Spectacled salamander
| Spectacled salamander | ||||||||||||
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Southern Spectacled Salamander ( Salamandrina terdigitata ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the subfamily | ||||||||||||
| Salamandrininae | ||||||||||||
| Fitzinger , 1826 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Salamandrina | ||||||||||||
| Fitzinger , 1826 |
The spectacled salamander ( Salamandrina ) are a kind of fully terrestrial salamanders in Italy . They owe their German name to a glasses-shaped, red and yellow drawing over the eyes.
description
Male salamanders become 9 cm long, females reach a length of 11 cm. The tail is longer than the head and trunk together. The tail is round in cross-section at the base and increasingly flattens laterally towards the end. The limbs only have four fingers. The back of the salamander is dull black or dark brown, the belly light gray to yellow with dark spots, the underside of the limbs and tail is fiery red. The light yellow "glasses" are located between the eyes as a drawing element that gives it its name. The throat is black with a yellow spot on the chin. The spine and ribs protrude strongly, giving the salamanders a segmented appearance. The skin is water repellent, rough and covered with many warts.
distribution
Spectacled salamanders are endemic as islands only in the Italian Apennine Mountains from central Liguria to Calabria ( Aspromonte ). A distribution gap in Campania separates the Northern Spectacled Salamander from the Southern Spectacled Salamander. Salamanders are usually found between 200 and 700 m slm , rarely at sea level or up to 1500 meters (Monte Pollino). Spectacled salamanders are protected by law. The populations in some areas are endangered by water pollution and changes in the landscape.
Way of life
Spectacled salamanders occur at heights of 200 to 600 m (less often up to 1300 m) and prefer deciduous forests with soils covered by herbaceous vegetation and the vicinity of smaller flowing waters. They are crepuscular and nocturnal and spend the day under stones, moss, fallen leaves or dead wood. Spectacled salamanders feed mainly on land snails and ants, which are captured with the help of the sticky tongue. Well-known predators include the common toad and the Italian slow worm ( Anguis veronensis ). The larvae are also eaten by the jackdaw crab ( Austropotamobius pallipes ). The cold season between December and February is, at least in the north of the distribution area, spent in winter rigor. In summer dry periods, the animals retreat to deep hiding places in the ground.
Reproduction
Northern salamanders spawn from March to April, southern ones from December to early June. Mating takes place on land after a “mating dance” in which the female runs after the male. A female can lay around 35 to 50 eggs in one season. They are attached individually or in clumps to aquatic plants, roots or stones. The diameter of the eggs brownish on top and light gray below is 1.5 to 2 mm, together with the surrounding gelatinous shell 5 mm. The larvae hatch after about 20 days with a length of 7 to 12 mm. Their metamorphosis is over when they are two months old . They are then about 22 to 30 mm long. Spectacled salamanders can live to be 10 years old.
Systematics
The genus Salamandrina was introduced in 1826 by the Austrian zoologist Leopold Fitzinger and for a long time was monotypical with Salamandrina terdigitata as the only species. Investigations of the mitochondrial DNA , however, show that the northern and southern populations of the spectacled salamander are genetically distinct, so that today there are two species be listed in the genus.
- Northern spectacled salamander ( Salamandrina perspicillata )
- Southern Spectacled Salamander ( Salamandrina terdigitata )
Hazard and protection
Spectacled salamanders are potentially endangered because of their fragmented habitat and small area of distribution.
The spectacled salamander is listed by the European Union in Appendix IV of the Habitats Directive and is therefore a species of community interest that must be strictly protected, for whose preservation special protected areas must be designated by the member states. The southern spectacled salamander is also listed in Annex II of the Habitats Directive, so the member states must designate protected areas for this species.
literature
- Andreas Nöllert & Christel Nöllert: The amphibians of Europe . - Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart, 1992. ISBN 3-440-06340-2
Individual evidence
- ↑ Mattoccia, M., A. Romano, and V. Sbordoni. 2005. Mitochondrial DNA sequence analysis of the spectacled salamander, Salamandrina terdigitata (Urodela: Salamandridae), supports the existence of two distinct species . Zootaxa 995: 1-19.
