Species account

Description
Large-bodied but slender salamander. Head flattened, longer than wide. Snout rounded. Paratoids not prominent; gular fold present. Trunk almost round, rather slender, without dorsal ridge, but with slight vertebral depression. Tail about the same as snout-vent length. Tail rounded at the base, compressed laterally toward the tip. Tail-tip blunt. Moderately developed tail fins on dorsal and ventral sides; dorsal tail fin a little higher, especially in the breeding season. Limbs when laid against the body broadly overlap (Leviton et al., 1992).Skin of dorsal side granular and wrinkled, with scattered small warts. In terrestrial phase, the skin is dry and rough, not shiny as in Salamandra. Ventral side smooth. Lungs reduced. Dorsal colour dark brown to black with many small yellow-orange, rounded, irregular spots. Similar spots on the sides of the tail. The black colour of the sides partly extends onto the belly. Ventral surface red carmine. Throat and ventral surface of limbs often speckled with back spots. (Schmidtler & Schmidtler, 1975).  Cloaca half rounded in the male, swollen in the breeding season, with a longitudinal slit. Female cloaca slightly elongated during the breeding season with a rounded opening, protruding 3 mm (Schmidtler & Schmidtler, 1975). Male N. microspilotus do not develop silver-blue spots along the tail. Total length between 15 and 17 cm (Schmidtler & Schmidtler, 1975).

Within four studied populations there is some degree of geographic variation (Rastegar-Pouyani et al., 2005).

Eggs and larvae
Oviposition starts in April and may continue to mid-June. Approx. 100 eggs are laid singly or in small clumps on vegetation or on rocks in mountain streams (Sharifi & Assadian, 2005). Eggs have not been described. Larvae hatch at a length of 13-14 mm and start feeding one week later (Schultschik, 2007). In older larvae the well-developed dorsal tail-fin reaches to just over the middle of the body. Elongated temporal spots; light spots in two rows along the back; two interrupted rows of black spots along the sides of the belly. Tail-fin mottled black-brown (Schmidtler & Schmidtler, 1975). In early autumn larvae still possess gills. Many larvae may not complete metamorphosis until the next year (Sharifi & Assadian, 2005). Captive animals reached metamorphosis after four to five months at a length of 45-55 mm (Schultschik, 2007). For comparative larval morphology of the four Neurergus species, see Schmidtler & Schmidtler (1975). Juveniles have a characteristic coloration: black with small round yellow-greenish spots on body and tail; red spots on paratoids and at the insertion of the limbs (Schultschik, 2007).

Behaviour
Animals move from wintering sites to breeding streams as soon as spring melt occurs from late January to early March. Breeding is recorded from late March onward (Sharifi & Assadian, 2005). Reproductive behaviour was studied in captive specimens of  N.microspilotus originating from the area around Quri-Qaleh (Kermanshahan), Iran. Typically the male takes up a high position on a stone in the water, from where he surveys the tank. He starts tail-fanning at every object that comes near. After he has approached a female he starts a tail-fanning display in the direction of her snout. When the female is responsive, the male turns away from her and deposits a number of spermatophores (Schultschik, 2007). The female is led over the spermatophores and picks up the spermcap from one of them. This behaviour was found to be similar in the four Neurergus species. Observations on N. microspilotus courtship are fragmentary (Sparreboom et al., 2000).

Threats and conservation

Observations in captivity
Neurergus microspilotus has been bred in the second generation by Schultschik (2007), but rearing the second generation juveniles failed. The observations on larvae and courtship reported above have been made on captive animals.

Comments
For earlier literature see Freytag (1957) and Schmidtler & Schmidtler (1975).

Neurergus microspilotus
© Sergé Bogaerts

 
© 2004 IUCN, Conservation International and NatureServe. (click on map to enlarge)