Lissotriton montandoni is an endemic newt species found only in the Carpathian Mountains and lives in sympatry with Lissotriton vulgaris in many aquatic habitats from the entire range of the former species in the Carpathian and Sudetes Mountains or in the hilly areas from the Subcarpathians. These two species usually generate hybrids where their parapatric ranges meet, especially along rivers that flow from the inside of the Carpathians, where valleys are used as ecological corridors by L. vulgaris. We surveyed several regions of the Eastern Carpathian Mountains between 2008 and 2011 and found 11 new populations of newts where hybrids between the two mentioned species were present. All new records of L. montandoni x L. vulgaris were described in the eastern part of the Eastern Carpathians, in Neamț County, a region known also from previous literature to be a ‘hot spot’ for hybrids between these two species. The present paper also presents an updated review of the distribution of Lissotriton hybrids in Romania

Alexandru Strugariu

Ioana-Madalina Ambrosă

Iulian Gherghel

Ștefan R. Zamfirescu

Lissotriton montandoni is an endemic newt species found only in the Carpathian Mountains and lives in sympatry with Lissotriton vulgaris in many aquatic habitats from the entire range of the former species in the Carpathian and Sudetes Mountains or in the hilly areas from the Subcarpathians. These two species usually generate hybrids where their parapatric ranges meet, especially along rivers that flow from the inside of the Carpathians, where valleys are used as ecological corridors by L. vulgaris. We surveyed several regions of the Eastern Carpathian Mountains between 2008 and 2011 and found 11 new populations of newts where hybrids between the two mentioned species were present. All new records of L. montandoni x L. vulgaris were described in the eastern part of the Eastern Carpathians, in Neamț County, a region known also from previous literature to be a ‘hot spot’ for hybrids between these two species. The present paper also presents an updated review of the distribution of Lissotriton hybrids in Romania

Gherghel, Iulian

Strugariu, Alexandru

Ambrosă, Ioana-Madalina

Zamfirescu, Ștefan R.

