Reptiles Amphibians & Fish: NORTH ITALIAN ALPINE NEWT

There are at least ten types of Alpine Newt to my knowledge and I have only seen a handful of these, though more than most.

Their Latin name is Ichtyosaura (REALLY STUPID NAME) alpestris and of the subspecies I have seen are alpestris, cyreni, apuanus, lacusnigri (guessing), veluchiensis (guessing), montenegrinus (neotenic with gills) and inexpectatus.

Now I would have thought that if they have changed the name, everyone hates it as do I and its utterrly wrong as it means Fish Lizard and I think Prehistoric Lizard, that they would have therefore split up the susbpecies into separate species?! Not to bright then ione that did this and should nt be re-classifying animals in my oipnion. What makes it worse is that there was briefly another name of Mesotriton which made more sens but was more FRENCH than LATIN, with TRITON being French for newt. Good job they did not name toads as CRAPAUD is French for Toad! LMAO!

There are a few I have not seen and I would like to see veluchiensis and lacusnigri again to confirm two unusual females I had as a teenager.

Now apart from the absolutely tiny montenegrinus I had many moons ago the smallest and by far the prettiest (that I am currently aware of) of these blue, silver, yellow and orange newts is apuanus from North Italy. It is unique in such a way that I can recognise the species by seeing a lone female at a glance in a glass tank! Indeed I did just that when these guys turned up and I was NOT expecting it if I am honest!

I owe the man that brought them in and the man they came from a debt of thanks.

Now here are some pictures and I must warn you that despite what you may think about them the males are not in breeding condition and so not fully coloured up, not even close and not by a long shot. Check back in February for those photos, lol.

Meanwhile here are the said photos and next Spring I intend to do a great deal more with these guys and their other subspecies!!

MALES...

IN breeding that silver band with black dots gets brighter and covers lips, mouth and eyes. Down side it has a metallic turquoise stripe as its BORDER! LOL.

You can see a duller turquoise stripe in the following picture.