Triturus karelinii (Strauch, 1870)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Caudata > Family: Salamandridae > Subfamily: Pleurodelinae > Genus: Triturus > Species: Triturus karelinii

Triton karelinii Strauch, 1870, Mem. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Petersbourg, Ser. 7, 16 (4): 42. Syntypes: ZISP 44–47, according to Brame, 1985, in Frost (ed.), Amph. Species World: 615. Type locality: "Reisenden Karelin in einer nicht näher bezeichneten Gegend des nord-östlichen Persiens gefangen worden"; restricted to "Persiche Südkuste des Kaspischen Merres" by Mertens and Müller, 1928, Abh. Senckenb. Naturforsch. Ges., 41: 11; rendered as "southern shore of the Caspian Sea in Persia (= Iran)" by Tuniyev, 1999, Adv. Amph. Res. Former Soviet Union, 3: 49.

Triton longipes Strauch, 1870, Mem. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Petersbourg, Ser. 7, 16 (4): 44. Holotype: ZISP? Type locality: "Kaspischen Meere . . . . in der Gegend von Astrabad"; given as "surroundings of Astrabad (Caspian shore in Iran)" by Tuniyev, 1999, Adv. Amph. Res. Former Soviet Union, 3: 49. Synonymy with Molge cristata by Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Grad. Batr. Apoda Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 10; Boulenger, 1892, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 6, 9: 144. Synonymy with Triton karelinii by Brame and Gorham, 1972, Checklist Living & Fossil Salamand. World (Unpubl. MS): 96.

Molge cristata var. karelinii — Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Grad. Batr. Apoda Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 10; Prazák, 1898, Zool. Jahrb., Jena, Abt. Syst., 22: 233.

Molge cristata var. longipes — Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Grad. Batr. Apoda Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 10, by implication "as another variety of M. cristata must probably be considered: Triton longipes, Strauch".

Triton cristatus var. karelinii — Dürigen, 1897, Deutschl. Amph. Rept.: 622.

Turanomolge mensbieri Nikolskii, 1918, Fauna Rossii, Zemnovodnye: 256. Holotype: ZISP 2626,by original designation; lost according to Kuzmin, Lebedkina, and Borkin, 1995, Zool. Zh., 74: 105. MNKNU regarded as lectotype by Vedmederya, Zinenko, and Barabanov, 2009, Russ. J. Herpetol., 16: 204, presumably this is a surviving specimen from the original type series from ZISP (DRF). Type locality: [Russian] Turkestan; locality considered doubtful by Kuzmin, Lebedkina, and Borkin, 1995, Zool. Zh., 74: 105). Synonymy with Triturus cristatus (sensu lato) by Kuzmin, Lebedkina, and Borkin, 1995, Zool. Zh., 74: 105. (Previously considered a junior synonym of Hynobius turkestanicus by Bobrinskii, 1929, Trudy Nauchno Issledovetel'skogo Institua Zoologii, 3: 19–20.) See Kuzmin, 1999, Amph. Former Soviet Union: 100–103, for discussion. Tentative synonymy with Triturus karelinii by Tuniyev, 1999, Adv. Amph. Res. Former Soviet Union, 3: 49.

Triton cristatus karelini forma taurica Wolterstorff, 1923, Bl. Aquar. Terrarienkd., Stuttgart, 34: 125. Holotype: Not stated, presumably MM; and therefore presumably destroyed in W.W.II. Type locality: "Yalta, Krimalpen", Ukraine. Unavailable tetranominal.

Triton (Neotriton) carnifex karelinii — Bolkay, 1927, Glasn. Zemaljskog Muz. Bosni Hercegov., 39: 65; Bolkay, 1928, Z. Anat. Entwicklungesch., 86: 259.

Triturus cristatus karelinii — Mertens and Müller, 1928, Abh. Senckenb. Naturforsch. Ges., 41: 11.

Turanomolge menzbieri — Terentjev and Chernov, 1949, Opredelitel' presmykayushchikhsya i zemnovodnykh: 57. Incorrect subsequent spelling.

