Author Archives: Ben Wielstra

The New Atlas of Amphibians and Reptiles of Europe was published in 2014 in the journal Amphibia-Reptilia. In the new atlas, the ‘smooth newt’ and the Carpathian newt were mapped. It turns out that the original smooth newt comprises five … Continue reading →

Ommatotriton nesterovi (left) and O. ophryticus. The introduction of species outside their native range is worrisome from the point of view of conservation, as they can negatively impact native species. Banded newts naturally occur in the Near East. Yet, an … Continue reading →

Species with a very similar ecology compete with each other and in nature such species generally exclude one another. Their distribution ranges do not overlap but are adjacent to each another and meet at parapatric contact zones. The position of … Continue reading →

In Europe, the distribution ranges of many species were pushed back to the Mediterranean region during glacials, the cold phases of the Pleistocene Ice Age. While the climate in present day temperate Europe deteriorated, species managed to survive in Mediterranean … Continue reading →

Banded newts (the genus Ommatotriton) are stunning critters. They are also distributed in a biologically fascinating, but relatively understudied region: the Near East. All the more reason to work on them, you would say. However, an in depth study on … Continue reading →

Where recently diverged species meet in nature, they often hybridize and exchange genes. The regions where this genetic intermingling occurs are called hybrid zones. If one member of a hybridizing pair of species displaces the other, their hybrid zone would … Continue reading →

In the Netherlands we have a situation where the introduced Italian crested newt is locally replacing the native Northern crested newt. As the Northern crested newt is a threatened species, conservationists would like to try and remove Italian crested newts … Continue reading →

The crested newt species traditionally referred to as ‘Triturus karelinii’ has turned out to be a group of cryptic species. A range-wide mtDNA phylogeography revealed that this taxon comprises three mtDNA clades, as distinct from one another as recognized crested … Continue reading →

Male T. dobrogicus. Picture by Michael Fahrbach. The taxonomical history of Triturus has been (and is) a turbulent one. However, genetic data has been very helpful in clearing it up. After our recent taxonomical revision of the genus, all species … Continue reading →

Invasive species threaten native biota, not only through competition, predation and infection, but also via hybridization. Human-induced hybridization has important implications from the point of view of conservation as it results in genetic replacement – a loss of biodiversity at … Continue reading →