Triturus is a genus of newts comprising the crested and the marbled newts, which are found from Great Britain through most of continental Europe to westernmost Siberia, Anatolia, and the Caspian Sea region. Their English names refer to their appearance: marbled newts have a green–black colour pattern, while the males of crested newts, which are dark brown with a yellow or orange underside, develop a conspicuous jagged seam on their back and tail during their breeding phase.
Image: Triturus marmoratus 2
Image: Kammmolchmaennchen
Males develop crests on their back and tail, most conspicuous in the crested newts (here Macedonian crested newt).
Large ponds with abundant vegetation are typical Triturus breeding habitats (here a northern crested newt pond).
A newt is a salamander in the subfamily Pleurodelinae. The terrestrial juvenile phase is called an eft. Unlike other members of the family Salamandridae, newts are semiaquatic, alternating between aquatic and terrestrial habitats. Not all aquatic salamanders are considered newts, however. More than 100 known species of newts are found in North America, Europe, North Africa and Asia. Newts metamorphose through three distinct developmental life stages: aquatic larva, terrestrial juvenile (eft), and adult. Adult newts have lizard-like bodies and return to the water every year to breed, otherwise living in humid, cover-rich land habitats.
Newt
Pleurodeles, including the Iberian ribbed newt, is the type genus of subfamily Pleurodelinae.
The Pyrenean brook newt lives in small streams in the Pyrenees mountains.
Embryo in jelly capsule