Morphological and morphometric study of Southern Crested Newt (Triturus karelinii) in Mazandaran Province

Southern Crested Newt is belonging to family Salamandridae and subfamily Pleurodelinae and distributed in Gi-lan, Mazandaran, parts of Ardabil, East and West Azarbaijan provinces. They are identified by dark brown color in dorsal, dorsal crest in males, tail compressed laterally, ventral surface head and body with dark spots. Morpho-logic and 25 morphometric characters (accuracy 0.01mm) were studied in 50 specimens (18 females, 13 males, 19 larvae) from Mazandaran Province, preserved in Zoological Museum of Golestan University. Males have dorsal crest and a silvery-white band along the sides of the tail. Snout-vent lengths of males were 48.13-64.18, in females 50.16-69.07, and of larvae 32.73-39.03. Ratios of forelimb to hindlimb lengths of larvae were 0.79-0.99 (mean 0.88±0.053), in males 0.77-1.03 (mean 0.91±0.079) and in females 0.73-1.07 (mean 0.88±0.053). Ratio of head width to head length in larvae 0.65-0.90 (mean 0.79±0.07), in males 0.67-0.99 (mean 0.80±0.095) and in females 0.62-0.99 (mean 0.80±0.098). Ratios of tail to total lengths were 0.47-0.54 (mean 0.509±0.017) in lar-vae, 0.46-0.52 (0.49±0.023) in males and 0.39-0.45 (mean 0.43±0.016) in females. Ratios of head to snout-vent lengths were 0.24-0.32 (mean 0.27±0.020), 0.23-0.31 (mean 0.26±0.024) and 0.23-0.30 (mean 0.25±0.019) in larvae, males and females respectively. The largest studied specimen (128.88 mm) is longer from the maximum length which is reported up to now (115 mm, also the length of type specimen

Keywords:

Morphologic , Morphometric , Southern Crested Newt , Triturus karelinii , Salamandridae , Mazandaran