Courtship, Fighting and Sexual Dimorphism of the Banded Newt, Triturus vittatus ophryticus

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Abstract
A study was made of the courtship and fighting behaviour of banded newt Triturus vittatus ophryticus in both the laboratory and field. Sexual dimorphism is more pronounced in this species than in any other urodele but up to now there has been no detailed description of the courtship behaviour. Functional explanations are proposed for the extreme secondary sexual characters based on the nature of courtship and fighting behaviour. T. vittatus appears to have a type of lek mating system similar to T. marmoratus and T. cristatus. Behavioural features of the courtship display indicate that T. vittatus is taxonomically closely related to T. marmoratus and T. cristatus.