Morphometry of metamorphosed smooth newts Triturus vulgaris (Amphibia: Salamandridae) with notes on limb, toe and tail injury frequency
2002
Nemes S. (Gabor Aron Str., Sf. Gheorghe (Romania))
Morphometry and injury rate (missing legs, toes and injured tails) were recorded for 49 newly metamorphosed smooth newts from Transylvania, Romania. Metamorphosed smooth newts had an average body length of 35.17 _ 3.33 mm, and there was a strong relationship between different morphometric traits. Newts suffered injuries due to predation encounters. Four specimens out of 49 smooth newts showed missing toes, 7 specimens had injured tails and one individual was missing the greater part of its right front limb. Missing toes occurred on both front and hind limbs, and there was always more than one toe per limb was missing. Therefore, naturally caused toe loss might be easily recognised to avoid confusion with toe-clipped marked specimens in ecological studies. The occurrence of injured tails was relatively high (14.2%). The snout vent length did not differ between injured and uninjured smooth newts. No other amphibian malformation that is typically caused by pollution or parasites was recorded during this study, which suggests that the recorded injuries were the result of predation encounters
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