Firenze University Press: E-Journals

ISSN 1827-9635 (print) © Firenze University Press 
ISSN 1827-9643 (online) www.fupress.com/ah
Acta Herpetologica 7(1): 49-55, 2012
Updated distribution of hybrids between Lissotriton 
vulgaris and Lissotriton montandoni (Amphibia: Caudata: 
Salamandridae) in Romania
Iulian Gherghel1,*, Alexandru Strugariu1, Ioana-Madalina Ambrosă2, Ștefan R. 
Zamfirescu1
1 Faculty of Biology, “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University, Carol I Blvd., No. 20A, 700505, Iaşi, Romania. 
*Corresponding author. E-mail: iuliangherghel@gmail.com
2 Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University, Toma Cozma Str. 
no 3, 700554, Iaşi, Romania
Submitted on: 2011, 17th November; revised on: 2012, 29th January; accepted on: 2012, 29th January.
Abstract. Lissotriton montandoni is an endemic newt species found only in the Car-
pathian Mountains and lives in sympatry with Lissotriton vulgaris in many aquatic 
habitats from the entire range of the former species in the Carpathian and Sudetes 
Mountains or in the hilly areas from the Subcarpathians. These two species usually 
generate hybrids where their parapatric ranges meet, especially along rivers that flow 
from the inside of the Carpathians, where valleys are used as ecological corridors by 
L. vulgaris. We surveyed several regions of the Eastern Carpathian Mountains between 
2008 and 2011 and found 11 new populations of newts where hybrids between the 
two mentioned species were present. All new records of L. montandoni x L. vulgar-
is were described in the eastern part of the Eastern Carpathians, in Neamț County, 
a region known also from previous literature to be a ‘hot spot’ for hybrids between 
these two species. The present paper also presents an updated review of the distribu-
tion of Lissotriton hybrids in Romania.
Keywords. Amphibians, Montandon’s newt, Smooth newt, hybridization, Carpathians.
Lissotriton montandoni and Lissotriton vulgaris are two genetically related species 
with similar sexual behaviour (Belyaev, 1981; Pecio and Rafinski, 1985; Rafinski and Arn-
tzen, 1987; Arntzen and Sparreboom, 1989) and they usually generate hybrids where the 
parapatric ranges of both species meet (Zavadil et al., 2003). Lissotriton montandoni is an 
endemic newt species found only in the Carpathian and Sudetes Mountains and lives in 
sympatry with L. vulgaris in many aquatic habitats from the entire range of L. montan-
doni, especially along small rivers in the mountains or in the hilly areas from the Subcar-
pathians (e.g. Fuhn, 1963; Şova, 1973; Szymura, 1974; Fuhn et al., 1976). 
50 I. Gherghel et al.
Many authors have indicated the presence of hybrids in areas where the ranges of 
these species overlap: Ukraine (Hofmann, 1908; Kushniruk, 1963), Poland (Szeliga-
Mierzeyewski and Ulasiewicz, 1931; Juszczyk and Swierad, 1984; Rafinski, 1985, 1988; 
Pecio and Rafinski, 1985; Rafinski and Pecio, 1989; Babik et al., 2003), the Czech Repub-
lic (Rehák, 1993; Šálek, 1993; Kotlík et al. 1997; Kotlík and Zavadil, 1999;  Zavadil et al., 
2003, 2004; Mikulicek and Zavadil, 2008). In Romania, hybrids between these two species 
were first reported by Fuhn (1963), Fuhn et al. (1976), Iftime (2004) (Transylvanian Alps) 
and by Gherghel et al. (2008) (Eastern Carpathian Mountains). 
In this study, we present an updated distribution of hybrids between L. montandoni 
and L. vulgaris in Romania, based on the previous literature and several new, previously 
unpublished records. 
Field surveys were conducted between the years 2008 and 2011 in the Eastern Car-
pathian Mountains, with emphasis on Neamț County, where several hybrid populations 
have been previously reported (Gherghel et al., 2008). We captured newts from various 
aquatic habitats using drag nets. Each newt individual was photographed using a Nikon 
L100 digital camera for future analysis of hybrid colouration and, subsequently, released 
in the original habitat. The morphological characteristics used for identifications of 
hybrids are those previously described by Kotlik and Zavadil (1999), Iftime (2004) and 
Mikulicek and Zavadil (2008) (Table 1). 
Throughout our survey, we found hybrids between L. vulgaris and L. montandoni in 
11 new locations (Table 2). All the sites with hybrids were located in the contact zone 
between the Carpathians and the Subcarpathians, areas where all breeding ponds were 
used by both parental species. Gherghel et al. (2008) found the hybrids at the contact of 
two biogeographic regions: continental (the Subcarpathians) and alpine (the Carpathian 
Table 1. Comparison of morphological characters used for determination of animals.
Morphological feature Lissotriton vulgaris Lissotriton montandoni
dorsal crest high and spotted very low and without spots
crest denticulation denticulated not
dorsolateral folds absent present
lateral stripe on the lower tail 
margin pale blue cream coloured 
spots on the belly present absent
spots on the throat present absent
colour of the cloaca the same as the surrounding skin including spots black
tail filament absent present
colour on the flanks 
wide gold stripe between the 
orange ventral and brownish dorsal 
coloration
the orange ventral colour merges 
smoothly into dorsal coloration
webbing on the hind limbs present absent
colour of palms of the hind limbs the same as the surrounding skin, often with spots gray to black and without spots 
51Distribution of Lissotriton hybrids in Romania
Fig. 1. Habitat overview of breeding ponds of Lissotriton hybrids in the Eastern Carpathian Mountains; in 
the left photo (a) is a fresh snow-melt temporary pond, in the right photo (b) is a roadside ditched with 
water used by hybrids for reproduction.
Fig. 2. Updated distribution of L. montandoni x L. vulgaris hybrids in Romania.	  
52 I. Gherghel et al.
Mountains). The characteristics of the breading ponds where we observed L. vulgaris x L. 
montandoni hybrids are similar to those found by Fuhn et al. (1976), Iftime (2004) and 
Gherghel et al. (2008) and can be described as temporary and permanent ponds formed 
by rainwater or snow-melt (Fig. 1a) or by overflowing mountain rivers. Other important 
habitats used by newts for reproduction are roadside puddles or roadside ditches (Fig. 1b). 
As observed by Iftime (2004), hybrids are generally present mostly in human disturbed 
areas, where the anthropogenic impact (like deforestation, heavy road traffic, near locali-
ties) is greater than inside forests. 
Almost all records of L. montandoni x L. vulgaris in Romania were found in the east-
ern part of the Eastern Carpathians and in the extreme southern range of L. montandoni. 
Until now, no hybrids between these species have been recorded in northern and western 
slopes of the eastern part of Eastern Carpathians (Fig. 2, Fig. 3, Table 2). 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We want to use this opportunity to express our gratitude to Dr. Krystyna Nadachowsha 
- Brzyska who read the article in its preliminary version and offered valuable comments for its 
improvement. A part of this study was financed through CNCSIS –UEFISCSU, Project PNII – IDEI 
2098 No.1041/2009.
Fig. 3. Some individuals of L. montandoni x L. vulgaris founded in Negritești, Neamț County.
53Distribution of Lissotriton hybrids in Romania
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Updated distribution of hybrids between Lissotriton vulgaris and Lissotriton montandoni (Amphibia: Caudata: Salamandridae) in Romania

Ștefan Zamfirescu

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Updated distribution of hybrids between Lissotriton vulgaris and Lissotriton montandoni (Amphibia: Caudata: Salamandridae) in Romania

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Updated distribution of hybrids between <em>Lissotriton vulgaris</em> and <em>Lissotriton montandoni</em> (Amphibia: Caudata: Salamandridae) in Romania

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