Some summer herps

[Andre Schmid]

The animal in the first picture looks like Speleomantes to me.... Where did you find it?

That was also my first thought, and I´m not a Salamander guy

It would be awesome if this would be a new species in GERMANY found 2013... Nothing is impossible And if not, cool found of a strange Salamander

[Alexandre Roux]

Maybe you should tell them: http://dght.de/

[Julius Zidorn]

Thank you, Alexandre.
I´ll send them an e-mail

[Guillaume Gomard]

Nice finds and yes, the Speleomantes-like specimens are very interesting . I'm sure the experts will be more than happy to give you a reply because in any cases, it's an interesting population, whatever this is. I'm herping quite frequently now in Rheinland-Pfalz and I'm also suprised on the number of isolated populations of reptiles in this region.

[Michal Szkudlarek]

you lucky! awesome Speleomantes! please inform us how research on this case evolves

[Thomas Bader]

Yes - are very strange record indeed - but one thing is for sure: No way, that there is a native poulation of Speleomantes in (central) Germany. If it is Speleomantes, it must be released, transported, lost or whatever.

A similar situation with Iberolacerta horvathi happened in the 90s - found in the northern Alps on the border Germany/Austria (see Faberl, F. & Faberl, H. 1991 - a joke paper by Schmidtler). How for god's sake should mediterranean cave dwelling animals have crossed the alps and then landscapes without karst after the ice age and now occur only in this one special place some 100 km north. This colonisation history seems impossible (for me).

[Thomas Reich]

I'm also sure that this must be an introduced population. It will be interesting to know how many animals you are able to find. How does the habitat look like?

By the way, it wouldn't surprise me if you find other non native species in the neighbourhood. What about Salamandrina? In Switzerland, a lot of herps have been illegally introduced here and there by "enthusiasts" ignoring the consequences these actions can have... An exasperating topic.

If you want to avoid that too many people pilgrimage to this special place, I wouldn't shout it from the rooftops.

[Julius Zidorn]

The habitat is an old wet quarry in a forest with a ca. 50m high cliff. There are many places to hide in this cliff.
On the ground, many stones and pieces of wood are laying around. 200 metres further is a stream, the "Hasselbach"

For me the habitat looks good for these salamanders...

[Alexandre Roux]

Near a Schullandheim - could they have some kind of small zoo with European animals and this is a kind of side effect?

Or some amphibians "collector"...

[Mario Schweiger]

In my opinion, definitively a new species in the "Hydromantes" group
After having two green lizards, three Natrix natrix ssp., why not a cave dweller in Germany too.
So the area is close to the Braunschweig museum, I would plead for Wolfgangius ullijogeri

Mario