cantabrian Alpine Newt (Ichthyosaura alpestris cyreni: Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 363).

Italian Alpine Newt (Triturus alpestris apuanus: Steward, 1969, Tailed Amph. Eur.: 39).

Appenine Alpine Newt (Ichthyosaura apuana apuana: Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 364). 

Calabrian alpine Newt (Ichthyosaura apuana inexpectata: Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 364).

Greek Alpine Newt (Triturus alpestris veluchiensis: Steward, 1969, Tailed Amph. Eur.: 39).

Prokosko Lake Alpine New (Triturus reiseri reiseri: Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 366).

Montenegran Alpine Newt (Triturus alpestris montenigrinus: Steward, 1969, Tailed Amph. Eur.: 39).

Bosnian Alpine Newt (Triturus alpestris reiseri: Steward, 1969, Tailed Amph. Eur.: 39).

Distribution

Northern Spain; northwestern France south to southern Italy, southern Denmark, southern Poland, Romania, western Belarus, western Ukraine, Pelopennesian Greece north to Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Kosovo, eastern Albania, and North Macedonia; introduced into southern England, Ireland, and New Zealand (near Waihi, Waikito). 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine

Introduced: Ireland, New Zealand, United Kingdom

Comment

The taxonomy of this taxon is controversial. Prior to 2022 a number of mtDNA matrilines had been delimited. These were interpreted as subspecies by Dubois and Raffaëlli, 2009, Alytes, 26: 1–85, as subspecies, but subsequently by Raffaëlli, 2018, Alytes, 36: 178–193, for the most part as species and subspecies. Robbemont, van Veldhuijzen, Allain, Ambu, Boyle, Canestrelli, Ó Cathasaigh, Cathrine, Chiocchio, Cogǎlniceanu, Cvijanovíc, Dufresnes, Ennis, Gandola, Jablonski, Julian, Kranželić, Lukanov, Martínez-Solano, Montgomery, Naumov, O’Neill, North, Pabijan, Pushendorf, Salvi, Schmidt, Sotiropoulos, Stănescu, Stanković, Stapleton, Šunje, Szabolcs, Vacheva, Willis , Zimić, France, Meilink, Stark , Struijk, Theodoropoulos, de Visser, and Wielstra, 2023, Amphibia-Reptilia, 44: 347–361, however, noted the evidentiary limitations of mtDNA-only phylogenies even as they presented the largest mtDNA phylogeographic study of the taxon done so far. They suggested retaining Ichthyosaura as a single species, Ichthyosaura alpestris, pending the application of nuDNA evidence and study of contact zones. In addition, they noted inconsistencies between the tree and name terminals. This arrangement is adopted here.  Lanza, 1983, Guide Reconoscimento Spec. Animali, Anf. Rett.: 70–73, reported on the Italian populations. See Breuil and Guillaume, 1985 "1984", Bull. Soc. Zool. France, 109: 377–389, and Breuil and Parent, 1988, Alytes, 7: 19–43, for subspecies. Barbadillo-Escrivá, 1987, Guia INCAFO Anf. Rept. Peninsula Iberica: 110–114, provided an account for the Iberian populations. Obst in Engelmann, Fritzsche, Günther, and Obst, 1993, Lurche Kriechtiere Eur.: 89–90, provided a brief account (informative about subspecies), figure, and map. See also discussion of relevant literature and distribution by Zuiderwijk, 1997, in Gasc et al. (eds.), Atlas Amph. Rept. Eur.: 72–73. Arano and Astudillo, 1997, in Pleguezuelos (ed.), Dist. Biogeogr. Anf. Rep. Esp. Portugal: 115–116, provided a brief account, photograph, and detailed map for Iberia. Kuzmin, 1999, Amph. Former Soviet Union: 170–174, and Kuzmin, 2013, Amph. Former Soviet Union, Ed. 2: 95–97, provided accounts for the former USSR. See account by Thorn and Raffaëlli, 2000, Salamand. Ancien Monde: 275–287. Denoël, Duguet, Džukić, Kalezić, and Mazzotti, 2001, J. Biogeograph., 28: 1271–1280, discussed the biogeography of paedomorphic populations. Arnold, 2002, Rept. Amph. Eur., Ed. 2: 44–45, provided a brief account and polygon map. Lever, 2003, Naturalized Rept. Amph. World: 228–229, discussed the introduced population in southern England. See account by Roček, Joly, and Grossenbacher, 2003, in Grossenbacher and Thiesmeier (eds.), Handbuch Rept. Amph. Eur., 4(IIA): 607–656. Naumov, 2005, Acta Zool. Bulgarica, 57: 391, provided records for Bulgaria. Pabijan and Babik, 2006, Mol. Ecol., 5: 2397–2407, reported on landscape genetics in southern Poland.  