Triturus rudolfi, Arntzen, 2024

Arntzen, Jan W., 2024, Morphological and genetic diversification of pygmy and marbled newts, with the description of a new species from the wider Lisbon Peninsula (Triturus, Salamandridae), Contributions to Zoology 93 (2), pp. 178-200 : 196-198

Description of Triturus rudolfi sp. nov.

Descriptions were made from preserved material, except for the number of links that was determined in the field. Dorsal colouration invariably dark, without patterning clear enough to allow a detailed description.

Description of type specimen – preserved on ethanol in excellent storage condition at the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid, Spain under catalogue number 51784. Adult male in breeding condition with a well-developed crest and a large black cloaca. SVl1 58 mm, SVl2 68 mm, ILd 30 mm, Hw 11.6 mm, Hl 19.8 mm, FLl 23.7 mm, TFl 7.0 mm, HLl 24.5 mm and FTl 10.5 mm. Total length 125 mm. Relative finger lengths 4 <1 <2 <3. Relative toe lengths 1 <5 <2 <4 <3. Nlinks left 2, right 2, total 4. Fourteen crème-white bands over the head and body part of the mid-dorsal crest. Grey ventral colouration with many large, irregular shaped dark dots and many evenly distributed white spots, denser in the central part than towards the gular and cloacal regions. Colouration of throat region continuous with that of the belly. Underside of legs with dark dots. See fig. A1.

Description of paratypes – Preserved on ethanol in excellent storage condition at the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid, Spain under catalogue numbers 51785-54791, sequentially.

First paratype. Adult male in breeding condition with a well-developed crest and a large black cloaca. SVl1 43 mm, SVl2 52 mm, ILd 21 mm, Hw 9.5 mm, Hl 13.7 mm, FLl 19.1 mm, TFl 6.8 mm, HLl 19.9 mm and FTl 7.2 mm. Total length 90 mm. Relative finger lengths 1 = 4 <2 <3. Relative toe lengths 1 <5 <2 <4 <3. Nlinks left 4, right 4, total 8. Thirteen crème-white bands over the head and body part of the mid-dorsal crest. Continuous crème ventral colouration from the throat to the cloacal region and underside of fore- and hindlegs.

Second paratype. Adult male in breeding condition with a well-developed crest and a large black cloaca. SVl1 50 mm, SVl2

Third paratype. Adult male in breeding condition with a well-developed crest and a large black cloaca. SVl1 53 mm, SVl2 61 mm, ILd

26 mm, Hw 11.2 mm, Hl 17.2 mm, FLl 23.2 mm,

TFl 8.0 mm, HLl 24.4 and FTl 10.0 mm. Total length 110 mm. Relative finger lengths 1 <

4 <2 <3. Relative toe lengths 1 <5 <2 <3 =

4. Nlinks left 0, right 4, total 4. Sixteen crèmewhite bands over the head and body part of the mid-dorsal crest. Light grey ventral colouration, with large, reticulated dark dots and white spots over half the surface. Colouration of throat continuous with belly. Crème colour towards cloaca. Underside hindlegs crème coloured with dark dots.

Fourth paratype. Adult female in breeding condition with ovarian eggs shining through. SVl1 66 mm, SVl2 72 mm, ILd 35 mm,

Hw 12.6 mm, Hl 18.4 mm, FLl 23.6 mm, TFl

7.5 mm., HLl 23.1 and FTl 7.3 mm. Total length

134 mm. Relative finger lengths 1 <4 <2 <3.

Relative toe lengths 1 = 5 <2 <4 <3. Nlinks left

2, right 3, total 5. Light grey ventral colouration with few small dark dots. Colouration of throat continuous with belly with small white spots. Crème coloured towards cloaca and underside hindlegs. FIGURE A2 Triturus rudolfi sp. nov. from Fifth paratype. Adult female in breeding

Serra de Sintra (top) and from the condition with ovarian eggs shining through.

Colares and Janas region (middle SVl1 57 mm, SVl2 63 mm, ILd 29 mm, Hw

and bottom). 11.3 mm, Hl 15.4 mm, FLl 21.9 mm, TFl 7.7 mm, PHOTOGRAPHY R. MALKMUS

HLl 22.0 and FTl 8.0 mm. Total length 120 mm.

