text: S. a. aurorae, the golden alpine salamander, has golden or yellow spots on its back and primarily lives in a small area in the Venetian Prealps near Asiago, and in the Italian Alps.
  S. a. pasubiensis, with fewer yellow spots than S. a. aurorae, lives in a different part of the Venetian Prealps.
  S. a. prenjensis lives on Prenj Mountain, part of the Dinaric Alps in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The validity of this subspecies is yet to be confirmed, and some scientists in the field debate if this salamander should be considered its own independent species.
  Genetic analysis suggests that the Corsican fire salamander (Salamandra corsica) is the closest related species, and the black-yellow coloration is an ancestral feature of alpine salamanders. Proposed colonization from south (Prealps) to Alps was carried out by the fully melanistic (derived feature) S. a. atra after the last retreat of the ice sheets.
  Habitat and distribution
  Habitat
  As terrestrial organisms, these salamanders live on land. S. atra tend to live underneath stones or logs, or in rocky crevices in their mountainous habitat. They also are diurnal, and most active in the day with periods of inactivity, rest, or sleep at night. They will engage in nocturnal activity on a weather-dependent basis. Ideal weather for alpine salamanders is rainy or post-rain, at temperatures between .