About ten centimeters long, the spectacled salamander is an amphibian present in  all of Europe only on the Apennines .  It owes its name to the light spot that joins the eyes, clearly visible when the animal is observed from above, while the rest of the back is blackish: in the adults the bright red of the lower parts of the legs and tail stands out, showing in case of danger by disorienting potential predators. The species that lives in Lazio is Salamandrina perspicillata , genetically distinguished only recently from the very similar Salamandrina tergiditata spread from northern Campania to Aspromonte.