First Report of a Melanistic North African Fire Salamander, Salamandra Algira Bedriaga, 1883, from Algeria (Amphibia: Salamandridae)
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Herpetology Notes, volume 14: 1123-1125 (2021) (published online on 20 August 2021) First report of a melanistic North African fire salamander, Salamandra algira Bedriaga, 1883, from Algeria (Amphibia: Salamandridae) Mourad Ahmim1,*, Fares Zoutal2, Amine Berrahal2, and Wouter Beukema3 Of the many pigment aberrations described to of melanistic individuals have remained limited to the occur in the salamander genus Salamandra Garsault, northernmost S. a. tingitana populations. The distribution 1764 (reviewed by Seidel and Gerhardt, 2016), of S. algira in North Africa is fragmented, ranging in true melanism, beyond that displayed by the alpine Morocco from the Tingitana Peninsula through the Rif salamanders S. atra Laurenti, 1768 and S. lanzai Mountains, the Middle Atlas Mountains, and the Beni Nascetti et al., 1988, has seldom been reported. The Snassen Massif. In Algeria, S. algira is largely restricted to hitherto described cases included single individuals the northern mountainous regions of Blida, Kabylia, Jijel, of S. salamandra (Linnaeus, 1758) from Germany Skikda, and Annaba in the eastern Tell Atlas (Escoriza (e.g., Freytag and Susebach, 1942; Freytag, 1955), and Ben Hassine, 2019; Fig. 1). Contemporary occurrence and S. s. bernardezi Wolterstorff, 1928 from northern of the species close to the Moroccan border, near Oran, Spain (Günther, 1996). Repeated breeding experiments remains unconfirmed (Escoriza and Ben Hassine, 2019). between one of the German melanistic fire salamanders In the daytime on 10 November 2020, a gravid adult and normal-coloured individuals resulted in partially female Salamandra algira algira (total length near 250 hypermelanistic offspring, but never in fully melanistic mm) was observed swimming in a water cistern with salamanders (Freytag and Susebach, 1942). Melanism steep walls (Fig. 2A), located along National Road 33 has been reported to occur sporadically in high-elevation where it crosses the Tizi-n-Kouilal high mountain pass in populations of S. s. almanzoris Müller & Hellmich, the Djurdjura Mountains, Tizi-Ouzou Province, northern 1935 and in low-elevation, Mediterranean-influenced Algeria (36.4745°N; 4.2359°E; elevation 1568 m; Fig. populations of S. algira tingitana Donaire-Barroso & 2B). Species identity was independently confirmed by Bogaerts, 2003 (Bogaerts and Donaire-Barroso, 2003; Axel Hernandez (Université de Corse Pascal Paoli, Seidel and Gerhardt, 2016; Escoriza and Ben Hassine, Corte, France). The section of the Tizi-n-Kouilal where 2019). Whether such recurring melanism is driven by the salamander was found is characterized by Atlas the environmental conditions in which these subspecies Cedar (Cedrus atlantica) woodland. Assuming it was occur, remains uncertain. unable to escape and might drown, the salamander was Despite increased research interest in Salamandra removed from the cistern and placed on the adjacent algira in recent years (reviewed by Beukema et al., 2013; forest soil. While doing so, it became clear that the see also Ben Hassine et al., 2016; Merabet et al., 2016; salamander lacked any colour pattern characteristics Dinis et al., 2019; Hernandez and Escoriza, 2019), records typical of S. algira, such as yellow dorsal blotches, red spots, or white spots on the flanks. This entirely black S. a. algira represents the first case of melanism for this species in Algeria and the first record of melanism for a subspecies other than S. a. tingitana. 1 Laboratoire de Recherche en Ecologie et Environnement, Hernandez and Escoriza (2019), in their description of Faculté des Sciences de la Nature et de la Vie, Université de S. a. atlantica, make mention of an individual with ‘0’ Béjaïa, 06000 Béjaïa, Algeria. 2 Collectif des Randonneurs et Ecologistes Amateurs yellow spots, but it is unclear whether this refers to a Indépendants, Béjaïa, Algeria. truly melanistic specimen. With only a single individual 3 Naturalis Biodiversity Center, PO Box 9517, 2300RA Leiden, observed, it remains unknown if melanism is recurrent The Netherlands. in this population. Future surveys are needed to reveal * Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] whether this is the case, and potentially provide © 2021 by Herpetology Notes. Open Access by CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. interesting research prospects. 1124 Mourad Ahmim et al. Figure 1. Distribution of Salamandra algira algira in Algeria (red areas) and location of the melanistic specimen (yellow circle). Figure 2. Melanistic Salamandra algira algira encountered along the Tizi-n-Kouilal high mountain pass in the Djurdjura Mountains, province of Tizi-Ouzou, northern Algeria. Acknowledgements. The authors would like to greatly thank Dinis, M., Merabet, K., Martínez-Freiría, F., Steinfartz, S., Vences, the young independent hikers Achour Oularbi, Karim Djebbab, M., Burgon, J.D., et al. (2019): Allopatric diversification and and Chawki Gaouir, who joined us during the expedition to evolutionary melting pot in a North African Palearctic relict: help us save the salamander from drowning. Without them, the the biogeographic history of Salamandra algira. Molecular salamander would surely have perished. Phylogenetics and Evolution 130: 81–91. Escoriza, D., Ben Hassine, J. 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