Befitting its intimidating scientific name, Ichthyosaura, the alpine newt is an interesting beast. The alpine newt is characterized by hugely divergent mtDNA lineages that may well reflect cryptic species (genetically distinct but morphologically similar species). The distribution of these cryptic species is still incompletely understood. On top of that, alpine newts have been introduced outside their natural range on a massive scale. While the alpine newt has even colonized New Zealand, it is in the Netherlands, the UK and Ireland where the introduced population has truly exploded.

In the context of their BSc research project in my lab, Jody Robbemont and Sam van Veldhuijzen studied an enormous number of samples, from both the native and introduced alpine newt range. Many international collaborators contributed to this dataset. Furthermore, we relied on a large network of volunteers for NGO RAVON to collect skin swabs of alpine newts – a nice example of citizen science.

In a paper out in Amphibia-Reptilia we use the mtDNA barcoding technique to take a closer look at the alpine newt. We manage to delineate the geographical distribution of the cryptic alpine newt species in much more detail then before and home in on the regions where they presumably meet in nature. Our improved alpine newt mtDNA phylogeography also allows us to determine the provenance of many introduced populations. Four out of seven of the highly distinct alpine newt mtDNA lineages are implicated! The alpine newt provides a textbook example of the uncoordinated and simply chaotic nature of species invasion.

Reference: Robbemont, J., van Veldhuijzen, S., Allain, S.J.R., Ambu, J., Boyle, R., Canestrelli, D., Ó Cathasaigh, É., Cathrine, C., Chiocchio, A., Cogalniceanu, D., Cvijanović, M., Dufresnes, C., Ennis, C., Gandola, R., Jablonski, D., Julian, A., Kranželić, D., Lukanov, S., Martínez-Solano, I., Montgomery, R., Naumov, B., O’Neill, M., North, A., Pabijan, M., Pushendorf, R., Salvi, D., Schmidt, B., Sotiropoulos, K., Stanescu, F., Stanković, D., Stapelton, S., Šunje, E., Szabolcs, M., Vacheva, E., Willis, D., Zimić, A., France, J., Meilink, W.R.M., Stark, T., Struijk, R.P.J.H., Theodoropoulos, A., de Visser, M.C., Wielstra, B. (2023). An extended mtDNA phylogeography for the alpine newt illuminates the provenance of introduced populations. Amphibia-Reptilia 44(3): 347-361.