Triturus cristatus karelinii — Mertens and Wermuth, 1960, Amph. Rept. Europas: 28.

Triturus karelinii — Bucci-Innocenti, Ragghianti, and Mancino, 1983, Copeia, 1983: 662–672; Arntzen and Wallis, 1994, Abh. Ber. Naturkd. Magdeburg, 17: 57–66.

Triturus (Triturus) karelinii — MacGregor, Sessions, and Arntzen, 1990, J. Evol. Biol., 3: 329.

Triturus karelinii karelinii — Litvinchuk, Borkin, Džukić, Kalezić, Khalturin, and Rosanov, 1999, Russ. J. Herpetol., 6: 156.

Triturus (Triturus) karelinii — Dubois and Raffaëlli, 2009, Alytes, 26: 67.

Triturus (Triturus) karelinii karelinii — Dubois and Raffaëlli, 2009, Alytes, 26: 67.

Common Names

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

Southern Crested Newt (Steward, 1969, Tailed Amph. Eur.: 40; Kuzmin, 1999, Amph. Former Soviet Union: 186).

Balkan Crested Newt (Stumpel-Rienks, 1992, Ergänzungsband Handbuch Rept. Amph. Eur., Trivialnamen der Herpetofauna Eur.: 67; Arnold, 2002, Rept. Amph. Eur., Ed. 2: 44).

Iranian Crest Newt (Tarkhnishvili and Gokhelashvili, 1999, Adv. Amph. Res. Former Soviet Union, 4: v).

Kaelin's Crested Newt (Safaei-Mahroo, Ghaffari, Fahimi, Broomand, Yazdanian, Najafi-Majd, Hosseinian Yousefkani, Rezazadeh, Hosseinzadeh, Nasrabadi, Mashayekhi, Motesharei, Naderi, and Kazemi, 2015, Asian Herpetol. Res., 6: 267).

Caucasian Crest Newt (Sparreboom, 2014, Salamanders Old World: 348). 

Caucasian Crested Newt (Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 380).

Distribution

Crimea (Ukraine) and extreme southern Russia east of the Azov Sea and at the western and eastern ends of the Caucasus Range; extreme northeastern Asia Minor (Türkiye) east through Georgia and northern Azerbaijan; northern Iran (Mazandaran, Golestan, Gilan, East Azarbaijan, and West Azarbaijan provinces) along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea to northern Azerbaijan.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Russia, Türkiye, Ukraine

