Taxonomy of the banded newt, Triturus vittatus: morphological and allozymedata

We studied the number of rib-bearing vertebrae, eight morphometric characte rs and 36 protein loci in three subspecies of the banded newt, Triturus vit tatus from the Near and Middle East. The number of rib-bearing vertebrae ra nged from 12 to 15. Modal count was 13 in T. v. cilicensis, T v. vittatus a nd T. v. ophryticus in the western part of the range and 14 in the eastern part of the T. v. ophryticus range. Significant differences were found betw een groups (cilicensis plus vittatus, western ophryticus, eastern ophryticu s). Significant differences in shape were observed comparing T: vittatus wi th T karelinii and T. montadoni, but not among T. v. vittatus T. v. cilicen sis and T. v. ophryticus. Genetic differentiation within T. v. ophryticus r eached D-Nei = 0.24, which was similar to the distance observed between T. v. vittatus and T. v. cilicensis (D-Nei = 0.18). The two groups clustered a t D-Nei = 0.58. We discuss the question whether T. v. ophryticus should be raised to species level.