Search tool	Example of search string in box	What that means to the database
* = "wildcard". Allows a partial letter string to be entered and implies either no or various extension on this letter string	Hyl*	Will find all uses of "Hyl . . ." anywhere in a record: e.g., Hylarana, Hyla, Hylidae, Hylinae, Hylaedactyla.
* = "wildcard". Allows a partial letter string to be entered and implies either no or various extension on this letter string	*Hyla	Will find all uses of ". . . hyla" anywhere in a record: e.g., Hyla, Hylidae, Plectrohyla, Ptychadena hylaea, Adenomera hylaedactyla
	Hyla	Will find all records that contain stand-alone uses of Hyla: e.g., Hyla, Hyla arenicolor
Strings of words without quotation marks	Lithobates pipiens	Interprets this as "Lithobates OR pipiens" so will find the union of all records that contain either "Lithobates" or "pipiens": e.g., Lithobates omiltemanus, Hylorana pipiens
Strings of word with quotation marks	"Lithobates pipiens"	Interprets this as "Lithobates AND pipiens" so will return all records that have the character string "Lithobates pipiens" anywhere within a record: e.g., all members of the Lithobates pipiens complex.
AND statement. Means that the results of the search must include both words held together by an AND	Lithobates AND pipiens	Same as "Lithobates pipiens"
OR statement. Means that the results of the search will all records that have either of the terms held together by an OR	Lithobates OR "Costa Rica"	Recovers all records that contain the word "Lithobates" or "Costa Rica": 402 records inasmuch as this will include all records for the entire amphibian fauna of Costa Rica
Combining Boolean operators within the Basic Search box (AND, OR, NOT, quotation marks)	Lithobates AND "Costa Rica" NOT forreri	Recovers only records that contain the word Lithobates AND "Costa Rica", but excludes any record that contains the word "forreri" in any part of the record: 9 records
Printable HELP file

Search tool	Example of search string in box	What that means to the database
* = "wildcard". Allows a partial letter string to be entered and implies either no or various extension on this letter string	Hyl*	Will find all uses of "Hyl . . ." anywhere in a record: e.g., Hylarana, Hyla, Hylidae, Hylinae, Hylaedactyla.
* = "wildcard". Allows a partial letter string to be entered and implies either no or various extension on this letter string	*Hyla	Will find all uses of ". . . hyla" anywhere in a record: e.g., Hyla, Hylidae, Plectrohyla, Ptychadena hylaea, Adenomera hylaedactyla
Single word	Hyla	Will find all records that contain stand-alone uses of Hyla: e.g., Hyla, Hyla arenicolor
Strings of words without quotation marks	Lithobates pipiens	Interprets this as "Lithobates OR pipiens" so will find the union of all records that contain either "Lithobates" or "pipiens": e.g., Lithobates omiltemanus, Hylorana pipiens
Strings of word with quotation marks	"Lithobates pipiens"	Interprets this as "Lithobates AND pipiens" so will return all records that have the character string "Lithobates pipiens" anywhere within a record: e.g., all members of the Lithobates pipiens complex.
AND statement. Means that the results of the search must include both words held together by an AND	Lithobates AND pipiens	Same as "Lithobates pipiens"
OR statement. Means that the results of the search will all records that have either of the terms held together by an OR	Lithobates OR "Costa Rica"	Recovers all records that contain the word "Lithobates" or "Costa Rica": 402 records inasmuch as this will include all records for the entire amphibian fauna of Costa Rica
Combining Boolean operators within the Basic Search box (AND, OR, NOT, quotation marks)	Lithobates AND "Costa Rica" NOT forreri	Recovers only records that contain the word Lithobates AND "Costa Rica", but excludes any record that contains the word "forreri" in any part of the record: 9 records
Printable HELP file

Speleomantes ambrosii (Lanza, 1955)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Caudata > Family: Plethodontidae > Subfamily: Plethodontinae > Genus: Speleomantes > Species: Speleomantes ambrosii

Hydromantes italicus ambrosii Lanza, 1955 "1954", Arch. Zool. Ital. Torino, 39: 152. Holotype: Lanza Collection no. 106, by original designation. Type locality: "grotta detta 'Sprugola della Cornese (no. 186 Li.), situata nel. Vallone di Fabiano, a m. 240 s. l. m. (comune della Spezia)", Liguria, Italy.

