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 italicus (Dunn, 1923)

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

Hydromantes italicus Dunn, 1923, Proc. New England Zool. Club, 8: 40. Type(s); Not designated but by implication the specimen(s) identified by Bonaparte, 1837, Iconograph. Fauna Ital., 2 (Fasc. 19): unnumbered, as his Geotriton fuscus. Specimen in Lanza Collection designated neotype by Lanza, 1952, Arch. Zool. Ital. Torino, 37: 335. Type locality: Considered to be Apuan Alps and Apennines, and restricted by Mertens and Müller, 1928, Abh. Senckenb. Naturforsch. Ges., 41: 15, to "Bäder von Porretta, Norditalien"; further restricted to "monti presso Sambuco Pistoiese, valle del torrente Limentra occidentale (affluente del fiume Reno); provincia di Postoia; Toscana", Italy by Lanza, 1952, Arch. Zool. Ital. Torino, 37: 335. Name coined by Dunn to be a substitute name for "Geotriton fuscus Bonaparte, 1837", which he thought was a valid name for the species currently known as Hydromantes italicus and not identical to Geotriton fuscus sensu Bonaparte, 1832. Unfortunately, the usages by Bonaparte in both 1832 and 1837 was actually a subsequent use of Salamandra fuscus Laurent, 1768, but, at least in 1837, based on misidentified material of Hydromantes italicus Dunn, 1923. See Anonymous, 1997, Bull. Zool. Nomencl., 54: 72–74, for additional illumination.

Hydromantes genei italicus — Wolterstorff, 1925, Abh. Ber. Mus. Nat. Heimatkd. Magdeburg, 4: 232; Steward, 1969, Tailed Amph. Eur.: 140.

Hydromantes italicus italicus — Lanza, 1952, Arch. Zool. Ital. Torino, 37: 327–347.

Hydromantes italicus gormani Lanza, 1952, Arch. Zool. Ital. Torino, 37: 339. Holotype: Lanza Collection No. 12, by original designation. Type locality: "Tana di Magnano (n. 162 T. del Catasto Speleol. Ital.), sulla sinistra idrografica del torrente 'il Fiume' (affl. di sinistra del fiume Serchio), presso il ponte di Canigiano; m. 673 s. l. m.; prov. di Lucca; Toscana", Italy.

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

Hydromantes italicus italicus — Bruno, 1973, Natura, Milano, 64: 392.

Hydromantoides (Speleomantes) italicus — Dubois, 1984, Alytes, 3: 108.

Speleomantes italicus — Lanza, 1986, in Camard et al. (eds.), Ambiente Nat. Sardegna: 311; Lanza, 1999, in Grossenbacher and Thiesmeier (eds.), Handbuch Rept. Amph. Eur., 4(1): 165; Thorn and Raffaëlli, 2000, Salamand. Ancien Monde: 373; Vieites, Min, and Wake, 2007, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 104: 19903–19907. See also electronic supplemental data.

Hydromantes italicus — Lanza, Caputo, Nascetti, and Bullini, 1995, Monogr. Mus. Reg. Sci. Nat. Torino, 16: 9.

Speleomantes italicus italicus — Thireau and Doré, 2000, Bull. Soc. Zool. France, 125: 251.

Speleomantes italicus gormani — Thireau and Doré, 2000, Bull. Soc. Zool. France, 125: 251. Distinctiveness of subspecies questioned.

Hydromantes (Speleomantes) italicus — 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 (Speleomantes) italicus — Dubois and Raffaëlli, 2012, Alytes, 28: 77–161.

Common Names

Italian Cave Salamander (Arnold and Burton, 1978, Field Guide Rept. Amph. Brit. Eur.: 54; Ananjeva, Borkin, Darevsky, and Orlov, 1988, Dict. Amph. Rept. Five Languages: 27; Stumpel-Rienks, 1992, Ergänzungsband Handbuch Rept. Amph. Eur., Trivialnamen der Herpetofauna Eur.: 63; 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.: 46).

Apennines Salamander (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 34).

Central Cave Salamander (Hydromantes genei gormani: Steward, 1969, Tailed Amph. Eur.: 40).

Eastern Cave Salamander (Hydromantes genei italicus: Steward, 1969, Tailed Amph. Eur.: 40).

Appennines Cave Salamander (Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 1024).

Distribution

Italy in the northern and central Appenines, from the provinces of Reggio Emilia and Lucca southwards to the province of Pescara, 80–1600 m elevation; introduced population near Solling, Germany.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Italy

Endemic: Italy

Introduced: Germany

Comment

Thorn and Raffaëlli, 2000, Salamand. Ancien Monde: 373–374, provided an account. See also discussion of relevant literature and distribution by Lanza, 1997, in Gasc et al. (eds.), Atlas Amph. Rept. Eur.: 46–47. Lanza, 1999, in Grossenbacher and Thiesmeier (eds.), Handbuch Rept. Amph. Eur., 4(1): 165–173, provided an extensive review of biology. Nöllert and Nöllert, 1992, Die Amph. Eur.: 239–240, provided a brief account and polygon map.Obst in Engelmann, Fritzsche, Günther, and Obst, 1993, Lurche Kriechtiere Eur.: 108, provided a brief account, figure, and map. See statement of geographic range, habitat, and conservation status in Stuart, Hoffmann, Chanson, Cox, Berridge, Ramani, and Young, 2008, Threatened Amph. World: 641. See detailed account by Lanza, Pastorelli, Laghi, and Cimmaruta, 2007, in Lanza et al. (eds.), Fauna d'Italia, 42 (Amph.): 160–163. Raffaëlli, 2013, Urodeles du Monde, 2nd ed.: 439, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map. Sparreboom, 2014, Salamanders Old World: 159–160, 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 ambrosii. See Dufresnes, 2019, Amph. Eur., N. Afr., & Middle East: 180, for brief summary of identifying morphology and biology, a range map, as well as a photograph. Schulz, Gerhardt, Stützer, Seidel, and Vences, 2021, Herpetol. Notes, 14: 421–429, reported on an introduced population in an abandoned quarry near Solling, Germany. Ruggi, 2007, Descr. Zona Contatto Ibrid. Speleomantes italicus e S. ambrosii: 1–109, demonstrated that Speleomantes italicus populations introgressed with Speleomantes ambrosii bianchii in Tuscany (Florence, Lucca and Pistoia provinces) and Emilia-Romagna (Modena and Bologna provinces); pure populations of Speleomantes italicus are present in Emilia-Romagna (Reggio Emilia province), Marche, Umbria, Latium and Abruzzo. Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 1024–1026, provided an account summarizing systematics, morphology, life history, population status, and distribution (including a polygon map).

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For access to available specimen data for this species, from over 350 scientific collections, go to Vertnet.