Ommatotriton ophryticus in Catalonia

A breeding population of Ommatotriton ophryticus has been found in Catalonia. So far, 24 adults (17 males, 7 females) have been found. After being taken into quarantine in captivity, the females produced eggs, so everything points to the species already reproducing in the wild.
The article is in catalonian, which i don´t understand completely, but that´s about the yeast of it.
Ingressen al CRARC els tritons exòtics trobats a la Serra de Busa (Solsonès)

Given the adaptations of the species to mediterranean climate, i´m shaking with fear...People report great success with this species when kept outdoors in a series of different climates, i can only think that the mediterranean climate in eastern spain must be heaven for these guys....
I don´t know what kind of gigantic idiot thought releasing this species into the wild was a good idea, but i´d sure like to give him/her a piece of my mind...

So there you have it...another case of introduction with caudates....C.pyrrhogaster, P.granulosus, C.orientalis, T.carnifex...and now phryticus...the list keeps growing. I´m utterly astonished that in this day and age, these things keep happening....it certainly doesn´t strengthen my faith in humanity..If i ever have kids i´m going to educate the hell out of them.

C.pyrrhogaster, P.granulosus, C.orientalis, T.carnifex

Click to expand...

Here is this listed at? I would like to see the news since I never heard of it.
cheers,

I was refering to other introductions around the world, not specifically in Catalonia. T.carnifex as you know was succesfully introduced in Madeira, but also in England. C.pyrrhogaster has been found in Huelva:
Ingressen al CRARC els tritons exòtics trobats a la Serra de Busa (Solsonès)
I think there are accounts for C.pyrrhogaster in other parts of europe too.
H.orientalis has introduced populations in Florida..
P.granulosus i was told was found in central europe, but i honestly can´t remember if it was Austria or somewhere else.

well, that's something. Yeah, some knucklehead fudged up. Still, it's a huge step from one or two established populations to being truly "invasive". Very few species have the capacity to become invasives.

The field herping forums for North America presented photos of H.orientalis and P.granulosus in Florida [I think], and I have also seen pictures of H.orientalis from California. I have been told of "newts" in a pond in Edmonton Alberta, Canada, by a reliable source, but the record is 10+ years old and we're still trying to figure out which wetland it was in. I have since had a report, again reliable, of firebellied newts from a lake in Langdon, east of Calgary Alberta, Canada. Again the report is a few years old at this point, and if newts continue to exist there, they might be hard to detect.

Ironically, when Alberta regulations for exotics were written, a number of species were banned because of the potential [in most cases likely false] for introduction here. Neighboring British Columbia recently enacted laws using ours as a model, and not a single species was prohibited on that basis. This is ironic because BC has five or six introduced herps already, including one widespread salamander, and the mild climate and diverse habitats make it a potential haven for a wide array of dumped pets. Despite the northern location, a lizard from southern Europe and a salamander from northern California are both spreading. The former is legal to possess as an exotic, while the latter is still treated as 'native', although the evidence is strongly against that.

and it was probably someone who knew what he was doing as this species has rarely been in trade, so it must be out of captive bred populations....

The records of Pachytriton are from Belgium (in this book: Naturalized reptiles and amphibians ... - Google Books ), but apparently the juveniles are less hardy in the cold than adults and this is slowing down invasions.

C

Don't think pachytriton has ever formed a true vialbe population in Belgium.

Escaped indivuals of reptiles and amphibians can sadly be found in any highly populated area's. But stable populations of introduced R&A species are becoming more frequent.
In the Netherlands Triturus carnifex, Rana dalmatina and Elaphe schrenkii have formed stable populations. But we also have introduced populations of our own species outside of their natural ranges like Alytes obstreticans, Hyla arborea, Podarcis muralis and Natrix natrix. The latter species are sometimes non Netherlands subspecies. In that is only in the Netherlands.....

Thanx, Chris for completing my thoughts xD I have such a terrible memory....
While it´s true that just because there is a population, it doesn´t mean it will invade further than where they were put, their adaptations to mediterranean conditions are pretty scary. Here in Spain we have other species adapted to dry climates, like P.waltl and T.pygmaeus, and i think phryticus has huge potential as an invader, although i hope i´m very wrong.

Everything points to the animals originating from captive bred stock, specially since it seems that the species has been sold through certain spanish internet shops (there´s even some evidence that they are being sold as larvae rather than the difficult juveniles). An alternative is that the animals come from the WC market that feeds the russian hobby.
It´s my understanding that phryticus is protected and that legal comercial collections don´t exist....although we all know very well how that doesn´t stop the market.

I doubt ophryticus will become invasive in Spain. This is a species that isn't even widespread or common in its native habitat.

If you look at the dynamics of truly invasive species, they all have several points in common:

- wide distribution in its natural range
- ability to inhabit a variety of habitats
- fast reproductive rate

I don't think any of these apply to ophryticus.

I wonder if Ommatotriton is really all that well-adapted to arid climates. I doubt it. After all, Ommatotriton and Neurergus have fragmented populations in what used to be a much lusher and moister landscape - I guess they are remnant populations of a once much wider distribution. If so, they'd have a hard time getting from habitat to habitat across the arid landscape. So I can see how they can thrive locally at a suitable pond, but I doubt they'll be able to spread far from there....

....I would bet that they could spread out much faster when introduced to a greener landscape

In my opinion is a great problem.I don´t know if this specie will adapt to this climate,but have found that many adult animals frightens me. In addition, the area has several rivers, know if they have water all year or not, but this is a potential problem.