The Montseny Brook Newt, Calotriton arnoldi, is endemic to the El Montseny mountain massif in the El Montseny Natural Park and Biosphere Reserve in northeastern Spain. It is only known from seven streams between 700 and 1200 m above sea level, all within the confines of the Park. Amazingly, this species has never been observed in terrestrial habitats, meaning that dispersal and breeding with individuals in other streams may require an individual to travel down one tributary of the stream and up another. This may also means that each stream has high genetic distinctness from other streams. The Montseny Brook Newt is listed as ‘Critically Endangered’ on the IUCN Redlist of Threatened SpeciesTM.
 |
A major threat to this species is the drying out of mountain streams. Much of the water is being extracted and sold as bottled water. The distribution of the Montseny Brook Newt is greatly reduced because of this. Also, its most favored woodland habitat is being replaced in some areas by holm oak forests, possibly due to global warming.
Conservation efforts include a captive breeding program started in 2007 by the Catalan Government Wildlife Service. Conservation efforts within the Montseny Natural Park include managing water extraction, permeable pathways that are sensitive to the local population and supporting research and monitoring, although more research is still needed to determine additional management options. Strong measures are especially needed to keep the mountain streams from dying out. The species is protected under Appendix II of the Bern Convention and Annex IV of the EU Habitats Directive.
Submit your observations of this species to iNaturalist and they will appear on this map. Learn more about this species on Amphibiaweb.
More Amazing Amphibians here.
Produced in partnership with:
Senior Partners |
|||
 |
 |
 |
  |
 |
|||
Focal Partners |
|
 |
|
Affiliates |
|||
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|||
How to become an Amazing Amphibians partner:
Outlined below are the roles and responsibilities for the 4 different levels of involvement for potential partners. If your organization would like to be a part of the Amazing Amphibians program in either of these capacities please email amazing@amphibians.org.
Senior Partner – These partners will help with multiple aspects of the program, help facilitate the completion of several species profiles, publicize each Amazing Amphibian and will likely have a landing page for the program on their website. This level of partner will be leading in using their communication channels to gather additional information for the program such as images and data points for iNaturalist.
Strategic Partner – These partners will play an active role in creating species profiles, submitting at least three species profiles per year and actively use their social network to publicize each Amazing Amphibian. This level of partner will be active in using their communication channels to gather additional information for the program such as images and data points for iNaturalist.
Focal Partner – Partners tend to be active in a limited geographic area. This partner will submit at least one regional species profile per year and use their social network to publicize each Amazing Amphibian. This level of partner will be involved in using their communication channels to gather additional information at a regional level for the program such as images and data points for iNaturalist.
Affiliate – These partners are interested in promoting the program but might not be in a position to provide profiles. These partners will publicize each Amazing Amphibian through the social media outlets.
