Fire salamander

Fire salamander
Conservation status
Vulnerable  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Amphibia
Order:	Urodela
Family:	Salamandridae
Genus:	Salamandra
Species:	S. salamandra
Binomial name
Salamandra salamandra (Linnaeus, 1758)
Distribution of fire salamander
Synonyms
Lacerta salamandra Linnaeus, 1758 Salamandra candida Laurenti, 1768 Salamandra maculosa Laurenti, 1768 Salamandra terrestris Houttuyn, 1782 Gecko salamandra Meyer, 1795 Triton vulgaris Rafinesque, 1814 Salamandra maculata Merrem, 1820 Salamandra vulgaris Cloquet, 1827 Triton corthyphorus Leydig, 1867 Salamandra maculosa Boulenger, 1882 Salamandra moncheriana Schreiber, 1912 Salamandra maculata Schreiber, 1912

The fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra) is a common species of salamander found in Europe.

It is black with yellow spots or stripes to a varying degree; some specimens can be nearly completely black while on others the yellow is dominant. Shades of red and orange may sometimes appear, either replacing or mixing with the yellow according to subspecies.^[2] This bright coloration is highly conspicuous and acts to deter predators by honest signalling of its toxicity (aposematism).^[3] Fire salamanders can have a very long lifespan; one specimen lived for more than 50 years in Museum Koenig, a German natural history museum.

Despite its wide distribution and abundance, it is classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List due to its susceptibility to infection by the introduced fungus Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans, which has caused severe declines in fire salamanders in parts of its range.^[1]