First record of facultative paedomorphism in the Kosswig's newt Lissotriton (vulgaris) kosswigi (Freytag, 1955) (Urodela; Salamandridae), endemic to northwestern Turkey

Bozkurt, E.; Olgun, K.; Wielstra, B.M. (2015)

Article / Letter to editor

Facultative paedomorphism is regularly observed in salamanders, including newts of the Lissotriton vulgaris group. We document the first record of paedomorphism in L. (v.) kosswigi from a locality near Karasu, in the vicinity of Sakarya, Turkey. We compare measurements of 5 paedomorphic individuals with those of 10 metamorphic individuals from the same population and with measurements taken from the literature. Paedomorphs are on average bigger than metamorphs; intriguingly, the opposite pattern has been observed in the Turkish L. (v.) schmidtlerorum.

• All authors: Bozkurt, E.; Olgun, K.; Wielstra, B.M.
• Date: 2015-01-01
• Journal: Turkish Journal of Zoology
• Volume: 39
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 976 - 980
• DOI: doi:10.3906/zoo-1408-53