Comment

See accounts by Kuzmin, 1999, Amph. Former Soviet Union: 186–193, and Kuzmin, 2013, Amph. Former Soviet Union, Ed. 2: 106–109, for the former USSR. Thorn and Raffaëlli, 2000, Salamand. Ancien Monde: 301–305, provided a brief account. Litvinchuk, Borkin, Džukić, Kalezić, Khalturin, and Rosanov, 1999, Russ. J. Herpetol., 6: 153–163, discussed allozymic variation within the species. Arntzen and Wallis, 1999, Bijdr. Dierkd., 68: 181–203, reported on geographic variation. Olgun, Baran, and Tok, 2001, Zool. Middle East, 22: 57–65, reported on geographic variation implying that more than one taxon might be covered by the name. Tuniyev, 1999, Adv. Amph. Res. Former Soviet Union, 3: 49–50, discussed the taxonomic history of this species. Arnold, 2002, Rept. Amph. Eur., Ed. 2: 44, provided a brief account, figure, and map. Özeti and Yilmaz, 1994, Türkiye Amfibileri: 88–94, provided an account for Turkish populations. See account by Arntzen, 2003, in Grossenbacher and Thiesmeier (eds.), Handbuch Rept. Amph. Eur., 4(IIA): 421–514. Baloutch and Kami, 1995, Amph. Iran: 88, provided an account for Iran, 88–90, provided an account for Iran (as Triturus cristatus karelini). Raffaëlli, 2013, Urodeles du Monde, 2nd ed.: 133–134, provided a brief account, photo, and map.  Valakos, Pafilis, Sotiropoulos, Lymberakis, Maragou, and Foufopoulos, 2008, Amph. Rept. Greece: 163–166, provided an account for Greece. Espregueira Themudo, Wielstra, and Arntzen, 2009, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 52: 321–328, noted that the contact zone with Triturus arntzeni is not well-understood and may be in European Türkiye or in western Anatolia (these populatons now considered to represent hybrids of Triturus anatolicus x Triturus ivanbureschi). Öz, Yavuz, Tunç, and Erdogan, 2009, Russ. J. Herpetol., 16: 131–133, and Düsen and Urhan, 2008, Russ. J. Herpetol., 15: 189–192, provided records for western Anatolia, Türkiye, and mapped the distribution, but did not distinguish Triturus arntzeni. Nöllert and Nöllert, 1992, Die Amph. Eur.: 228–229, provided a brief account and polygon map. Wielstra, Espregueira Themudo, Güçlü, Olgun, Poyarkov, and Arntzen, 2010, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 56: 888–896, reported on the phylogeography of this species along with its sister taxon, Triturus arntzeni (now part of Triturus macedonicus), and supported their mutual distinctiveness. Reviewed by Jehle, Thiesmeier, and Foster, 2011, The Crested Newt.: 1–152. Wielstra and Arntzen, 2011, BMC Evol. Biol., 11(162): 1–8, reported ln the molecular phylogenetics of the species (as Triturus karelini "central" and "east") and its near relatives. Sparreboom, 2014, Salamanders Old World: 348–349, reviewed the biology, characteristics, distribution, reproduction, and conservation of the species. Wielstra, Sillero, Vörös, and Arntzen, 2014, Amphibia-Reptilia, 35: 376–381, provided a dot map and suggested that the northern  populations may represent a distinct species (now Triturus anatolicus). Safaei-Mahroo, Ghaffari, Fahimi, Broomand, Yazdanian, Najafi-Majd, Hosseinian Yousefkani, Rezazadeh, Hosseinzadeh, Nasrabadi, Mashayekhi, Motesharei, Naderi, and Kazemi, 2015, Asian Herpetol. Res., 6: 257–290, reported on distribution and conservation status in Iran. Beyhaghi, 2017 "2016", Herpetol. Rev., 47: 621–622, provided a record for Golestan Province, Iran, and briefly discussed the range. Speybroeck, Beukema, Bok, and Van Der Voort, 2016, Field Guide Amph. Rept. Brit. Eur.: 97–101, provided a brief account and distribution map. See Dufresnes, 2019, Amph. Eur., N. Afr., & Middle East: 139, for brief summary of identifying morphology and biology, a range map, as well as a photograph. Wielstra and Arntzen, 2021, Amphibia-Reptilia, 42: 179–187, reported on genetic homogeneity among the three allopatric range segments, suggesting recent isolation. Gasimova, 2021, Biharean Biol., 15: 112–116, discussed the range in Azerbaijan, and provided a dot map. Yaşar, Çiçek, Mulder, and Tok, 2021, North-West. J. Zool., Romania, 17(e201512): 232–275, discussed and grid-mapped the range in Türkiye. Pourhallaji, Dargahi, Kami, Rastegar-Pouyani, and Abed, 2021, J. Wildl. Biodivers., Arak, 5: 44–52, reported on species distribution modeling in Iran. Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 380–381, provided an account, summarizing systematics, life history, population status, and distribution (including a polygon map). Candan, Ilgaz, Kumlutaş, Caynak, and Gül, 2023, Zool. Middle East, 69: 13–18, provided a genetically confirmed record from Posof, Ardahan Province, northeastern Anatolia, Türkiye. Safaei-Mahroo, Ghaffari, and Niamir, 2023, Zootaxa, 5279: 1–112, provided for Iran an identification key including this species, photographs, habitat and conservation threats, a review of the literature, discussion of nomenclature and systematics, as well as dot and modeled distribution maps. Pourhallaji, Dargahi, Kami, Rastegar-Pouyani, and Abed, 2023, Acta Zool. Bulgarica, 75: 463–468, reported on mtDNA diversity (low) in Iran. 

  

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