First record of a male-male aggressive interaction in the golden Alpine salamander Salamandra atra aurorae (Caudata, Salamandridae)

By

Di Gregorio, Milos
Manenti, Raoul
Borgatti, Danilo

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2023-4-20

Original Publication

Herpetozoa

Volume

36

Pages

91--93

Subjects

Amphibians , behaviour , Ecology , male-male interaction

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/herpetozoa.36.e99985

 

Abstract

The golden Alpine salamander Salamandra atra aurorae Trevisan, 1982 is an endemic subspecies found in Sette Comuni and Vezzena plateau in Veneto, Italy. We describe an aggressive interaction between two males which fought for four minutes, trying to go on top of each other and rubbing their chin on the antagonist’s head. This is the first documented case of aggressive behaviour in Salamandra atra aurorae.