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Herpetology Notes, volume 8: 483-484 (2015) (published online on 03 October 2015)

A first record of the Smooth newt, Lissotriton vulgaris (Linnaeus, 1758), from Samothraki island, NE ,

Onoufrios Mettouris1,* and Panagiotis Kornilios2

The Smooth newt, Lissotriton vulgaris (Linnaeus, Bolayir in NW (Babik et al., 2005). Specifically, 1758) is distributed throughout Eurasia, from western the individuals were assigned to the phylogenetic Europe to western Siberia, with the southern edge of clade E of Pabijan et al. (2015) which includes the L. its distribution lying in the southern Balkan Peninsula v. schmidtlerorum subspecies, distributed in western (Greece). Although it is a very common species and Turkey and the northeastern part of Greece and eastern despite its large geographic distribution, it is rarely found Bulgaria (Pabijan et al., 2015). Genetic differentiation on islands, with the exception of three between the samples from Samothraki and samples (Kerkyra, Cephalonia and Lefkada) in from the mainland of the aforementioned clade is very and the Aegean islands of Evvoia (Valakos et al., 2008) low (0% p-distance value), suggesting a very recent and Bozcaada (Tenedos; Tok and Çiçek, 2014; Fig. 1). colonization event. The Smooth newt probably colonized Although the island of Samothraki, in the NE Aegean Samothraki during one of the glacial periods of the Late Sea, has been repeatedly surveyed by herpetologists Pleistocene (even the Last Glacial Maximum), when the (Broggi, 1988; Buttle, 1989; Clark, 1991; Cattaneo, sea-level was as much as 120m lower than present and 2001), no records of Lissotriton vulgaris or any other the island of Samothraki constituted a high mountain urodele amphibian have been reported. During a field (1731m) connected to the mainland to the North and survey on the island of Samothraki in August 2014, two East (Perissoratis and Conispoliatis, 2003). However, a newt larvae were captured by hand in a small ditch filled human-mediated translocation cannot be ruled out. with water in N Samothraki (40°30’N, 25°37’E, 10m a.s.l., Fig. 2). To confirm their species-identification, tail-tissue samples were obtained and the larvae were released at the point of capture. The tissue was stored in 95% ethanol until DNA extraction. A segment of the NADH dehydrogenase subunit 4 (ND4) with associated tRNAs was PCR-amplified and sequenced for the two specimens (for primers and conditions see Babik et al., 2005). The two sequences were identical to each other and to the sequence with Acc. No. AY951534 in GenBank, which corresponded to a Lissotriton vulgaris schmidtlerorum individual from

1 Department of Biology, University of Patras, 26500, Patras, Greece 2 Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Democritus Figure 1. The southern distribution limit of Lissotriton vulgaris University of , 68100, Alexandroupoli, Greece with the islands in which this species is found, including the * Corresponding author e-mail: [email protected] new record from Samothraki, NE Aegean Sea. 484 Onoufrios Mettouris & Panagiotis Kornilios

Figure 2. The habitat type in which the Lissotriton vulgaris larvae were captured. Photo by Onoufrios Mettouris.

Our finding enhances existing knowledge of the Smooth Broggi, M.F. (1988): Herpetologische Beobachtungen auf newt’s distribution, the herpetofauna of the island of Samothrake (Griechenland). Berichte der Botanisch- Samothraki and the Aegean Sea in general. This is the Zoologischen Gesellschaft Liechtenstein-Sargans-Werdenberg 17: 93–99. first urodele species to be recorded on Samothraki and Buttle, D. (1989): Notes on reptiles and amphibians of northeastern the third recorded amphibian on the island, along with Greece and the island of Samothraki. British Herpetological Bufotes viridis and Pelophylax ridibundus (Valakos et Society Bulletin 29: 49–53. al., 2008). It is one of the very few records of Smooth Cattaneo, A. (2001): L’erpetofauna delle isole egee di Thassos, newts occurring on islands, especially in the southern Samothraki e . Bollettino del Museo Civico di Storia parts of the species’ range, and only the second island Naturale di Venezia 52: 155–181. Clark, R.J. (1991): A report on herpetological investigations on report of this particular subspecies. Finally, among the the island of Samothraki, sea – Greece. British thousands of Aegean islands, Samothraki is only the Herpetological Society Bulletin 38: 3–7. sixth island to host urodele amphibians, besides Kasos, Pabijan, M., Zieliński, P., Dudek, K., Chloupek, M., Sotiropoulos, Karpathos and Kastelorizo (Lyciasalamandra species), K., Liana, M., Babik, W. (2015): The dissection of a Pleistocene Evvoia (Lissotriton vulgaris graecus and Salamandra refugium: phylogeography of the smooth newt, Lissotriton salamandra) and Bozcaada (Tenedos; Lissotriton vulgaris, in the . Journal of Biogeography 42: 671–683. vulgaris). Perissoratis, C., Conispoliatis, N. (2003): The impacts of sea-level changes during latest Pleistocene and Holocene times on the morphology of the Ionian and Aegean seas (SE Alpine Europe). Acknowledgements. We would like to thank Eva Pitta and Marine Geology 196: 145–156. Evanthia Thanou for assistance in the field and lab respectively. Tok, C.V., Çiçek������������������������������������������������,������������������������������������������� K. (2014). Amphibians and reptiles in the We also thank Konstantinos Sotiropoulos, Jiri Smid and an Province of Çanakkale (Marmara Region, Turkey). Herpetozoa anonymous reviewer for useful comments. 27: 65–76. Valakos, E.D., Pafilis, P., Sotiropoulos, K., Lymberakis, P., References Maragou, P., Foufopoulos, J. (2008): The amphibians and reptiles of Greece. Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Edition Babik, W., Branicki, W., Crnobrnja-Isailović, J., Cogălniceanu, D., Chimaira. Sas, I., Olgun, K., Poyarkov, N.A., Garcia-París, M., Arntzen, J.W. (2005): Phylogeography of two European newt species– Accepted by Jiri Smid discordance between mtDNA and morphology. Molecular Ecology 14: 2475-�����������2491.