Lissotriton lantzi (Wolterstorff, 1914)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Caudata > Family: Salamandridae > Subfamily: Pleurodelinae > Genus: Lissotriton > Species: Lissotriton lantzi

Triton vulgaris subsp. typica forma lantzi Wolterstorff, 1914, Abh. Ber. Mus. Nat. Heimatkd. Magdeburg, 2: 375. Syntypes: MM; destroyed in W.W.II. Type Localities: "Novorossiisk", "Borjan (Boshan)", "Poti", and "Borjom (Borshom)", northwestern section of Caucasus Mountains, Georgia. Placed on Official List of Specific Names in Zoology (and validated) by Opinion 642, Anonymous, 1962, Bull. Zool. Nomencl., 19: 280.

Molge vulgaris lantziNikolskii, 1918, Fauna Rossii, Zemnovodnye: 231.

Triturus vulgaris vulgaris forma lantziHerre, 1933, Zool. Anz., 104: 191.

Triturus vulgaris lantziKrasavtsev, 1940, Trudy Voroshilovskogo gosudarstvennogo Pedagogicheskogo Instituta, 2: 166-192. Terentjev and Chernov, 1936, Brief Guide Amph. Rept. USSR: 60.

Lissotriton lantziDubois and Raffaëlli, 2009, Alytes, 26: 40; Pabijan, Zieliński, Dudek, Stuglik, and Babik, 2017, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 116: 1; Wielstra, Canestrelli, Cvijanovíc, Denoël, Fijarczyk, Jablonski, Liana, Naumov, Olgun, Pabijan, Pezzarossa, Popgeorgiev, Salvi, Si, Sillero, Sotiropoulos, Zieliński, and Babik, 2018, Amphibia-Reptilia, 39: 252. 

Lissotriton (Lissotriton) (vulgaris) lantziDubois and Raffaëlli, 2009, Alytes, 26: 66.

English Names

Caucasian Smooth Newt (Steward, 1969, Tailed Amph. Eur.: 40; Wielstra, Canestrelli, Cvijanovíc, Denoël, Fijarczyk, Jablonski, Liana, Naumov, Olgun, Pabijan, Pezzarossa, Popgeorgiev, Salvi, Si, Sillero, Sotiropoulos, Zieliński, and Babik, 2018, Amphibia-Reptilia, 39: 254).

Distribution

Northeastern coast of the Black Sea in Russia south and east through Georgia, to northern Armenia and eastern to southeastern Azerbaijan, into extreme northeastern Turkey. See comment. 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia, Turkey

Comment

Tuniyev, 1999, Adv. Amph. Res. Former Soviet Union, 3: 50-51, discussed the status of Triturus vulgaris lantzi. Dubois and Raffaëlli, 2009, Alytes, 26: 40, discussed their reasoning for recognizing this as a species distinct from Lissotriton vulgaris. See comment under Lissotriton vulgaris. Raffaëlli, 2013, Urodeles du Monde, 2nd ed.: 122, provided a brief account, photo, and map. Wielstra, Bozkurt, and Olgun, 2015, ZooKeys, 484: 11–23, discussed the range and noted the lack of recent records from Azerbaijan and Armenia. Skorinov, Doronin, Kidov, Tuniyev, and Litvinchuk, 2014, Russ. J. Herpetol., 21: 251–268, reported on the distribution and conservation status and who suggested that the species is extinct in Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia. Wielstra, Canestrelli, Cvijanovíc, Denoël, Fijarczyk, Jablonski, Liana, Naumov, Olgun, Pabijan, Pezzarossa, Popgeorgiev, Salvi, Si, Sillero, Sotiropoulos, Zieliński, and Babik, 2018, Amphibia-Reptilia, 39: 252–259, reviewed the taxonomic literature of the Lissotriton vulgaris complex and provided a range map. Kuzmin, 2013, Amph. Former Soviet Union, Ed. 2: 83–86, provided an account. See Dufresnes, 2019, Amph. Eur., N. Afr., & Middle East: 126, for brief summary of identifying morphology and biology, a range map, as well as a photograph. See Speybroeck, Beukema, Dufresnes, Fritz, Jablonski, Lymberakis, Martínez-Solano, Razzetti, Vamberger, Vences, Vörös, and Crochet, 2020, Amphibia-Reptilia, 41: 144, for taxonomic comments suggesting that additional studies are warranted to document the distinction of this taxon from Triturus vulgaris and on that basis considered Triturus lantzi a subspecies of that taxon. Yaşar, Çiçek, Mulder, and Tok, 2021, North-West. J. Zool., Romania, 17(e201512): 232–275, discussed and grid-mapped the range in Turkey. Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 349–350, provided an account, summarizing systematics, life history, population status, and distribution (including a polygon map), who suggested that the species is extinct in Azerbaijan.  

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