Triturus cristatus (Laurenti, 1768)

Open encyclopedia reference

The northern crested newt, great crested newt or warty newt (Triturus cristatus) is a newt species native to Great Britain, northern and central continental Europe and parts of Western Siberia. It is a large newt, with females growing up to 16 cm (6.3 in) long. Its back and sides are dark brown, while the belly is yellow to orange with dark blotches. During the breeding season, males develop a conspicuous jagged crest on their back and tail. The northern crested newt spends most of the year on land, primarily in wooded areas of the lowlands. In spring, it moves to aquatic breeding sites, mainly larger fish-free ponds. Males court females with a ritualised display and deposit a spermatophore on the ground, which the female then picks up with her cloaca. After fertilisation, a female lays around 200 eggs, folding them into water plants. The larvae develop over two to four months before metamorphosing into terrestrial juveniles (efts). Both larvae and land-dwelling newts mainly feed on different invertebrates.

Wikipedia contributors, Northern crested newt; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T18:54:13.933598+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Triturus cristatus (Laurenti, 1768)

Name authority

(Laurenti, 1768)

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Amphibia

Order

Caudata

Family

Salamandridae

Genus

Triturus

Extinction status

Recorded extant

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classAmphibia
9. orderCaudata
10. familySalamandridae Goldfuss, 1820
11. subfamilyPleurodelinae Tschudi, 1838
12. genusTriturus Rafinesque, 1815
13. speciesTriturus cristatus (Laurenti, 1768)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Triturus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 111 records assigned to Salamandridae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=668401 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:595F4. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.