GREAT CRESTED NEWT

The 'Great crested newt', 'Northern crested newt' or 'Warty newt', ''Triturus cristatus'', is a newt in the family Salamandridae.

Contents

Distribution

Conservation status

Description

Behaviour

References

Distribution

Its range extends from Great Britain and Brittany in the west across much of Europe north of the Alps and the Black Sea. It is one of only three amphibians which are protected by the Uk Biodiversity Action Plan. It is one of three newts found in the British Isles, along with the Smooth Newt and the Palmate Newt, and is the biggest and least common of the three.
The Italian Crested Newt was formerly considered a subspecies of Great Crested Newt (''T. cristatus carnifex'').

Conservation status

It is a protected species under schedule 5 of the UK's Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and is therefore subject to the provisions of Section 9, which make it an offence to:
• Intentionally kill, injure or take a great crested newt [Section 9(1)]
• Possess or control any live or dead specimen or anything derived from a great crested newt [Section 9(2)]
• Intentionally or recklessly damage, destroy or obstruct access to any structure or place used for
shelter or protection by a great crested newt [Section 9(4)(a)]
• Intentionally or recklessly disturb a great crested newt while it is occupying a structure or place which it uses for that purpose [Section 9(4)(b)]
Regulation 39 of the Conservation (Natural Habitats etc.) Regulations 1994 (the Habitats Regulations) makes it an offence to:
• Deliberately capture or kill a great crested newt [Regulation 39(1)(a)]
• Deliberately disturb a great crested newt [Regulation 39(1)(b)]
• Deliberately take or destroy the eggs of a great crested newt [Regulation 39(1)(c)]
• Damage or destroy a breeding site or resting place of a great crested newt [Regulation 39(1)(d)]
In the United Kingdom, habitat of the Great Crested Newt has diminished due to land development pressure from population growth and agricultural expansion; for example, it is considered eliminated from its prior range at the Portlethen Moss Nature Reserve in Scotland.
The Great Crested Newt is a protected species in other jurisdictions as well, notably in Germany, where a planned extension to an Autobahn in Hesse may come to naught as a result.

Description

Great crested newts have dark grey-brown backs and flanks, and are covered with darker coloured spots so that they appear almost black in colour. Their undersides are either yellow or orange-coloured and are covered in large black blotches. Males can be distinguished from females by the presence of a jagged crest that runs along their backs, dipping at the rear of the abdomen to a smoother-edged crest above and below the tail. Adult newts have been recorded that are up to fifteen years old and often return to the same breeding site.

Behaviour

After a courtship display great crested newts mate and breed in ponds and pools. The female lays 200-300 eggs on aquatic plants. Once juveniles have emerged from ponds it can take up to 4 years to reach sexual maturity, during which time the juvenile newts are primarily terrestrial.
Outside of the breeding season, adult and juvenile newts are found in suitable terrestrial habitat where they seek shelter under rocks, logs and other suitable refugia.
Their diet consists primarily of invertebrates including insects, worms, water snails, larve and sometimes tadpoles.

References

★ Database entry includes a range map and justification for why this species is of least concern