Triturus is great, showing intricate ritualized mating behaviour where males congregate at leks and perform elaborate dances to wow the females, representing an adaptive radiation reflecting gradients of aquaticness, providing strong support for the hypothesis of historical hybrid zone movement, and representing the best-known example of an evolutionary enigma known as a balanced lethal system – as I explain in a new ‘quick guide’ published in Current Biology.

Thanks to Michael Fahrbach and Paolo Mazzei for use of their pictures in the compilation accompanying the quick guide.

Reference: Wielstra, B. (2019). Triturus newts. Current Biology 29(4): R110-R111.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 655487.