Marbled Newt

Description:

Marbled newts have dark brown or black bodies with irregular patterns of green. They have black bellies with off-white specks. Adult females have an orange stripe running down the back from the head to the tip of the tail. Juveniles also have this stripe, but it fades on males at about 9 months. Breeding males have a large wavy crest that runs from its neck down to the tip of its tail, but is a little bit shorter were the tail meets the body. The crest is striped yellowish-white with black. Adult Marbled Newts are from 5 inches (13 cm) to 6.5 inches (17 cm) long

Habitat:

Marbled newts live throughout most of France, and northern Spain west to the top third of Portugal. They have a slight overlap with the Pygmy Marbled Newt (T. pygmaeus), which take over southern Spain. Marbled Newts are absent from a lot of the Pyrenees because of dry and unstable conditions. In northern France the populations are more scattered due to the presence of the Great Crested Newt (t. cristatus), which the Marbled Newt hybridizes with to some extent. The higher elevation Mediterranean climates are the preferred habitat of Marbled Newts, and in the overlap, T. pygmaeus takes the lower elevations.

Notes:

"Orientation toward breeding ponds plays an important role in the seasonal movements of amphibians. In this study, adult marbled newts were tested in a circular arena to determine sensory cues used to locate breeding ponds. Animals were collected from a temporary pond situated in northern Spain, taken to the experimental site 340 m distant, and tested for orientation under a variety of conditions (i.e., orientation under a clear night sky, orientation under an overcast night sky, and orientation under a clear night sky in the presence of an altered geomagnetic field). These investigations have demonstrated that the marbled newt is able to orient using celestial cues. Animals chose a compass course in the direction of their breeding pond only when celestial cues were available. Conversely, the ambient geomagnetic field does not seem to be relevant to orientation of marbled newts since they were unable to orient themselves using the ambient geomagnetic field in the absence of celestial cues."(Journal of Ethology September 2002, Volume 20, Issue 2, pp 137-141 Celestial orientation in the marbled newt (Triturus marmoratus) Javier F. Diego-Rasilla, Rosa M. Luengo) Spotted in river Homem félinhos beach,first time we saw one :)