TheBalkan crested newtorBuresch's crested newt(Triturus ivanbureschi) is anewtspecies of the crested newtspecies complexin genusTriturus, found in Southeastern Europe andAnatolia.[2]
It was originally described as asubspeciesof thesouthern crested newt, "Triturus karelinii arntzeni", in 1999,[3]and later considered a full species when genetic data showed it to be distinct.[4]After it was suggested thetype specimenof "T. arntzeni" belonged in fact to theMacedonian crested newt(T. macedonicus), the species was redescribed, with a new type specimen, asT. ivanbureschiin 2013. Thespecies epithetwas chosen in honour of Bulgarian herpetologistIvan Buresh.[2]
Its distribution ranges from the Southeastern Balkan peninsula (WesternMacedonia, NorthwesternGreece,Bulgaria,Eastern Thrace) to Western Anatolia. An isolated population, surrounded by other crested newt species, occurs inSerbia.[2]Genetic data showed that Northern Anatolian populations east of theBosphorusandBursaform a separate, but morphologically indistinguishablesibling species, which was described asAnatolian crested newt(T. anatolicus) in 2016.[5]
The Balkan crested newthybridiseswith the Anatolian crested newt at its eastern range end.[5]At the western and northern borders, it hybridises with the Macedonian crested newt, theDanube crested newt(T. dobrogicus), and thenorthern crested newt(T. cristatus).[6]The type specimen of "T. arntzeni" is in fact a hybrid between the Balkan and the Macedonian crested newt, so that this name is a synonym for both species.[7]
