Wikipedia:Today's featured article/September 6, 2016
.JPG)
Triturus is a genus of European and West Asian newts, with two species of marbled newts and seven species of crested newts. They live and breed in vegetation-rich aquatic habitats for two to six months and usually spend the rest of the year in shady, well-protected land habitats close to their breeding sites. Males court females with a ritualised display, ending in the deposition of a spermatophore that is picked up by the female. After fertilisation, a female lays 200–400 eggs, folding them individually into leaves of water plants. Larvae develop over two to four months before metamorphosing into land-dwelling juveniles. The alpine newt (Ichthyosaura alpestris), banded newts (Ommatotriton), and small-bodied newts (Lissotriton) are now placed in other genera, leaving the European brook newts (Calotriton) as Triturus's closest relatives. Although not immediately threatened, crested and marbled newts suffer from population declines, caused mainly by habitat loss and fragmentation. All species are legally protected in Europe, and some of their habitats have been designated as special nature reserves. (Full article...)