with quite a bit of delay I wanted you to show you some of the Speleomantes I encountered during my summer holidays. My boyfriend and me spent the last two weeks of June on Sardegna, which, in this season, offers an almost perfect combination of summer, sun and salamanders (guess who picked the destination of this year´s holidays...). Despite my fears that it might be too hot and dry to find any salamanders, we found animals in all the caves we visited. Sometimes only one animal, sometimes up to 11, and in one very special place almost 60 animals on a few square meters
. A lot of animals were even found hanging on the walls and the ceiling in the middle of the day.What might some of you disappoint is that I didn´t search for reptiles at all, for the sake of peace and an harmonious relationship - I had to set priorities! For the record: Hierophis viridiflavus, Chalcides ocellatus as well as several unidentified lizards and an unidentified snake were seen, but not photographed. Not a big deal in two weeks, but as I said, I didn´t search once.
Below are some photos of both the scenery and the salamanders. As always, even more can be found on my picasa-homepage:
https://picasaweb.google.com/tiemann.la ... degna2012#
Enjoy!
- Speleomantes supramontis
- same
- Monte Albo scenery - home of Speleomantes flavus
- Some climbing was necessary to find the hinted cave. However, I only found this juvenile...
- At the foot of Monte Albo Hyla sarda (with the most hypnotic gaze!) can be found
- Beautiful Cala at the East Coast
- Juvenile Speleomantes imperialis
- same
- same
- subadult of the same species
- Another habitat of the same species
- Adult of Speleomantes imperialis
- Baia Chia, South Coast
- Speleomantes sarrabusensis overkill!
- Adult
- other
- other, after having fallen from the ceiling
- Scenery at the western coast, the "Costa di Minieras" - sounds promising!
- Habitat of Spelemonates genei (A)
- Most of the adult animals sat in drillholes...
- ...or narrow cracks.
- But this one greeted me on the floor right behind the metal door!
- Juvenile
An enormous thank-you goes to Jeroen Speybroeck (for locality data) and to Bobby Bok, Thomas Reich, and Joachim Nerz (for general advice and invaluable route instructions). Thanks so much guys!
Laura
