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I found this strange Lissotriton on a survey this week and was wondering what you folks thought of it. I'm thinking it's a helveticus x vulgaris hybrid but wanted to rule out an introduced boscai.

It has an odd combination of characteristics, many of which are intermediate between vulgaris and helveticus, but overall appearance is similar to some boscai I have seen in Portugal. It was found on a site with lots of helveticus and no vulgaris (vulgaris are rare in the area). But the site is a plant nursery which I'm sure must import plants, herbs etc from all over the place so it's not inconceivable that a boscai could have been accidentally imported.

Features of interest are.

- General spotting of the body is similar to vulgaris
- Spotted throat but unspotted belly
- Partial webbing of the hind feet
- Looks like a very low wavy crest
- Very short tail filament

Looks like vulgaris male with incomplete nuptial dress-up to me...

Almost all the L.vulgaris I find around my place are like this

+1

There are some populations in the Netherlands as well, where several individuals like this make up most of the population.