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There have been a lot of great topics with many fine Salamandra salamandra pictures lately, which is undoubtedly a very good thing. Seeing as the fire salamander is one of the most variable species in Europe with lots of subspecies and lots of variation within subspecies, I thought it might be good to have a thread which shows different Salamandra from all over the place.

I'll start, although unfortunately I only have some S. s. gallaica to show.

Firstly some with lots of red from the Portalegre region of Portugal









The next are from the Coimbra area without any red, but some not so pretty brown

The only adult salamandra I have seen is this one from Piemonte, Italy. 900m asl.

I really need to spend some time spicing up this thread....

Jeroen Speybroeck wrote:I really need to spend some time spicing up this thread....

Yes please!

Here a few from SW Germany..I believe Salamandra salamandra terrestris or so ?

Andre Schmid wrote: Salamandra salamandra terrestris or so ?

Yes, a very nice one

Fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra)

--- Salamandra salamandra salamandra
Don't have too many of those...


juvenile from NE Greece


old larva from Bulgaria


adult from Romania, sometimes considered a separate subspecies (carpathica)

--- Salamandra salamandra fastuosa






--- Salamandra salamandra bejarae – parts of Spain, spotted


--- Salamandra salamandra bernardezi - parts of NW Spain, striped like fastuosa, but much smaller



--- Salamandra salamandra alfredschmidti - like previous, but with some funny colour morphs (see also http://www.sabine-deschandol.com/trip2007/trip2007.html)





--- Salamandra salamandra gallaica - Galicia, Portugal, ...






--- Salamandra salamandra gigliolii – (S) Italy, broad, wavy pattern




this pregnant female from N Italy might actually also be gigliolii, or rather subsp. salamandra… =>


--- Salamandra salamandra morenica – parts of S Spain, often with red pigment


--- Salamandra (salamandra) longirostris – restricted to isolated part of SW Spain, may represent full species; has a rather pointed snout and no red pigment (in contrast to nearby Spanish subspecies)




juvenile

--- Salamandra salamandra crespoi; restricted to S Portugal; rather variable





male of uncertain subspecies (SE Portugal) in typical show-off pose, looking for a mate

--- Salamandra salamandra terrestris

From NE Spain (Catalonia), sometimes consider a different subspecies (hispanica).

The rest is from my own home town.


female depositing larvae in ditch with floating leaves


another at water’s edge


spots tend to fade with age, as partially visible on this one’s flanks




larvae in the water


female swimming across dirty water


temporary home for a collection of 10 animals that were sampled for DNA (population genetic study) – note the orange one




daddy and a juvenile



mating


dissociated after mating, because … it was two male action in fact !


juv






orange and regular

--- Missing – S.s. almanzoris, (disputed) S.s. beschkovi, (disputed) S.s. werneri

Corsican fire salamander (Salamandra corsica) – more or less the same, but more stubby toes, shorter limbs and head, and often very irregular (but beautiful) spots










herpers in salamander habitat











Alpine salamander (Salamandra atra)

--- Salamandra atra atra


as flipped (left), with a terrestrial phase Alpine newt (Ichthyosaura alpestris)











--- Salamandra atra aurorae





--- Salamandra atra pasubiensis





Lanza's Alpine Salamander (Salamandra lanzai)

Some locals...
Salamandra atra running...


Salamandra salamandra...too fat to run


and the habitat 50m from my home..


and question for Jeroen; which subsp. is supposed to be the S.atra from SW Slovenia?

Both species together at that same spot, Rok?

Rok Grzelj wrote:which subsp. is supposed to be the S.atra from SW Slovenia?

S.a. atra, although they're in a different clade than the blackies from the Alps s.s.
Results have been due for a long time already...

No...they are not from the same spot... atra occurs in the same area but on higher altitude...from cca 600 m.a.s.l and they are connected with the alpine ones
as the mountain chain is connected with the Julian alps in NW Slovenia