Road traffic impact on Salamandra salamandra : rescue of larvae after the death of the mother

Several studies showed that traffic mortality has a negative impact on the abundance of many amphibian populations. The fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra) shows important breeding migrations. We investigated the traffic impact on S. salamandra in an area with increasing anthropic development, and we tested an unusual way of rescue: if we found killed females on roads, we collected the larvae found both on the road and inside the mother’s body, and we put them in small aquariums. Nineteen percent of the larvae were still alive; after feeding them, 11.4% survived even 3 days after the injury. Larvae were released in creeks nearby the collection area or kept until metamorphosis and were then released. Overall, 14 larvae and 6 metamorphs were released in the wild. These observations suggest that larvae of S. salamandra can be rescued from inside the females as well as from the streets even after several hours after the death of their mothers.