Ichthyosaura
Temporal range: Miocene–Recent[1]
Alpine newt, two males during mating season
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Urodela
Family: Salamandridae
Subfamily: Pleurodelinae
Genus: Ichthyosaura
Sonnini de Manoncourt and Latreille, 1801
Species
Synonyms[2]
  • Hemitriton (Dugès, 1852)
  • Mesotriton (Bolkay, 1927)

Ichthyosaura is a genus of newts in the family Salamandridae, found in Europe. It contains one extant species: the alpine newt (Ichthyosaura alpestris).[2] One fossil species from the Miocene, Ichthyosaura randeckensis, has also been referred to this genus,[1] although this has been challenged.[3]

The species is gonochoric and reproduce sexually.[4]

The alpine newt was long included in Triturus along with most other European newts. As this genus was found to contain several distinct evolutionary lineages, the alpine newt was split off as genus Mesotriton in 2004.[5] However, the name Ichthyosaura was published earlier and is now accepted as the valid genus name for the alpine newt, while Mesotriton is a junior synonym.[6]

"Ichthyosaura", Greek for "fish lizard", refers to a nymph-like creature in classical mythology.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b Schoch, R.R.; Rasser, M.W. (2013). "A new salamandrid from the Miocene Randeck Maar, Germany". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 33: 58–66. doi:10.1080/02724634.2012.716113. S2CID 73644476.
  2. ^ a b Frost, D.R. (2020). "Ichthyosaura Sonnini de Manoncourt and Latreille, 1801. Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.1". New York, USA: American Museum of Natural History. doi:10.5531/db.vz.0001. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
  3. ^ Beatty, B.L.; Marjanović, D.; Witzmann, F. (2015). "An Extremely Peramorphic Newt (Urodela: Salamandridae: Pleurodelini) from the Latest Oligocene of Germany, and a New Phylogenetic Analysis of Extant and Extinct Salamandrids". PLOS ONE. 10 (9): e0137068. Bibcode:2015PLoSO..1037068M. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0137068. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 4589347. PMID 26421432.
  4. ^ "Ichthyosaura alpestris (Laurenti 1768) - Encyclopedia of Life". eol.org. Retrieved 2021-09-18.
  5. ^ García-París, M.; Montori, A.; Herrero, P. (2004). Amphibia: Lissamphibia. Fauna Iberica. Vol. 24. Madrid: Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. ISBN 8400082923.
  6. ^ a b Schmidtler, J.F. (2009). "Ichthyosaura, der neue Gattungsname für den Bergmolch – ein Lehrbeispiel in Sachen Nomenklatur". Zeitschrift für Feldherpetologie (in German and English). 16: 245–250.
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