Salamandra infraimmaculata Martens, 1885

Class: Amphibia > Order: Caudata > Family: Salamandridae > Subfamily: Salamandrinae > Genus: Salamandra > Species: Salamandra infraimmaculata

Salamandra maculosa var. infraimmaculata Martens, 1885, Sitzungsber. Ges. Naturforsch. Freunde Berlin, 1884: 195. Type(s): Not stated although likely originally in ZMB. NHMW 15501 designated neotype by Eiselt, 1958, Abh. Ber. Naturkd. Magdeburg, 10: 131. Type locality: "Syrien"; restricted by neotype designation by Eiselt, 1958, Abh. Ber. Naturkd. Magdeburg, 10: 131, to "Bscherreh (Becharreh) in nördlichen Libanon".

Salamandra semenovi Nesterov, 1916, Annu. Mus. Zool. Acad. Sci. Petrograd, 21: 21. Holotype: ZISP. Type locality: "montibus Kurdistani persio-turcici altitudine 5000 pedum supra maris uperfciem" = Sjah (Siyah) Güves, 1500 meters elevation, mountain land of Kurdistan. Synonymy by Wolterstorff, 1932, Bl. Aquar. Terrarienkd., Stuttgart, 43: 43.

Salamandra maculosa var. orientalis Wolterstorff, 1925, Abh. Ber. Mus. Nat. Heimatkd. Magdeburg, 4: 235. Syntypes: 12 specimens, including MM NV423, which was considered "typus" (not a valid lectotype by implication) by Wolterstorff, 1932, Bl. Aquar. Terrarienkd., Stuttgart, 43: 42; destroyed in 1945, W.W.II. NHMW 15501 designated neotype by Eiselt, 1958, Abh. Ber. Naturkd. Magdeburg, 10: 131. Type localities: "Balkanhabinsel und Kleinasiens"; restricted by lectotype designation of Wolterstorff, 1932, Bl. Aquar. Terrarienkd., Stuttgart, 43: 42; to "Gulek Boghaz (Pyles ciliciennes) bei Adana". Restricted by neotype designation by Eiselt, 1958, Abh. Ber. Naturkd. Magdeburg, 10: 131, to "Bscherreh (Becharreh) in nördlichen Libanon". (Not Salamandra maculosa orientalis Prazák, 1898)

Salamandra maculosa subsp. semenovi — Wolterstorff, 1925, Abh. Ber. Mus. Nat. Heimatkd. Magdeburg, 4: 241.

Salamandra maculosa forma orientalis — Wolterstorff, 1932, Bl. Aquar. Terrarienkd., Stuttgart, 43: 41.

Salamandra salamandra semenovi — Wolterstorff, 1932, Bl. Aquar. Terrarienkd., Stuttgart, 43: 43.

Salamandra salamandra orientalis — Bodenheimer, 1944, Istanbul Univ. Fen. Fak. Mec., Seri B, 9: 4. Status questioned.

Salamandra salamandra infraimmaculata — Mertens, 1948, Senckenb. Biol., 28: 187 (placed Salamandra salamandra orientalis in synonymy of Salamandra salamandra infraimmaculata).

Salamandra infraimmaculata — Gasser, 1978, Arch. Zool. Exp. Gen., 119: 636. 

Salamandra infraimmaculata immaculata — Joger and Steinfartz, 1995, in Llorente et al. (eds.), Scientia Herpetol.: 33.

Salamandra infraimmaculata orientalis — Joger and Steinfartz, 1995, in Llorente et al. (eds.), Scientia Herpetol.: 33.

Salamandra infraimmaculata semenovi — Joger and Steinfartz, 1995, in Llorente et al. (eds.), Scientia Herpetol.: 33.

Salamandra (Oriandra) infraimmaculata infraimmaculata — Dubois and Raffaëlli, 2009, Alytes, 26: 69.

Salamandra (Oriandra) infraimmaculata orientalis — Dubois and Raffaëlli, 2009, Alytes, 26: 69.

Salamandra (Oriandra) infraimmaculata semenovi — Dubois and Raffaëlli, 2009, Alytes, 26: 69.

Salamandra (Oriandra) semenovi —  Raffaëlli, 2013, Urodeles du Monde, 2nd ed.: 202. 

Common Names

Spot-bellied Salamander (Safaei-Mahroo, Ghaffari, Fahimi, Broomand, Yazdanian, Najafi-Majd, Hosseinian Yousefkani, Rezazadeh, Hosseinzadeh, Nasrabadi, Mashayekhi, Motesharei, Naderi, and Kazemi, 2015, Asian Herpetol. Res., 6: 268).

Near-eastern Fire Salamander (Sparreboom, 2014, Salamanders Old World: 320). 

Near-eastern Fire Salamander (Salamandra infraimmaculata infraimmaculata: Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 220).

Turkish Fire Salamander (Salamandra infraimmaculata orientalis: Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 222).

Kurdish Salamander (Salamandra semenovi: Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 223).

Semenov's Salamander (Salamandra infraimmaculata semenovi:  Safaei-Mahroo, Ghaffari, and Niamir, 2023, Zootaxa, 5279: 146).

Distribution

South-central and coastal southern Türkiye south along the coast through Syria and Lebanon to northern Israel; isolated populations in southwestern and eastern Türkiye, northern Iraq, and northwestern Iran (Kordestan and Kermanshah provinces).

