Home / Lyciasalamandra billae (Bille’s Salamander / Bille’nin Kara Semenderi, Beldibi Semenderi)
5/13

Lyciasalamandra billae (Bille’s Salamander / Bille’nin Kara Semenderi, Beldibi Semenderi)

slideshow metadata Share on Facebook Share on Facebook
Lyciasalamandra billae (Bille’s Salamander / Bille’nin Kara Semenderi, Beldibi Semenderi)


Lyciasalamandra billae (Bille’s Salamander / Bille’nin Kara Semenderi, Beldibi Semenderi) [Female / Dişi] from Gökdere, Antalya - 26.02.2011.

The total length is up to 13.6 cm. The background color salmon pink to dark brown, covered with small white and black spots that can form two bands on the back. There are blackish spots on parotoids which are light yellow or salmon pink. Small black spots are also on the back and tail. Silvery-whitish lower flanks forming a clearly defined lateral band. Limbs and tail have a background of reddish-brown to salmon pink. The belly is flesh-colored and translucent.

This species was formerly considered to be a subspecies of Mertensiella lushchani. It has been elevated to species level, and assigned to the genus Lyciasalamandra.It is distributed in a small area of the southwest of Antalya, between Kedetler (Gedeller) and Beldibi along with a line of 15 km north-south direction at the altitudes between 15-230 m. Like all Lyciaslamandra species it is also viviparous, with two fully developed offspring being born after 5 to 8 months. The courtship is also interesting, with males inserting a warty projection called as “Hedonic projection”  at the base of their tail into the female’s cloaca (reproductive and digestive opening) prior to the transfer of an external sperm packet.

This beauty isdistinguished by the combination of a clearly distinct silvery-white lateral bands, a dirty orange to salmon-red dorsal ground color and the absence of striking yellow eyes and the presence of a light yellow/salmon pink parotids. There is  a narrow contact zone with the neighbour L. antalyana (Antalya Salamander) in the northern parts of its distribution area.

References:1. Göçmen, B. (Unpub. results). The results of herpetological trips. 2. Franzen, M. & Klewen, R. (1987). Mertensiella luschani billae ssp. n. - eine neue Unterart des Lykischen Salamanders aus SW-Anatolien. Salamandra, Bonn, 23(2/3): 132-141. 3.Veith, M. & Steinfartz, S. (2004). When non-monophyly results in taxonomic consequences – the case Mertensiella within the Salamandridae (Amphibia: Urodela). Salamandra, 40 (1): 67-80. 4. Budak, A. & Göçmen, B. (2005). Herpetology. Ege Üniversitesi Fen Fakültesi Kitaplar Serisi, No. 194, Ege Üniversitesi Basimevi, Bornova-Izmir, 226 pp. [2nd Edition, 2008]. 5. Franzen, M., Bußmann, M., Kordges, T. & Thiesmeier, B. (2008). Die Amphibien und Reptilien der Südwest-Turkei. Supplement der Zeitschrift für Feldherpetologie 14, Laurenti Verlag, Bielefeld, Germany, 328pp.


Author Bayram GÖÇMEN
Created on Saturday 26 February 2011
Posted on Saturday 05 March 2011
Tags Antalya, TURKEY / TÜRKİYE
Albums
Visits 9028