Distributions, ecology and taxonomy of Triturus vulgaris in the Adriatic coastal zones.

The three subspecies Triturus vulgaris meridionalis (central Italy to Istria), T. v. graecus (South Dalmatia and Montenegro) and, surprisingly, T. v. vulgaris (North Dalmatia) occur in the Adratic coastal zones of Yugoslavia and Italy. Populations from the Inner Croatian Sava-valley probably belong to a different Pannonian subspecies (at present: "T. v . cf. vulgaris "). Between the Istrian T. v. meridionalis on one side and the Central European/North Dalmatian T. v. vulgaris on the other side, there exists a broad postglacial zone of intergradation. There are corresponding ecological differences to the clear morphological differences between the extreme T. v. vulgaris and T. v. graecus . The latter lives everywhere in its mediterranean to submediterranean zone of distribution, while North Dalmatian T. v. vulgaris is restricted to large wetland habitats now threatened there. The new findings of T. v. meridionalis in the submediterranean-colline vegetation-zone of the Central Italian region of Marche (E of Tolentino) suggest probable that it is sympatric with its near relative Triturus italicus .