Notes on Salamandra salamandra ssp

On 22-VII-1960 I caught some specimens of Salamandra salamandra fastuosa Schreiber between Lago Ercina and Lago Enol, ± 1000 m above Covadonga (Picos de Europa, Cantabrian Mountains, Spain). On 14-VIII-1961 from one of the salamanders two young were born (length 40 and 45 mm). Only one specimen showed traces of gills ± 1.5 mm long, both specimens were in all other characters completely metamorphosed, also the colour pattern resembled the typical fastuosa-pattern, i.e. longitudinal yellow stripes almost without interruption (see fig. 1). The 15th of August two more young were born, both with gills, the smallest specimen (35 mm) in the form of a normal larva (fig. 2) with gills of ± 4 mm and with a normal larval coloration. One day later a fifth young was born, also purely larval in form and colour. The last one was completely metamorphosed on 3-X-1961. Freytag mentions 2-3 months for the larval period, so the development of the young fastuosa which were not discernable from normal larvae, took only a relatively short time. No more than 5 young were born. In March 1967 the same female deposited ± 30 unfertilized eggs in the water of the paludarium. The difference between the small litter and the large number of eggs (in large specimens 70 or more larvae may be born) suggests a same kind of pregnancy as in Salamandra atra, in which only two completely metamorphosed young are born, which are fed before birth with the other eggs.