Hydromantes genei ambrosii — Steward, 1969, Tailed Amph. Eur.: 140.

Hydromantes ambrosii — Lanza, Nascetti, and Bullini, 1982, Boll. Zool., Padua, 49 (Suppl.): 103.

Hydromantoides (Speleomantes) ambrosii — Dubois, 1984, Alytes, 3: 109.

Speleomantes ambrosii — Lanza, 1986, in Camard et al. (eds.), Ambiente Nat. Sardegna: 311. Lanza, 1999, in Grossenbacher and Thiesmeier (eds.), Handbuch Rept. Amph. Eur., 4(1): 91; Thorn and Raffaëlli, 2000, Salamand. Ancien Monde: 368; Vieites, Min, and Wake, 2007, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 104: 19904.

Hydromantes ambrosii — Lanza, Caputo, Nascetti, and Bullini, 1995, Monogr. Mus. Reg. Sci. Nat. Torino, 16: 9. Nascetti, Cimmaruta, Lanza, and Bullini, 1996, J. Herpetol., 30: 161-183.

Hydromantes (Speleomantes) ambrosii — Wake, Salvador, and Alonso-Zarazaga, 2005, Amphibia-Reptilia, 26: 543-548. van der Meijden, Chiari, Mucedda, Carranza, Corti, and Veith, 2009, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 51: 401.

Speleomantes ambrosii ambrosii — Lanza, Cimmaruta, Forti, Bullini, and Nascetti, 2005, Ann. Mus. Civ. Stor. Nat. Giacomo Doria, 97: 67.

Speleomantes ambrosii bianchii Lanza, Cimmaruta, Forti, Bullini, and Nascetti, 2005, Ann. Mus. Civ. Stor. Nat. Giacomo Doria, 97: 67. Holotype: Lanza Collection (new) 4452, by original designation. Type locality: "cave Tana (or Buca) dell Pastiòla, c.n. 481 T/MS, 44° 08′ 08″ N—02° 24′ 08″ W (Rome) on the N slope of Mt Bastione (698 m) and on the left side of the Rio Grande, about 1.2 km SSE of Pùlica (church) and 2.3km E of Fosdinovo, 360 m (municipality of Fosdinovo; locality Rio Grande)", Italy. See comment regarding the problematic nature of the assignment of this named population to Speleomantes ambrosii.

Hydromantes (Speleomantes) ambrosii ambrosii — van der Meijden, Chiari, Mucedda, Carranza, Corti, and Veith, 2009, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 51: 401.

Hydromantes (Speleomantes) ambrosii bianchii — van der Meijden, Chiari, Mucedda, Carranza, Corti, and Veith, 2009, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 51: 401.

Speleomantes (Speleomantes) ambrosii — Dubois and Raffaëlli, 2012, Alytes, 28: 77-161.

Common Names

Ambrosi's Cave Salamander (Lanza, Caputo, Nascetti, and Bullini, 1995, Monogr. Mus. Reg. Sci. Nat. Torino, 16: 9; Lanza, 1997, in Gasc et al. (eds.), Atlas Amph. Rept. Eur.: 38).

Spezia Cave Salamander Newt (Steward, 1969, Tailed Amph. Eur.: 40).

Ambrosi's Cave Salamander (Speleomantes ambrosii ambrosii: Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 1022).

Bianchi's Cave Salamander (Speleomantes ambrosii bianchii: Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 1023).

