Herpo vulgaris
New member
Hi everyone,
About time I posted a thread myself and I have found something that seems interesting to me .
When finding helveticus or vulgaris newts, it's generally pretty easy to tell males apart, but females can be something else, certainly if they occur in the same pool...
How I discern between the two:
helveticus females have a tiny tail filament and have pinkish throats (no spots)
vulgaris females lack the filament and their throats are similar in color as the belly (whitish and spots).
Although it is stated that the ventral streak is also a way to determine which species, yellow in helveticus and orange in vulgaris, in some populations this rule does not hold. If I remember correctly this was the case where both species occurred in one pool. Here, this ventral line color was practically the same color in both species. Also I have found juvenile helveticus with a brightly orange ventral stripe.
I was curious to find out what your thoughts are on this matter.
Cheers,
Gwij
About time I posted a thread myself and I have found something that seems interesting to me .
When finding helveticus or vulgaris newts, it's generally pretty easy to tell males apart, but females can be something else, certainly if they occur in the same pool...
How I discern between the two:
helveticus females have a tiny tail filament and have pinkish throats (no spots)
vulgaris females lack the filament and their throats are similar in color as the belly (whitish and spots).
Although it is stated that the ventral streak is also a way to determine which species, yellow in helveticus and orange in vulgaris, in some populations this rule does not hold. If I remember correctly this was the case where both species occurred in one pool. Here, this ventral line color was practically the same color in both species. Also I have found juvenile helveticus with a brightly orange ventral stripe.
I was curious to find out what your thoughts are on this matter.
Cheers,
Gwij