The Montseny brook newt

The Montseny brook newt (Calotriton arnoldi) is a species of amphibian that finds exclusively in the Montseny Natural Park and Biosphere Reserve. Therefore, it is endemic of this territory and at the same time it's the only endemic vertebrate of Catalonia.The first populations of the species were discovered in 1979 by chance. It was initially considered that they belonged to a very next species, the Pyrenean triton (Calotriton asper). Scientific studies could establish in 2005, that these populations were, to morphological and genetic level, really different species: the Montseny brook newt. This species happened unobserved for the science during decades owed to his oddity, even though the evident differences with the Pyrenean species. After that, all the newt populations known until then started to be a new species, the Montseny brook newt. Therefore the Pyrenean species was not present to the massif. At the same time, it was born the concern for the state of conservation of this emblem of the biological diversity of the Montseny. Not without reason, the Montseny brook newt is in critical danger of extinction and is the most threatened amphibian of Western Europe.

Photo: Fèlix Amat.