Vol. 77 (1) 2025

ARTICLES

Phenology and Sex Ratio of Triturus cristatus (Laurenti, 1768) (Amphibia: Salamandridae) at its Southern Range Limit

Borislav Y. Naumov1, Simeon P. Lukanov1*, Emiliya D. Vacheva1, Irina V. Lazarkevich2 & Miroslav L. Slavchev1

More info

*1Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 2 Gagarin Street, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria
2Stephan Angeloff Institute of Microbiology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. Georgi Bonchev Street, Bl. 26, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria

https://doi.org/10.71424/azb77.1.002822

PDF

Abstract
The great crested newt Triturus cristatus is a widespread species and there are numerous gaps in knowledge regarding its varying population characteristics at a regional level. This study provides new data on the seasonal activity and the sex ratio of the species from its southernmost distribution limit. For three consecutive years (2021–2023), we conducted monthly visits and set funnel traps in three ponds situated at 1360–1380 m a.s.l. in the Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park, Bulgaria. Traps were set in the evening and collected the following day. All captured newts were counted, sexed, photographed and released. Photographs of the ventral pattern were used for individual identification. The newt count was used to estimate the relative abundance and sex ratio across different ponds and years. We compared this data to existing unpublished data for the species across its range in Bulgaria. Our results revealed a clear temporal trend of decline of the relative abundance from spring to autumn for all years, confirming existing data on the species’ phenology but with different patterns for adults, immatures and larvae. There was a slight male bias (1.24:1) overall but sex ratio differed across the three ponds and demonstrated clear monthly dynamics.

Key words
altitude, abundance, Bulgaria, distribution, newt, seasonality

How to Cite
Naumov B.Y., Lukanov S.P., Vacheva E.D., Lazarkevich I.V. & Slavchev M.L. – Phenology and Sex Ratio of Triturus cristatus (Laurenti, 1768) (Amphibia: Salamandridae) at its Southern Range Limit. 2025. Acta zoologica bulgarica 77 (1) 71-84.

