Albinism in the southern spectacled salamander Salamandrina terdigitata

Abstract

W present here the first documented case of albinism in Salamandrina terdigitata. This is a tiny terrestrial salamander (maximum total length: females 88 mm; males 75 mm) endemic to southern Italy, where it occurs from Campania to Calabria (Angelini et al., 2007; Di Nicola et al., 2019). The specimen (collection number MSNC 116) was identified in the herpetological collection of the Museo di Storia Naturale e Orto Botanico dell’Università della Calabria (Rende, Cosenza, southern Italy). It was an adult male (Fig. 1 A & B) 61 mm long (head-body length: 26 mm, tail length: 35 mm), weighing 3 g. Intergumentary pigment was completely lacking on the back, head, belly, limbs and tail (Fig. 1B). It was collected on 24 April 1992 in the Vallone del Gardo (municipality of Pietrapaola, Province of Cosenza, Calabria, southern Italy; 39° 29’17’’ N, 16° 48’20’’ E) during an entomological survey (Mazzei et al., 2006). The genus Salamandrina is endemic to Peninsular Italy and includes two species: Salamandrina perspicillata and S. terdigitata. In the case of S. perspicillata there have been reports of individuals with partially depigmented backs (Lanza & Canestrelli, 2002; Crucitti et al., 2016) and partial leucism (Ramorino, 1863; Lanza, 1946). In the case of S. terdigitata, Angelini et al. (2007) reported a personal communication (without year and month) by S. Tripepi concerning an observation in the field (Pollino Mount, southern Italy) of an albino (leucistic?) individual S. terdigitata but gave no other relevant details. Thus to our knowledge the case we report here is the first documented record of complete albinism for both Salamandrina terdigitata and the genus Salamandrina.