Pleurodeles waltl

Strongly depressed head, slightly longer than wide; round snout; small, dorsolateral eyes. Conspicuous gular fold. Body, except abdomen, covered with tubercles. Tail laterally compressed; its length approximately equal snout-vent length. Tail tip blunt. Dorsal and ventral crests on tail, somewhat more prominent in males during reproductive period. Males have black keratinous pads on the inner side of the forelimbs when breeding. Each side of body with a series of ochre or whitish protuberances. During breeding season, crests turns orange. Cloacal opening similar in both sexes; pappilate appearanced in males and ridged in females. Coloration olive green, brownish or yellowish grey. Venter yellowish or orange-coloured with scattered dark marks (Text from Salvador, 1996, © Smithsonian Herpetological Information Service).

Adults from Morocco are smaller than those from the Iberian Peninsula. Also when breeding, crest development is less and of shorter duration than in the Iberian ones. The tail is shorter than or the same as snout-vent length in metamorphic individuals and longer in adults. Individual or geographic variation in Morocco has not been described (Text from Salvador, 1996, © Smithsonian Herpetological Information Service).

Its basic diet is crustaceans (Text from Salvador, 1996, © Smithsonian Herpetological Information Service).

This is a large bodied salamander with a wide, depressed head. The head, body, tail and extremities are covered with small tubercles, and eight or ten ochre or whitish warty protuberances are present on each side. The tail is strongly compressed laterally with reduced crests. The front of the vomeropalatine tooth rows are beyond level of choanae (Salvador, 1996).

This species is distributed in central Morocco (Salvador, 1996).

This species live from sea level to 1100 m. It spends the summer under stones and in fissures in the mud at depths of 30-50 cm and is aquatic during the reproductive season. Between December and January, young specimens are observed under stones or in the mud. They have been found in caves at depths of 60-70 m. (Text from Salvador, 1996, © Smithsonian Herpetological Information Service).

Males are up to 252 mm and females are up to 242 mm in total length (Salvador, 1996).