Italian crested newt
When newts are inactive or in oxygen-rich environments, respiration can be done through their skin which accounts for 74% of the cutaneous respiration. However, oxygen-poor environments, such as stagnant ponds, pose a threat to the survival of larval newts. This is because oxygen molecules do not readily dissolve in water, and as "T. carnifex" is an immobile animal, extracting oxygen from water is difficult. Newts consequently have external gills at birth that persist until metamorphosis, which assists survival in low-oxygen conditions.
Newt
Newts are also known as "Tritones" (viz., named for the mythological Triton) in historical literature, and "triton" remains in use as common name in some Romance languages, in Greek, in Romanian, Russian, and Bulgarian. The systematic name "Tritones" was introduced alongside Pleurodelinae by Tschudi in 1838, based on the type genus named "Triton" by Laurenti in 1768. Laurenti's "Triton" was renamed to "Triturus" ("Triton-tail") by Rafinesque in 1815. Tschudi's Pleurodelinae is based on the type genus "Pleurodeles" (ribbed newt) named by Michahelles in 1830 (the name meaning "having prominent ribs", formed from πλευρά "ribs" and δῆλος "conspicuous").