Italian cave salamander
| Italian cave salamander | ||||||||||||
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Italian cave salamander ( Speleomantes italicus ) |
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| Speleomantes italicus | ||||||||||||
| ( Dunn , 1923) |
The Italian cave salamander ( Speleomantes italicus , Syn. : Hydromantes italicus ) is a southern European salamander from the family of the lung lots Salamander (Plethodontidae).
features
Adults grow to about 10 to 12.5 cm long, with the females being slightly longer than the males. The back color is very variable and can be brownish to reddish and covered with different, dark brown to ocher colored spots. The dark, partly lightly spotted belly has a brownish base color. Fingers and toes are short, rounded, and up to half of their length connected with tension skins. The eyes of the animals are big. There is a groove between the nostrils and the upper lip, which can only be seen with a magnifying glass. Adult animals have ear glands ( parotids ) on each side of the head , while males have a kin gland at mating season.
distribution
This species lives in the northern and central Apennines from Tuscany via Umbria to Abruzzo .
Way of life
The Italian cave salamander occurs in the mountains in damp and cool habitats up to heights of 1600 meters. The pure rural dwellers, who can only swim poorly, live in caves, in rock crevices and under stones or rotten piles of wood. Because they have no lungs, breathing occurs exclusively through the oral mucosa and the body surface. The animals feed on small insects, woodlice and spiders, which are captured with an almost full-length sling tongue supported by a skeletal tongue. The Italian cave salamander is likely to be active all year round.
Reproduction
As with other cave salamanders, mating occurs on land. The male climbs on the female, clasps it with its front legs and releases secretions from its kin gland. In the course of a "mating march" the male deposits a spermatophore on the ground. This seed packet is then taken up by the female with her cloaca . The female later lays 5 to 15 eggs in burrows in the ground, which usually happens in spring and which are guarded there. The young hatch from the eggs after about 6 to 11 months.
Danger
The Italian cave salamander is classified by the IUCN as "Near Threatened" (corresponds roughly to the German category "warning list"). There are no indications that the overall population is falling. Habitat loss can occur locally , and specimens are sometimes illegally collected.
literature
- Axel Kwet: Reptiles and Amphibians of Europe. Franckh'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-440-10237-8 .
Web links
- Speleomantes italicus in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008. Posted by: Franco Andreone, Paul Edgar, Claudia Corti, Roberto Sindaco Antonio Romano, 2008. Accessed February 14 2012th
- Arie van der Meijden, Research associate, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, UC Berkeley. " Hydromantes italicus " (eng.). AmphibiaWeb, University of California.