page_title: Iberian ribbed newt
section_title: Space experiments
hierarchical_section_title: Iberian ribbed newt / Space experiments
context_page_description: The Iberian ribbed newt, gallipato or Spanish ribbed newt is a newt endemic to the central and southern Iberian Peninsula and Morocco. It is the largest European newt species and it is also known for its sharp ribs which can puncture through its sides, and as such is also called the sharp-ribbed newt.
  This species should not be confused with the different species with similar common name, the Iberian newt.
context_section_description: Pleurodeles waltl has been studied in space on at least six missions. The first Iberian ribbed newts in space may have been in 1985 on board Bion 7. The ten newts shared their journey with two rhesus macaques and ten rats, in an otherwise crewless Soviet Kosmos satellite. In 1992, Bion 10 also carried the newts on board, as did Bion 11 in 1996.
  Pleurodeles waltl research was continued later in 1996 by French-led experiments on the Mir space station (Mir Cassiopée expedition), with follow-up studies in 1998 (Mir Pégase expedition) and 1999 (Mir Perseus expedition). Foton-M2 also carried the Iberian ribbed newt in 2005.
  The newts were chosen because they are a good model organism for the study of microgravity. They are a good model organism because of the female's ability to retain live sperm in her cloaca for up to five months, allowing her to be inseminated on Earth, and later (in space) have fertilisation induced through hormonal stimulation. Another advantage to this species is their development is slow, so all the key stages of ontogenesis can be observed, from the oocyte to swimming tailbud embryos or larvae.
  Studies looked at the newts' ability to regenerate (which was faster in space overall, and up to two times as fast in early stages) as well as the stages of development and reproduction in space.
  On the ground, studies of hypergravity (up to 3g) on P. waltl fertilisation have also been conducted, as well as on the fertility of the space-born newts once they arrived back on Earth (they were fertile, and without problems).
caption: Iberian ribbed newts in an aquarium (on Earth)
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