Pleurodeles
Encyclopedia
The Ribbed Newts is a group of three newt species:
  • Algerian Ribbed Newt
    Algerian Ribbed Newt
    The Algerian Ribbed Newt or Triton D'Algerie is a species of salamander in the Salamandridae family found in Algeria and Tunisia....

     (Pleurodeles nebulosus)
  • Edough Ribbed Newt (Pleurodeles poireti)
  • Iberian Ribbed Newt
    Iberian Ribbed Newt
    The Iberian ribbed newt or Spanish ribbed newt is a newt endemic to the central and southern Iberian Peninsula and Morocco. It is known for its sharp ribs which can puncture through its sides, and as such is also called the sharp-ribbed newt.-Physical description:The Iberian Ribbed Newt has...

     (Pleurodeles waltl)


The Iberian Ribbed Newt is the most common of the species, and the most frequently used as a model organism
Model organism
A model organism is a non-human species that is extensively studied to understand particular biological phenomena, with the expectation that discoveries made in the organism model will provide insight into the workings of other organisms. Model organisms are in vivo models and are widely used to...

 by scientists. However, in the wild its numbers are declining, and in 2006 it became a near threatened
Near Threatened
Near Threatened is a conservation status assigned to species or lower taxa that may be considered threatened with extinction in the near future, although it does not currently qualify for the threatened status...

 species. The other two species are in fact threatened, with P. nebulosus considered vulnerable to extinction
Vulnerable species
On 30 January 2010, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species identified 9694 Vulnerable species, subspecies and varieties, stocks and sub-populations.-References:...

 and P. poireti classified as an endangered species
Endangered species
An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...

. The numbers of all three species are declining in the wild. Livestock agriculture is an ongoing major cause of habitat loss and degradation, and of water pollution, for all three species.
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