It is said that the name ‘palmate’ newt is derived from of the appearance of the newt’s feet, the skin between its toes looking like the palm of a hand.

Subspecies
There are three subspecies: T. h. helveticus is found in northern Germany to north-eastern Spain, T. h. punctillatus in the Sierra de la Demanda area, Spain, and T. h. alonsoi (also known as T. h. sequeirai) occurs in the north-western corner of the Iberian peninsula.

Life span
They can live up to 10 years.

Statistics
Body length and tail: Females are usually slightly larger than males, growing up to 10cm compared to the 9cm of the males.

Physical description
Females have olive green or light brown skin, with dark green speckles that join to form two lines on each side of the vertebrae. The male also has olive green skin and is covered in spots. Both sexes have orange bellies with a white border, and a white unspotted throat (unlike the spotted throat of the smooth newt, with which they are often confused). Males can be distinguished from females by the presence of sooty-coloured, almost black, webbed back feet, a low smooth crest running along their backs, and a tail that ends in a fine filament. These features become more prominent during the breeding season, reducing or disappearing completely at times when the newt is entirely terrestrial.

Distribution
Palmate newts are confined to Western Europe, but are absent from Ireland.

Habitat
Palmate newts inhabit still, shallow water, such as ponds, lakes and canals. They can also be found in brackish pools near the sea and in slow-moving streams. When living out of water they may be found in gardens, woodland, farms and heathland.

Diet
On land they feed on insects and worms. They sometimes flick out their tongue like a lizard to catch prey. Crustaceans, insect larvae, water snails and frog tadpoles form their diet in the water.

Behaviour
Palmate newts hibernate from November to late February/March. They usually hibernate beneath stones or compost heaps, although young adults may hibernate in the mud of pond beds. On coming out of hibernation they migrate over land to breeding sites. Palmate newts are active both the night and day during the breeding season, usually only being seen on rainy or humid nights at other times of the year. They generally leave the water in June/July to spend a few months on land before entering hibernation.

Reproduction
Male palmate newts reach the breeding sites first. The male performs a mating display by swimming in front of the female and dropping a spermatophore (packet of sperm), which by careful positioning, is then picked up by the female’s cloaca (reproductive and kidney opening). Between February and May, the female will lay a few eggs a day, attaching the eggs to aquatic plants, laying between 100 and 200 eggs in total. The 8mm-long larvae hatch within 2 to 3 weeks and metamorphose to air-breathing juveniles between 6 and 9 weeks. Palmate newts become sexually mature in their second year, although neotony is also known to occur occasionally in this species (whereby juvenile or larval characteristics can be retained by a sexually mature organism).

Conservation status
Palmate newts are not listed by the IUCN Red List, but are protected by law in all countries where they occur. They are thought to extremely rare to endangered in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg and vulnerable in Germany, but common elsewhere.

Notes
All of the newt species found in the UK are members of the Triturus genus, and they are sometimes known as tritons.