Weekend herping in northwestern Italy
September 22nd – 25th 2023
Unless specified otherwise, all pictures (c) of Jeroen Speybroeck.
While he was doing his internship with us, I had promised Max van Elsen we would do a rocket run to the Alps to see Alpine Salamander
Salamandra atra, as he had never seen the species. When the plan became more concrete, we were able to find enough time to do a little more than just the one target species.
observation sites
We surveyed my long-term Fire Salamander
Salamandra salamandra route on one of the better nights of the year, ending up with over 300 animals seen, before leaving early the next morning and driving across France and Switzerland, to reach northern Italy by nightfall.
fuel
The first species of the trip was … a Fire Salamander!
Fire Salamander Salamandra salamandra
We drove up a dirt road, left the car near a small church, and started to hike into a promising valley in the Alpi Orobie. This southern part of the Alps is home to a distinct clade of small-bodied Alpine Salamanders
Salamandra atra. Once we got down into the valley and crossed over to the other bank of the stream, we soon got lucky. While not as peculiar as the yellow-spotted relatives further east (i.e. subspecies
pasubiensis and
aurorae), we loved these small salamanders. The setting was perfect (albeit not too warm, with about 8°C) – after heavy rains, the forest was extremely humid, while the brooks were deafening.
Alpine Salamander Salamandra atra
Alpine Salamander Salamandra atra
The night was just too perfect not to try for a rare Italian Common Spadefoot Toad
Pelobates fuscus. Thanks to a golden hint, we knew exactly where to go for that to have a chance of working out, and it did. One of the two we found was probably the nicest spadefoot I have seen so far.
Common Spadefoot Toad Pelobates fuscus - female
Common Spadefoot Toad Pelobates fuscus - same female
Common Spadefoot Toad Pelobates fuscus - male
We discussed on whether we would find a place to sleep (it was already 3am), or to soldier on towards Liguria, and chose the latter. After a futile attempt in a dry riverbed, we chose to go for the main target at what possibly is the best spot I know. There were still some Strinati’s Cave Salamanders
Speleomantes strinatii out and about during the last hours of darkness, when Max had the fortune of flipping a beautiful female Northern Spectacled Salamander
Salamandrina perspicillata. Definitely one of my favourite salamanders in the world.
Northern Spectacled Salamander Salamandrina perspicillata
Northern Spectacled Salamander Salamandrina perspicillata
Northern Spectacled Salamander Salamandrina perspicillata
Northern Spectacled Salamander Salamandrina perspicillata
By the time we were done photographing the
Salamandrina, the sun had come up. We continued to a popular cave with lots of Strinati’s Cave Salamanders. Surprisingly, no Italian Stream Frog
Rana italica this time (as well as in none of the other caves we visited).
Strinati’s Cave Salamander Speleomantes strinatii
Strinati’s Cave Salamander Speleomantes strinatii
We moved on further south for our second cave salamander, which was found just as easily.
Ambrosi’s Cave Salamander Speleomantes ambrosii
Ambrosi’s Cave Salamander Speleomantes ambrosii
To conclude our cave salamander hattrick, we went still further southeast and explored two small caves that were new to me. Here, we were also immediately successful.
Italian Cave Salamander Speleomantes italicus
Italian Cave Salamander Speleomantes italicus
After some car trouble, we did a short hike into the beautiful woods for Yellow-bellied Toad
Bombina variegata pachypus, but the rains had turned the forest into a wet and chilly environment and the small brook into a wild torrent, so only a few tadpoles were seen.
As it was turning into a cold night, we abandoned our initial plan to try for European Leaf-toed Gecko
Euleptes europaea in Genova and continued to a nondescript hotel in Savona.
The next morning we crossed the Po Plain lowlands towards the land of Lanza’s Alpine Salamander
Salamandra lanzai, not without stopping first for Lataste’s Agile Frog
Rana latastei in small forest patch south of Torino. We quickly found two, left the mosquitoes, and headed towards the sunny Alps once more.
Lataste’s Agile Frog Rana latastei
Lataste’s Agile Frog Rana latastei
Lataste’s Agile Frog Rana latastei
By mid-afternoon, we reached the Lanza’s Alpine Salamander habitat in the Pellice Valley. I had only ever seen the species in the upper Po Valley, so I was keen on finally seeing some other habitats of one of my favourite species. After a while, I found a female underneath a rock. After checking in to our lovely B&B and having another splendid pizza, we tried for more salamanders in the dark. Not very humid and fairly cold and windy. We only found five additional salamanders. Of those, the adults were all spotted with only the tip of their snout sticking out of their shelter, so clearly not a great salamander night.
Lanza’s Alpine Salamander Salamandra lanzai
Lanza’s Alpine Salamander Salamandra lanzai
Lanza’s Alpine Salamander Salamandra lanzai
Lanza’s Alpine Salamander Salamandra lanzai
The next morning, we did a beautiful 800 m ascent to the salamander hotspot of the Germanasca valley. No luck finding any salamanders here. With the forecast not promising any improvement in our chances of finding more salamanders, this lovely hike was the last part of our adventures. We’ll be back for more.
Species list
