Lissotriton

Lissotriton
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Lissotriton vulgaris (smooth newt)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Amphibia
Order:	Caudata
Family:	Salamandridae
Subfamily:	Pleurodelinae
Genus:	Lissotriton Bell, 1839
Synonyms
six Geotriton Bonaparte, 1832 Lophinus Gray, 1850 Meinus Dubois & Raffaëlli, 2009 Meinus Rafinesque, 1815 Palaeotriton Bolkay, 1927 Palmitus Rafinesque, 1815

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 habitats over the rest of the season.

These rather small species used to be included in genus Triturus, but phylogenetic analyses demonstrated that genus as paraphyletic. 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 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 (Lataste, 1879) – Bosca's newt
• Lissotriton graecus (Wolterstorff, 1906) – Greek newt
• Lissotriton helveticus (Razoumovsky, 1789) – Palmate newt
• Lissotriton italicus (Peracca, 1898) – Italian newt
• Lissotriton kosswigi (Freytag, 1955)
• Lissotriton lantzi (Wolterstorff, 1914) – Caucasian smooth newt
• Lissotriton maltzani (Boettger, 1879)
• Lissotriton meridionalis (Boulenger, 1882) – Southern smooth newt
• Lissotriton montandoni (Boulenger, 1880) – Carpathian newt
• Lissotriton vulgaris (Linnaeus, 1758) – Smooth newt

Gallery

Lissotriton vulgaris, male during breeding time Lissotriton vulgaris, male during breeding time  Lissotriton helveticus, larva Lissotriton helveticus, larva  Lissotriton boscai, underside Lissotriton boscai, underside

Mate selection

Female mate choice is an important concept in evolutionary biology because it bears on female and male reproductive success. Experiments were carried out with Lissotriton vulgarus 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).