Relative finger lengths 1 = 4 <2 <3. Relative 58 mm, ILd 26 mm, Hw 11.0 mm, Hl 15.1 mm, toe lengths 5 <1 <2 <3 = 4. Nlinks left 0, right FLl 21.4 mm, TFl 7.6 mm, HLl 22.6 and FTl 1, total 1. Grey ventral colouration with few 8.4 mm. Total length 107 mm. Relative finger small dark dots. Colouration of throat continlengths 4 <1 <2 <3. Relative toe lengths 1 <5 uous with belly. Crème coloured towards clo- <2 <4 <3. Nlinks left 2, right 4, total 6. Fifteen aca and underside hindlegs. crème-white bands over the head and body Sixth paratype. Adult female in breeding part of the mid-dorsal crest. Grey ventral col- condition with ovarian eggs shining through. ouration with many large, irregular shaped SVl1 63 mm, SVl2 68 mm, ILd 32 mm, Hw dark dots and many evenly distributed white 11.8 mm, Hl 18.5 mm, FLl 22.0 mm, TFl 7.6 mm, spots. Throat with few dots and spots. Region HLl 21.0 and FTl 7.2 mm (measured at left towards cloaca and underside legs crème side, because Downloaded toe from at right Brill.com side is either 06/21/2024 06 mal-:10:54PM coloured. via Open Access. This formed is an or open regenerating access article). Total distributed length under 127 the mm terms.

of the CC BY 4.0 license.

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Relative finger lengths 1 <4 <2 <3. Relative toe lengths 1 <5 <2 <3 = 4 (left side). Nlinks left 1, right 1, total 2. Upper side of tail damaged, possibly a bite mark. Grey ventral colouration with medium number of dark dots and few white spots. Colouration of throat continuous with belly. Crème coloured towards cloaca and underside hindlegs.

Seventh paratype. Adult female in breeding condition with ovarian eggs shining through. SVl1 60 mm, SVl2 66 mm, ILd 32 mm, Hw 11.7 mm, Hl 17.2 mm, FLl 22.5 mm, TFl 7.6 mm, HLl 21.2 and FTl 7.8mm. Total length 121 mm. Relative finger lengths 1 <4 <2 <3. Relative toe lengths 1 = 5 <2 <3 <4. Nlinks left 0, right 2, total 2. Light grey ventral colouration, with few small dark dots. Colouration of throat region similar to that of belly, but lighter and with small white spots. Crème coloured towards cloaca and on underside hind legs.

Other material from the type locality – ZMA. RENA.9332 (N = 1, leg. J. W. Arntzen) and ZMA. RENA.19271 (N = 4, leg., J. W. Arntzen and E. Froufe) .

Locality and date of collecting – Lagoa Seca, Valado dos Frades near Nazaré, Portugal at 39.596 northern latitude and 9.012 western longitude. Elevation 27 m a.s.l. Date of collecting 20 March 2013, leg. J. W. Arntzen. Date of deposition at the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales 16 August 2023.

Diagnostic features – the newly recognized species is most closely related to, yet morphologically distinguishable from T. pygmaeus , on account of a lower number of green coloured dorso-lateral transversal bands (‘links’). Body size larger than in T. pygmaeus . Significant genetic differences for population groups at either side of the cline near Entroncamento were found at 34 out of 54 investigated nuclear markers, as well as for mitochondrial DNA. Body size smaller than in T. marmoratus , with a higher number of links and with a light rather than dark coloured underside.

Derivatio nominis – the species name is chosen in honour of Mr. Rudolf Malkmus, in recognition of his contribution to the knowledge of the Portuguese herpetofauna. Mr. Malkmus placed the Portuguese herpetofauna on the map, not just as a figure of speech, but also literally (Malkmus, 2004).

Suggested vernacular name – Malkmus’ pygmy newt or Lisbon pygmy newt. I further advocate to restrict the name ‘marbled newt’ to T. marmoratus and to use ‘pygmy newts’ for T. pygmae us and T. rudolfi sp. nov. (see also table 1).

Distribution – the Lisbon Peninsula in Portugal, reaching northward along the Atlantic Ocean up to the river Vouga estuary. Approximate range borders: bounded by T. marmoratus in the north at ca. 39.5 N, separated from T. pygmaeus in the east by the Tejo River and in the northeast by a narrow hybrid zone that is wedged in between T. marmoratus territory and the river Tejo.

Conservation status – vulnerable, on account of the small range probably more so than other Iberian Triturus species.

Nomenclatorial act – the electronic ‘on-line early’ version of this article is considered a published work according to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. The new name has also been registered in ZooBank (http://zoobank.org/) where it can be accessed under http://zoo bank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:D6D62940-6B0E-42E5-8212-383D28DC3D6A .