Common Name: French Cave Salamander, Strinati’s Cave Salamander
Scientific Name: Speleomantes strinatii
Family: Plethodontidae – Lungless Salamander family
Location: France, Italy, and Monaco
Female Size: 3.9 – 4.8 inches (100 – 123 mm)
Male Size: 3.7 – 4.5 inches (96 – 116 mm)
The French Cave Salamander lives around streams and seepages in rocky outcrops and caves in mountain areas. There are two introduced populations in France far outside their range. Like all Plethodontid salamanders, the French Cave Salamander lacks lungs and breathes through their skin.
Not much is known about the reproduction methods of the salamanders. The female lays between 6 to 14 eggs on land. The eggs hatch directly into small salamanders, skipping a free living larval phase.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List assess the French Cave Salamander as Endangered with Extinction. Modelling has shown that the risk of extinction for the salamander over the next 5 generations is over 20% due to Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal), a salamander fungal disease that is wiping out populations of salamanders all over Europe.