Southern banded newt

The southern banded newt (Ommatotriton vittatus) is a species of salamander in the family Salamandridae found in Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Turkey.

Southern banded newt

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Urodela
Family: Salamandridae
Genus: Ommatotriton
Species:
O. vittatus
Binomial name
Ommatotriton vittatus
Gray, 1835
Synonyms

Triturus ophzticus Berthold, 1846
Triturus vittatus
Molge vittata

Habitat

Its natural habitats are temperate forests, temperate grassland, rivers, intermittent rivers, freshwater lakes, intermittent freshwater lakes, freshwater marshes, intermittent freshwater marshes, caves, arable land, pastureland, rural gardens, urban areas, ponds, aquaculture ponds, open excavations, and canals and ditches. It is threatened by habitat loss.

1909 illustration of a male and a female of the species.

As pets

Rarely, these newts are available in the pet trade. Banded newts should be kept in a quite dry terrarium with only a small water dish during summer and autumn. During November/December the newts will enter the water to breed and should get a bigger water section. A 20-gallon fish tank can hold six to eight newts, but only one male, as males are highly territorial. The water section should have a bare bottom or sand substrate to avoid impaction, with abundant aquatic plants. Banded newts do best at room temperature in summer and around 10-15 °C during the winter. A varied diet of earthworms, bloodworms, pinhead crickets, white worms, and waxworms is perfect for banded newts.

This species should not be confused with the northern banded newt (Ommatotriton ophryticus), which was previously considered a subspecies of O. vittatus.

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References
  1. Arntzen, J.W., Kuzmin, S., Papenfuss, T., Degani, G., Ugurtas, I., Disi, A., Tarkhnishvili, D., Tuniyev, B., Sparreboom, M., Anderson, S., Sadek, R., Hraoui-Bloquet, S., Gasith, A., Elron, E. & Gafny, S. 2004. Triturus vittatus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 9 July 2007.


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