

Montseny Brook Newt
Montseny Brook Newt :: Calotriton arnoldi Bad at Goodbyes :: Episode 091 On today’s show we learn about the Montseny Brook Newt, a critically endangered amphibian native to the cold-water streams of the Montseny mountain massif in Catalonia in north-eastern Spain. Its scientific name is Calotriton arnoldi and it was first described in 2008. For more information about Montseny Brook Newt conservation, please see the Barcelona Zoo at https://zoobarcelona.cat/. (00:05) Intro (02:05) Species Information (28:09) Citations (30:01) Music (38:13) Pledge Research for today’s show was compiled from: Amat, F., Oromí, N., Sanuy, D., & Carranza, S. (2015). Sexual dimorphism and age structure of the Montseny newt (Calotriton arnoldi). Amphibia-Reptilia, 36(3), 245-252. – https://doi.org/10.1163/15685381-00003000 AmphibiaWeb. 2026. University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. – https://amphibiaweb.org/species/6666 Zoo de Barcelona. (n.d.). Conservation of the Montseny brook newt. – https://zoobarcelona.cat/en/conservation-of-the-montseny-brook-newt Chester Zoo. (2026, July 21). Highly endangered newts hatched at Chester Zoo have been released at a secret site in Catalonia. – https://www.chesterzoo.org/news/highly-endangered-newts-hatched-at-chester-zoo-have-been-released-at-a-secret-site-in-catalonia Contreras, J., Gomà, J., Velalcázar, D., & Montori, A. (2024). Thermal Tolerance and Preferred Temperature in the Critical Endangered Montseny Brook Newt (Calotriton arnoldi). Animals, 14(13), 1963. – https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14131963 García-Salmerón, A., Muñoz-Muñoz, F., Soler-Membrives, A., & Valbuena-Ureña, E. (2025). Head form variation in mountain newts of the genus Calotriton (Amphibia, Salamandridae) in a phylogeographic context. Zoologica Scripta, 54(4), 473–486. – https://doi.org/10.1111/zsc.12720 Guinart, D., Solórzano, S., Amat, F., Grau, J., Fernández-Guiberteau, D., & Montori, A. (2022). Habitat Management of the Endemic and Critical Endangered Montseny Brook Newt (Calotriton arnoldi). Land, 11(3), 449. – https://doi.org/10.3390/land11030449 iNaturalist – near Montseny, Spain IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group. 2022. Calotriton arnoldi. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022: e.T136131A89696462. – https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2022-1.RLTS.T136131A89696462.en Ledesma, J. L. J., Montori, A., Altava-Ortiz, V., Barrera-Escoda, A., Cunillera, J., & Àvila, A. (2019). Future hydrological constraints of the Montseny brook newt (Calotriton arnoldi) under changing climate and vegetation cover. Ecology and Evolution, 9(17), 9736–9747. – https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5506 Talavera, A., Palmada-Flores, M., Burriel-Carranza, B., Valbuena-Ureña, E., Mochales-Riaño, G., Adams, D. C., Tejero-Cicuéndez, H., Soler-Membrives, A., Amat, F., Guinart, D., Carbonell, F., Obon, E., Marquès-Bonet, T., & Carranza, S. (2024). Genomic insights into the Montseny brook newt (Calotriton arnoldi), a Critically Endangered glacial relict. iScience, 27(1), Article 108665. – https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2023.108665 Talavera A, Valbuena-Ureña E, Burriel-Carranza B, Mochales-Riaño G, Adams DC, Amat F, Carbonell F, Carranza S. 2024. Integrative systematic revision of the Montseny brook newt (Calotriton arnoldi), with the description of a new subspecies. PeerJ 12:e17550. – https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.17550 Tulloch, S., Estarellas, M., Adams, D. C., Bonacolta, A., Pagone, V., Fernández-Guiberteau, D., Amat, F., Montori, A., Carbonell, F., Obon, E., Alonso, M., Santmartín, M., Xarles, J., Marsol, R., Guinart, D., Solórzano, S., Talavera, A., Burriel-Carranza, B., Bosch, E., … Carranza, S. (2026). Comparative skin microbiome analyses reveal differences between wild populations and captive groups of the Montseny brook newt (Calotriton arnoldi). ISME Communications, 6(1), Article ycaf245. – https://doi.org/10.1093/ismeco/ycaf245 Valbuena-Ureña, E., Soler-Membrives, A., Steinfartz, S., Alonso, M., Carbonell, F., Larios-Martín, R., Obon, E., & Carranza, S. (2017). Getting off to a good start? Genetic evaluation of the ex situ conservation project of the critically endangered Montseny brook newt (Calotriton arnoldi). PeerJ, 5, Article e3447. – https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.3447 Valbuena-Ureña, E., Soler-Membrives, A., Steinfartz, S., Obon, E., Amat, F., & Carranza, S. (2017). No signs of inbreeding despite long-term isolation and habitat fragmentation in the critically endangered Montseny brook newt (Calotriton arnoldi). Heredity, 118(5), 424–435. – https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.2016.123 Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montseny_brook_newt Please find us on the web at Bad at Goodbyes and on instagram. Please subscribe and rate/review Bad at Goodbyes wherever you listen to podcasts. Please help spread the word about the show and about the species we feature. Please take care of each other, and all of our fellow travelers. A note on accuracy: I strive for it! These episodes are well-researched and built from scholarly sources, hoping to provide an informed and accurate portrait of these species. That said, I’m a musician! I am not an academic and have limited scientific background. I may get things wrong! If you are using this podcast for scholarship of any kind, please see the cited sources and double-check all information.
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