References

  1. Arntzen J. 2002. Seasonal Variation in Sex Ratio and Asynchronous Presence at Ponds of Male and Female Triturus Newts. Journal of Herpetology 36 (1): 30–35.
  2. Arntzen J. 2003. Triturus cristatus Superspezies – Kammolch – Artenkreis (Triturus cristatus (Laurenti, 1768) – Nördlicher Kammolch, Triturus carnifex (Laurenti, 1768) – Italienischer Kammolch, Truturus dobrogicus (Kiritzescu, 1903) – Donau-Kammolch, Triturus karelinii (Strauch, 1870) – Südlicher Kammolch). In: Grossenbacher K. & Thiesmeier B. (Еds.): Handbuch der Reptilien und Amphibien Europas. Band 4/IIA Schwanzlurche (Urodela) IIA, Salamandridae II: Triturus I. Wiesbaden: Aula-Verlag, pp. 421–514.
  3. Arntzen J. & Teunis S. 1993. A six-year study on the population dynamics of the crested newt (Triturus cristatus) following the colonization of a newly created pond. Herpetological Journal 3 (3): 99–110.
  4. Arntzen J.W. & Zuiderwijk A. 2020. Sampling efficiency, bias and shyness in funnel trapping aquatic newts. Amphibia-Reptilia 41: 413-420.
  5. Blab J. & Blab L. 1981. Quantitative Analysen zur Phänologie, Erfaßbarkeit und Populationsdynamik von Molchbeständen des Kottenforstes bei Bonn (Amphibia: Caudata: Salamandridae). Salamandra 17 (3–4): 147–172.
  6. Beebee T. & Griffiths R. 2000. Amphibians and Reptiles. A Natural History of the British Herpetofauna. London: HarperCollins. 270 p.
  7. Bock D., Henning V. & Steinfartz S. 2009. The use of fish funnel traps for monitoring crested newts (Triturus cristatus) according to the Habitats Directive. Zeitschrift für Feldherpetologie, Supplement 15: 317–326.
  8. Bogdan H., Badar L., Goilean C., Boros A. & Popovici A. 2012. Population dynamics of Triturus cristatus and Lissotriton vulgaris (Amphibia) in an aquatic habitat from Banat region, Romania. Herpetologica Romanica 6: 41–50.
  9. Brana F., Frechilla L. & Orizaola G. 1996. Effect of introduced fish on amphibian assemblages in mountain lakes of northern Spain. Herpetological Journal 6: 145–148.
  10. Burgstaller S., Gollmann G. & Landler L. 2021. The green toad example: a comparison of pattern recognition software. North-Western Journal of Zoology 17 (1): 96–99.
  11. Cicort-Lucaciu A.Ş., David A., Lezeu O., Pal A. & Ovlachi K. 2009. The dynamics of the number of individuals during the breeding period for more L. vulgaris and T. cristatus populations. Herpetologica Romanica 3: 19–23.
  12. Cicort-Lucaciu A.Ş., Paina C., Serac C. & Ovlachi K. 2010. Population dinamics of Lissotriton montandoni and Triturus cristatus in two aquatic habitats. South-Western Journal of Horticulture, Biology and Environment 1 (1): 67–75.
  13. Cicort-Lucaciu A.Ş., Radu N.R., Paina C., Covaciu-Marcov S.-D. & Sas I. 2011. Data on population Dynamics of Three Syntopic Newt Species from Western Romania. Ecologia Balkanica 3 (2): 49–55.
  14. Covaciu-Marcov S.-D., Cicort-Lucaciu A.S., Dobre F., Ferenţi S., Birceanu M., Mihuţ R. & Strugariu A. 2009. The herpetofauna of the Jiului Gorge National Park, Romania. North-Western Journal of Zoology 5(S1): S01–S78.
  15. Covaciu-Marcov S.-D., Pop D.-M., Sucea F.-N., Ile G.-A., Cicort-Lucaciu A.-Ș. & Ferenți S. 2023. Good news from newts: distribution, population size, and dynamics of two protected newt species in the Jiu Gorge National Park, Romania. Studia Universitatis Babeş-Bolyai Biologia 68 (2): 219–234.
  16. Crall J., Stewart C., Berger-Wolf T., Rubenstein D. & Sundaresa S. 2013. Hotspotter-patterned species instance recognition. In: Proc. of the 2013 IEEE Workshop on Applications of Computer Vision (WACV 2013), January 15-17, 2013, Clearwater Beach, pp. 230–237.
  17. Cupșa D, Telcean I.C., Cicort-Lucaciu A.S., Sas-Kovács I., Ferenţi S. & Covaciu-Marcov S.-D. 2020. Newts and fish in the remnants of former wetlands from North-Western Romania in front of the same enemy. Oltenia Studii şi comunicări Ştiinţele Naturii 36(1): 100–108.
  18. Dobre F., Cicort-Lucaciu A.Ş., Dimancea N., Boroş A. & Bogdan H.-V. 2009. Research upon the biology and ecology of some newt species (Amphibia) from the Jiu River Gorge National Park. Analele Universitatii din Craiova, sectia Horticultură, Biologie, Tehnica Prelucrării Produselor Agricole, Ingineria Mediului 14: 475–480.
  19. Fahrbach M. & Gerlach U. 2018. Die Gattung Triturus. Frankfurt am Main: Chimaira. 550 p.
  20. Feldmann R. 1981. Kammolch. In: Feldmann R. (Ed.): Die Amphibien und Reptilien Westfalens. Abhandlungen aus dem Landesmuseum für Naturkunde zu Münster in Westfalen 43 (4): 54–57.
  21. Glandt D. 1986. Die saisonalen Wanderungen der mitteleuropäischen Amphibien. Bonner Zoologische Beitraege 37: 211–228.
