Larval diet of Salamandra salamandra (L., 1758): preliminary results on prey selection and feeding strategy

In aquatic ecosystems amphibians may play the role of top predators, both at adult and larval but the trophic ecology of the latter stage is fewer investigated, in particular in running waters. In a stream of the northern Apennine (Italy), we sampled invertebrates trophic availability and, using stomach flushing, we studied they diet of 42 Salamandra salamandra larvae. Analysis of prey selection shows that salamander larvae prefer only Diptera larvae, while other insect taxa are avoided or randomly consumed. Our results provide new information on the diet of this specie at larval stage because available data from populations breeding in lentic waters showed that most abundant prey items were Crustaceans.