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Iran, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Türkiye

Comment

Joger and Steinfartz, 1995, in Llorente et al. (eds.), Scientia Herpetol.: 33–36, discussed and recognized Salamandra infraimmaculata for the former East Mediterranean populations of Salamandra salamandra. Başoğlu and Özeti, 1973, Türkiye Amphibileri: 30–35, provided an account for the Turkish populations (as Salamandra salamandra). Thorn and Raffaëlli, 2000, Salamand. Ancien Monde: 163–187, provided an account. Özeti and Yilmaz, 1994, Türkiye Amfibileri: 43–50, provided an account for Turkish populations (as subspecies of Salamandra salamandra). Hraoui-Bloquet, Sadek, Sindaco, and Venchi, 2002, Zool. Middle East, 27: 36, provided definitive records for Lebanon. Baloutch and Kami, 1995, Amph. Iran: 102–103, provided an account (for Salamandra salamandra semenovi) for Iran. See statement of geographic range, habitat, and conservation status in Stuart, Hoffmann, Chanson, Cox, Berridge, Ramani, and Young, 2008, Threatened Amph. World: 642. Dubois and Raffaëlli, 2009, Alytes, 26: 35, discussed the murky taxonomy of populations within this nominal species. Leviton, Anderson, Adler, and Minton, 1992, Handb. Middle East Amph. Rept.: 140, gave a brief account of Salamandra infraimmaculata semenovi (as Salamandra salamandra semenovi). Goldberg, Pearlson, Nevo, and Degani, 2009, S. Am. J. Herpetol., 4: 268–274, reported on sequence divergence among populations in Israel, correlated with ecological divergence. Bogaerts, Sparreboom, Pasmans, Almasri, Beukema, Shehab, and Amr, 2013, Salamandra, 49: 87–96, reported on the range and life history in Syria. Böhme, Hartmann, Fleck, and Schöttler, 2013, Russ. J. Herpetol., 20: 66–72, reported on pattern variability in Salamandra infraimmaculata semenovi and characters to distinguish Salamandra infraimmaculata from relatives in areas of approach. Raffaëlli, 2013, Urodeles du Monde, 2nd ed.: 201–202, provided brief accounts by subspecies, photographs, and map and (p. 202) recognized Salamandra semenovi as a distinct species although the rationale for this novelty is unclear. Vences, Sanchez, Hauswaldt, Eikelmann, Rodriguez, Carranza, Donaire-Barroso, Gehara, Helfer, Lötters, Werner, Schulz, and Steinfartz, 2014, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 73: 208–214, demonstrated via nu- and mtDNA analysis that recognition of Salamandra semenovi as a species rendered Salamandra infraimmaculata paraphyletic. Should authors want to recognize that population at the rank of species, they will have to dismantle the complex that is currently referred to Salamandra infraimmaculata. Sparreboom, 2014, Salamanders Old World: 320–323, reviewed the biology, characteristics, distribution, reproduction, and conservation of the species. Safaei-Mahroo, Ghaffari, Fahimi, Broomand, Yazdanian, Najafi-Majd, Hosseinian Yousefkani, Rezazadeh, Hosseinzadeh, Nasrabadi, Mashayekhi, Motesharei, Naderi, and Kazemi, 2015, Asian Herpetol. Res., 6: 257–290, reported on distribution and conservation status in Iran. Sinai, Segev, Weil, Oron, Merilä, Templeton, Blaustein, Greenbaum, and Blank, 2019, Conserv. Genetics, 20: 875–889, reported on landscape genetics in northern Israel. See Dufresnes, 2019, Amph. Eur., N. Afr., & Middle East: 163, for brief summary of identifying morphology and biology, a range map, as well as a photograph (see p. 207 for photographs and map of subspecies). Yaşar, Çiçek, Mulder, and Tok, 2021, North-West. J. Zool., Romania, 17(e201512): 232–275, discussed and grid-mapped the range in Türkiye. Candan, 2022, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 16 (1: e307): 136–147, provided a new record from Ivriz, Halkapınar, Konya Province, Türkiye, and discussed morphometrics and niche modelling of the species. Kurnaz, 2022, J. Wildl. Biodivers., Arak, 6: 82–96, mapped the current range in Türkiye and modeled the current and future range of the species under different climatic regimes. Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 220–225, provided subspecies (and nominal Salamandra semonovi) accounts, summarizing systematics, life history, population status, and distribution (including a polygon map). Safaei-Mahroo, Ghaffari, and Niamir, 2023, Zootaxa, 5279: 1–112, provided for Iran an identification key including this species, photographs, habitat and conservation threats, a review of the literature, discussion of nomenclature and systematics, as well as dot and modeled distribution maps. Hosseinian Yousefkani, Shafiei Bafti, Rezazadeh Mashizi, and Moeinadini, 2024, North-West. J. Zool., Romania, 20(e242501): 85–89, discussed the possible effects of climate change on range in Iranand provided a current dot map for that country. Gippner, Strowbridge, Šunje, Capstick, Amat, Bogaerts, Merabet, Preissler, Galán, Martínez-Solano, Bonato, Steinfartz, Velo-Antón, Dufresnes, Elmer, and Vences, 2024, Salamandra, 60: 105–128, reported on the effects on genomic analyses of subspecies due to intergradation and hybridization. 

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