Raffaëlli, 2007, Les Urodèles du Monde: 110–111, provided brief accounts by subspecies, photographs, and a map. See detailed account (as Mesotriton alpestris) by Andreone, Tripepi, and Vanni, 2007, in Lanza et al. (eds.), Fauna d'Italia, 42 (Amph.): 254–265, for Italian population. Sotiropoulos, Eleftherakos, Džukić, Kalezić, Legakis, and Polymeni, 2007, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 45: 740–747, reported on mtDNA-inferred biogeographic patterns among populations. See detailed account (as Mesotriton alpestris) by Andreone, Tripepi, and Vanni, 2007, in Lanza et al. (eds.), Fauna d'Italia, 42 (Amph.): 254–265, for Italian population. Valakos, Pafilis, Sotiropoulos, Lymberakis, Maragou, and Foufopoulos, 2008, Amph. Rept. Greece: 155–158, provided an account for Greece. Dubois and Raffaëlli, 2009, Alytes, 26: 37–38, discussed the nominal subspecies. Ivanović, Sotiropoulos, Džukić, and Kalezić, 2009, Zoomorphology, 128: 157–167, reported on the noncorrespondence of skull morphology and molecular phylogeny. Pabijan, Rożej, and Bonk, 2009, Herpetol. Notes, 2: 23–26, reported on an isolated population in central Poland. van Delft, 2009, in Creemers and van Delft (eds.), Amph. Rept. Nederland: 96–104, provided a detailed discussion of this species (as Mesotriton alpestris) in the Netherlands. Speybroeck, Beukema, and Crochet, 2010, Zootaxa, 2492: 4–5, discussed misgivings about the subspecific taxonomy of this taxon. Thiesmeier and Schulte, 2010, Der Bergmolch: 1–159, monographed the species. Stojanov, Tzankov, and Naumov, 2011, Die Amph. Rept. Bulgariens: 97–103, provided a fairly detailed account (as Ichthyosaura alpestris) and range map for Bulgaria. Raffaëlli, 2013, Urodeles du Monde, 2nd ed.: 127–130, provided a brief set of accounts, photos, and map. Recuero, Buckley, García-París, Arntzen, Cogǎlniceanu, and Martínez-Solano, 2014, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 81: 207–220, reported on the phylogenetics/phylogeography of the species on the basis of nu and mtDNA and allozymes, suggesting multiple lineages. Arntzen, King, Denoël, Martínez-Solano, and Wallis, 2016, Herpetol. J., 26: 49–56, discussed the origin of introduced populations in southern France and New Zealand as elucidated by mtDNA analysis. Speybroeck, Beukema, Bok, and Van Der Voort, 2016, Field Guide Amph. Rept. Brit. Eur.: 94–96, provided a brief account and distribution map. Szabolcs, Mizsei, Jablonski, Vági, Mester, Végvári, and Lengyel, 2017, Amphibia-Reptilia, 38: 435–448, provided a dot map and discussion of range in Albania. Luqman, Muller, Vaupel, Brodbeck, Bolliger, and Gugerli, 2018, Conserv. Genetics, 19: 673–685, reported on landscape genetics in Switzerland. Sparreboom, 2014, Salamanders Old World: 213–217, reviewed the biology, characteristics, distribution, reproduction, and conservation of the species (see p. 201 for photographs and map of subspecies). See Speybroeck, Beukema, Dufresnes, Fritz, Jablonski, Lymberakis, Martínez-Solano, Razzetti, Vamberger, Vences, Vörös, and Crochet, 2020, Amphibia-Reptilia, 41: 143–144, for taxonomic comments. Novarini and Tagliapietra, 2020, Boll. Mus. Civ. Stor. Nat. Venezia, 71: 129–131, reported an introduced population in Venice, Italy, of unknown species identification in the current taxonomy. Vörös, Varga, Martínez-Solano, and Szabó, 2021, Acta Zool. Acad. Sci. Hungaricae, 67: 177–197, reported on mtDNA diversity (in the older more inclusive sense of Ichthyosaura alpestris) as evidence of Pleistocene refugia and redescribed and rediagnosed Ichthyosaura alpestris bakonyiensis. Šunje, Stroil, Raffaëlli, Zimić, and Marquis, 2021, Amphibia-Reptilia, 42: 481–490, reported on the mtDNA monophyly of nominal Ichthyosaura alpestris reiseri and considered it a significant unit for purposes of conservation. Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 359–371, provided species and subspecies accounts, summarizing systematics, life history, population status, and distribution (including a polygon map). Tzoras, 2023, Reptiles & Amphibians, 30 (e18698): 1–4, provided a dot map and habitat descriptions from the northwestern Pelopennese Peninsula, Greece. Ćirković and Ajtić, 2024, Kragujevac J. Sci., 46: 179–186, briefly discussed presence in the Mojstirsko-Draške Mountains of southwestern Serbia.

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• For additional information see AmphibiaWeb report
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• For information on distribution, habitat, and conservation see the Map of Life
• For related information on conservation and images as well as observations see iNaturalist