
Macaluso, Loredana;Wencker, Lukardis C M;Castrovilli, Maria;Carnevale, Giorgio;Delfino, Massimo
Calotriton
Sign in to saveCalotriton, or the European brook newts, is a genus of newts native to the Pyrenees and central Catalonia (Catalan Pre-coastal Range). These amphibians were formerly placed within genus Euproctus, but the genus was resurrected in 2005. Instead of Euproctus, they seem more closely related to Triturus, their sister taxon.
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- Evolution
- Description
- Species
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Calotriton, or the European brook newts, is a genus of newts native to the Pyrenees and central Catalonia (Catalan Pre-coastal Range). These amphibians were formerly placed within genus Euproctus, but the genus was resurrected in 2005. Instead of Euproctus, they seem more closely related to Triturus, their sister taxon.
==Evolution== Calotriton and Triturus are estimated to have split approximately 8 myr ago. This may have been associated with adaptation to fast-running, well-oxygenated mountain streams (instead of ponds in Triturus), leading to some superficial similarity with Euproctus in convergent evolution: strongly depressed head and body, and reduction or even absence of lungs.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Calotriton” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.