  22. Hammer Ø., Harper D. & Ryan P. 2001. PAST: Paleontological statistics software package for education and data analysis. Palaeontologia Electronica 4 (1): 1–9.
  23. Hartel T., Nemes S., Cogălniceanu D., Öllerer K., Schweiger O., Moga C.-I. & Demeter L. 2007. The effect of fish and aquatic habitat complexity on amphibians. Hydrobiologia 583: 173–182.
  24. Haubrock P.J. & Altrichter J. 2016. Northern crested newt (Triturus cristatus) migration in a nature reserve: multiple incidents of breeding season displacements exceeding 1 km. Herpetological Bulletin 138: 31–33.
  25. Jehle R., Thiesmeier B. & Foster J. 2011. The Crested Newt. A dwindling pond-dweller. Bielefeld: Laurenti-Verlag. 152 p.
  26. Kovar R., Brabec M., Vita R. & Bocek R. 2009. Spring migration distances of some Central European amphibian species. Amphibia-Reptilia 30: 367–378.
  27. Kowalewski L. 1974. Observations on the phenology and ecology of Amphibia in the region of Czestochowa. Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia 19: 391–458.
  28. Kuzmin S. 1999. The amphibians of the former Soviet Union. Sofia-Moscow: Pensoft. 538 p.
  29. Kühnel K.-D., Krone A. & Schonert A. 2001. Lebensräume des Kammolchs (Triturus cristatus Laurenti, 1768) im urbanen Raum und einige populationsökologische Daten aus Berlin. In: Krone A. (Ed.): Der Kammolch (Triturus cristatus) Verbreitung, Biologie, Ökologie und Schutz. Rana, Sonderheft 4: 211–223.
  30. Litvinchuk S. & Borkin L. 2009. Evolution, systematics and distribution of Crested newts (Triturus cristatus complex) in Russia and adjacent countries. St. Petersburg: Evropeisky Dom Press. 592 p. (In Russian, English summary)
  31. Lukanov S. 2022. Inter-pond migration during the aquatic phase by male Triturus ivanbureschi. Russian Journal of Herpetology 29 (6): 373–376.
  32. Lukanov S., Lazarkevich I. & Dimitrova B. 2022. Persistent Winter Activity in Triturus ivanbureschi Arntzen & Wielstra, 2013 (Amphibia: Caudata). Acta zoologica bulgarica 74 (2): 281–285.
  33. Maletzky A., Kyek M. & Goldschmid A. 2007. Monitoring status, habitat features and amphibian species richness of Crested newt (Triturus cristatus superspecies) ponds at the edge of the species range (Salzburg, Austria). International Journal of Limnology 43 (2): 107–115.
  34. Meyer S. & Grosse W.-R. 2007. Populationsgröße, Altersstruktur und genetische Diversität einer Metapopulation des Kammmolches (Triturus cristatus) in der Kulturlandschaft Sachsen-Anhalts. Zeitschrift für Feldherpetologie 14: 9–24.
  35. Naumov B., Vacheva E. & Lukanov S. 2024. Diet and feeding habits of Triturus cristatus (Laurenti, 1768) (Amphibia: Salamandridae) in its southernmost locality. North-Western Journal of Zoology 20 (2): in press.
  36. Naumov B., Tzankov N., Donchev K., Petrov B., Stojanov A., Popgeorgiev G., Mollov I. & Beshkov V. 2016. The herpetofauna (Amphibia and Reptilia) of Vrachanska Planina mountains – species composition, distribution and conservation. In: Bechev D. & Georgiev D. (Eds.): Faunistic diversity of Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park. ZooNotes, Suppl. 3, pp. 231–257.
  37. Naumov B. & Lukanov S. 2018. Notes on age-related changes in body size and color pattern in captive Triturus dobrogicus (Kiriþescu, 1903). Herpetozoa 30: 159–168.
  38. Naumov B., Lukanov S., Vacheva E. & Slavchev M. 2023. Distribution and Ecology of Triturus cristatus (Laurenti, 1768) (Amphibia: Salamandridae) in Bulgaria. Acta Zoologica Bulgarica 75 (1): 113–122.
  39. Parris K. & McCarthy M. 2001. Identifying effects of toe clipping on anuran return rates: the importance of statistical power. Amphibia-Reptilia 22 (3): 275–289.
  40. Shcherbak N. & Shcherban N. 1980. Amphibians and reptiles of the Ukrainian Carpathians. Kyiv: Naukova dumka. 222 p. (In Russian)
  41. Verrell P. & Halliday T. 1985. The population dynamics of the crested newt Triturus cristatus at a pond in southern England. Holarctic Ecology 8 (2): 151–156.
  42. von Bülow B. 2001. Kammolch-Bestandserfassungen mit dreijährigen Reusenfängen an zwei Kleingewässern Westfalens und fotografischer Wiedererkennung der Individuen. Rana 4: 145–162.
  43. Wenzel S., Jagla W. & Henle K. 1995. Abundanzdynamik und Laichplatztreue von Triturus cristatus und Triturus vulgaris in zwei Kleingewässern einer Auskiesung bei St. Augustin (Nordrhein-Westfalen). Salamandra 31 (4): 209–230.
  44. Wielstra B., Sillero N., Vörös J. & Arntzen J. 2014. The distribution of the crested and marbled newt species (Amphibia: Salamandridae: Triturus) – an addition to the New Atlas of Amphibians and Reptiles of Europe. Amphibia-Reptilia 35: 376–381.