Alpine Newt
Ichthyosaura alpestris
Identification 5
Adults and particularly males are one of the best indentifiable animals in Czech nature. Alpine newt has belly and bottom side of the head coloured uniformly red/orange combined with blue and black spots on white background runing on animal's side (see photos).
Larvae are much less identifiable with yellow to brown marbling especially on the end of their tail. It can be however be misidentified for larve of Lissotriton montadoni that one however has two rows of white spots runing from the head to the end of tail.
Ecology & Behaviour 5
The alpine newt as the name would have you believe lives in mountain ranges although it can be found also in highlands and lowlands, which makes it an animal with high pontential range. Usually it stays in still water bodies, in lowlands however they've been known to reside in runing water also. The only requirement apart from absence of fish predators is the presence of water vegetation to lay their eggs on with some detritus of fallen leafs on the bottom, although they've been notoriously seen puddles without any of such comforts. Decidous forrests are characteristic for this animal to live near as it hibernates under leaves and in small ground holes similarly to other slamandrids.
Identifikace (CZ) 5
Modré tělo s mramorovanými ploutevními lemy a stranou těla jsou typickými znaky čolka horského. V některých případech mramorování přechází i na hlavu. Břicho je však vždy oranžové bez skvrn.
Fontes e Créditos
- (c) Christoph Moning, alguns direitos reservados (CC BY), enviado por Christoph Moning
- (c) Giacomo Gola, alguns direitos reservados (CC BY-NC), enviado por Giacomo Gola
- (c) Mattia Menchetti, alguns direitos reservados (CC BY), enviado por Mattia Menchetti
- (c) Martin Vohralík, todos os direitos reservados, enviado por Martin Vohralík
- (c) Martin Vohralík, alguns direitos reservados (CC BY-SA)
