Details
Triturus cristatus
The great crested newt is a Palearctic newt using both freshwater and forest habitats. It is a solitary nocturnal carnivore.
Map: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)
During breeding it uses ponds and wetlands; outside that season it shelters in damp woodland or grassland nearby.
Length is about 10-17 cm and weight about 5-15 g. The dark body has an orange belly, and breeding males develop a tall jagged crest.
It is nocturnal and solitary. It swims with its tail in water and shelters under logs or leaf litter on land.
It is carnivorous, eating aquatic insects, crustaceans, worms, and small invertebrates. Prey differs between water and land.
Males court underwater, and females wrap individual eggs in folded aquatic leaves. Larvae grow in ponds.
Its conservation status is LC. Breeding ponds and surrounding terrestrial refuges need to be considered together.