Distribution

Eastern Liguria and northeastern Toscana, from the extreme southwestern end of La Spezia province and from there to the southern part of the Province of Massa-Carrara, northwestern Italy; introduced into the French Pyrenees near the Spanish border (see comment).

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Italy

Introduced: France

Comment

See Speleomantes strinatii account, which is considered by some (e.g, Arnold, 2002, Rept. Amph. Eur., Ed. 2: 51) as conspecific. Thorn and Raffaëlli, 2000, Salamand. Ancien Monde: 368-367, provided an account (also addressing Speleomantes strinatii). Cimmaruta, Forti, Nascetti, and Bullini, 1999, Ethol. Ecol. Evol., 11: 383-398, provided molecular data in support of the distinction of Speleomantes ambrosii and Speleomantes strinatii. See also discussion of relevant literature and distribution by Lanza, 1997, in Gasc et al. (eds.), Atlas Amph. Rept. Eur.: 38-39, regarding taxonomy and literature. Lanza, 1999, in Grossenbacher and Thiesmeier (eds.), Handbuch Rept. Amph. Eur., 4(1): 91-135, provided an extensive account of biology. Obst IN Engelmann, Fritzsche, Günther, and Obst, 1993, Lurche Kriechtiere Eur.: 108, provided a brief account and map. Nöllert and Nöllert, 1992, Die Amph. Eur.: 235-237, provided a brief account and polygon map.Lever, 2003, Naturalized Rept. Amph. World: 227, noted an introduced population in the French Pyrenees near the Spanish border. Raffaëlli, 2007, Les Urodèles du Monde: 315-316, provided a brief account, photograph, and map. Lanza, Pastorelli, Laghi, and Cimmaruta, 2006 "2005", Atti Mus. Civ. Stor. Nat. Trieste, 52 (Suppl.): 5-135, provided a review. See statement of geographic range, habitat, and conservation status in Stuart, Hoffmann, Chanson, Cox, Berridge, Ramani, and Young, 2008, Threatened Amph. World: 641. van der Meijden, Chiari, Mucedda, Carranza, Corti, and Veith, 2009, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 51: 403, provided a molecular tree of Speleomantes that suggests that nominal Speleomantes ambrosii bianchii is outside of a group composed of Speleomantes ambrosii ambrosii + Speleomantes italicus, suggesting that either Speleomantes ambrosii (sensu lato) is not inclusive or that the two nominal subspecies are species under a lineage concept. Similarly, Carranza, Romano, Arnold, and Sotgiu, 2008, J. Biogeograph., 35: 724–738, found Speleomantis ambrosii bianchii to be the sister taxon of Speleomantes italicus, with Speleomantes ambrosii ambrosii outside of this group, also suggesting that nominal Speleomantes ambrosii is not a unitary lineage. See comment under Speleomantes italicus. See detailed account by Lanza, Pastorelli, Laghi, and Cimmaruta, 2007, in Lanza et al. (eds.), Fauna d'Italia, 42 (Amph.): 156-159. Raffaëlli, 2013, Urodeles du Monde, 2nd ed.: 439, provided brief accounts by subspecies, photographs, and range map. Sparreboom, 2014, Salamanders Old World: 153–155, reviewed the biology, characteristics, distribution, reproduction, and conservation of the species. Speybroeck, Beukema, Bok, and Van Der Voort, 2016, Field Guide Amph. Rept. Brit. Eur.: 106–107, provided a brief account and distribution map. Ficetola, Lunghi, Cimmaruta, and Manenti, 2019, J. Biogeograph., 46: 1342–1354, reported niche variation within the range and in the hybrid zone with Speleomantes italicus. See Dufresnes, 2019, Amph. Eur., N. Afr., & Middle East: 181, for brief summary of identifying morphology and biology, a range map, as well as a photograph (see p. 213 for photographs and map of subspecies). Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 1022–1024, provided subspecies accounts summarizing systematics, morphology, life history, population status, and distribution (including a polygon map).

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