Anatolian crested newt

Anatolian crested newt
Female (above) and male (below)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Amphibia
Order:	Urodela
Family:	Salamandridae
Genus:	Triturus
Species:	T. anatolicus
Binomial name
Triturus anatolicus Wielstra & Arntzen 2016

The Anatolian crested newt (Triturus anatolicus) is a newt species endemic to northern Anatolia in Turkey. Before its description in 2016, it was first considered to belong to the southern crested newt (Triturus karelinii) and then the Balkan crested newt (Triturus ivanbureschi). The three species form a complex of morphologically indistinguishable cryptic species. Genetic data demonstrated the Anatolian crested newt to be distinct from the other two species, although it hybridises with the Balkan crested newt at its western range end.

With its two closely related species, the Anatolian crested newt is more stockily built than the other crested newts, and reaches 10–13 cm in length. It is semiaquatic, spending most of the year on land and only returning to water for breeding. The species does not seem to be immediately threatened, although a formal IUCN Red List assessment has not been conducted yet.

The Anatolian crested newt was described by Ben Wielstra and Jan Willem Arntzen in 2016. data had already suggested that it was a separate species in a 2013 study, but the authors had preferred to await a more detailed analysis before formal species description and temporarily included it in the Balkan crested newt (Triturus ivanbureschi), which had been split from the southern crested newt (T. karelinii).Nuclear DNA analysis then confirmed that its populations form a distinct gene pool, although it detected a hybrid zone where the species' range borders that of its sister species, the Balkan crested newt, in western Anatolia.

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Wikipedia