First record of facultative paedomorphism in the Kosswig’s newt Lissotriton (vulgaris) kosswigi (Freytag, 1955) (Urodela; Salamandridae), endemic to northwestern Turkey
Author(s) -
Emin Bozkurt,
Kurtuluş Olgun,
Ben Wielstra
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
turkish journal of zoology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.283
H-Index - 28
ISSN - 1303-6114
DOI - 10.3906/zoo-1408-53
Subject(s) - salamandridae , neoteny , facultative , population , zoology , biology , caudata , ecology , demography , sociology
Facultative paedomorphism is regularly observed in salamanders, including newts of the Lissotriton vulgaris group. We document the first record of paedomorphism in L. (v.) kosswigi from a locality near Karasu, in the vicinity of Sakarya, Turkey. We compare measurements of 5 paedomorphic individuals with those of 10 metamorphic individuals from the same population and with measurements taken from the literature. Paedomorphs are on average bigger than metamorphs; intriguingly, the opposite pattern has been observed in the Turkish L. (v.) schmidtlerorum.
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