Editing Melanism (section)

==In amphibians==
The [[alpine salamander]], ''Salamandra atra'', has one subspecies (''S. atra atra'') that is completely black.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Salamandre noire |url=http://www.karch.ch/karch/home/amphibien/amphibienarten-der-schweiz/alpensalamander.html |access-date=2022-11-30 |website=www.karch.ch}}</ref> The pigment comes from a specific cell called a melanophore, which produce the compound melanin.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Trevisan |first1=Pierluigi |last2=Pederzoli |first2=Aurora |last3=Barozzi |first3=Giancarlo |date=October 1991 |title=Pigmentary System of the Adult Alpine Salamander Salamandra atra atra (Laur., 1768) |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1600-0749.1991.tb00432.x |journal=Pigment Cell Research |language=en |volume=4 |issue=4 |pages=151–157 |doi=10.1111/j.1600-0749.1991.tb00432.x |pmid=1816547 |issn=0893-5785|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last1=Pederzoli |first1=Aurora |last2=Trevisan |first2=Pierluigi |date=March 1990 |title=Pigmentary System of the Adult Alpine Salamander Salamandra atra aurorae (Trevisan, 1982) |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1600-0749.1990.tb00326.x |journal=Pigment Cell Research |language=en |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=80–89 |doi=10.1111/j.1600-0749.1990.tb00326.x |pmid=2385569 |issn=0893-5785|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

There are four other subspecies of this salamander,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Helfer |first1=V. |last2=Broquet |first2=T. |last3=Fumagalli |first3=L. |date=2012-08-30 |title=Sex-specific estimates of dispersal show female philopatry and male dispersal in a promiscuous amphibian, the alpine salamander (''Salamandra atra'') |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-294x.2012.05742.x |journal=Molecular Ecology |volume=21 |issue=19 |pages=4706–4720 |doi=10.1111/j.1365-294x.2012.05742.x |pmid=22934886 |bibcode=2012MolEc..21.4706H |s2cid=22175429 |issn=0962-1083|url-access=subscription }}</ref> and they have varying levels of melanin pigmentation.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" /><ref name=":4" /> The subspecies have yellow spots in different concentrations or proportions. The [[Chromatophore|pigment-producing cells]] that contribute to the yellow spots of some sub-species are called xanthophores.<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal |last1=Burgon |first1=James D. |last2=Vieites |first2=David R. |last3=Jacobs |first3=Arne |last4=Weidt |first4=Stefan K. |last5=Gunter |first5=Helen M. |last6=Steinfartz |first6=Sebastian |last7=Burgess |first7=Karl |last8=Mable |first8=Barbara K. |last9=Elmer |first9=Kathryn R. |date=April 2020 |title=Functional colour genes and signals of selection in colour-polymorphic salamanders |journal=Molecular Ecology |language=en |volume=29 |issue=7 |pages=1284–1299 |doi=10.1111/mec.15411 |pmid=32159878 |bibcode=2020MolEc..29.1284B |s2cid=212664862 |issn=0962-1083|doi-access=free |hdl=10261/234500 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> It appears that the fully-black phenotypes do not ever develop these xanthophores.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last1=Bonato |first1=Lucio |last2=Steinfartz |first2=Sebastian |date=2005-01-01 |title=Evolution of the melanistic colour in the Alpine salamander Salamandra atra as revealed by a new subspecies from the Venetian Prealps |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/11250000509356680 |journal=Italian Journal of Zoology |volume=72 |issue=3 |pages=253–260 |doi=10.1080/11250000509356680 |s2cid=83504324 |issn=1125-0003|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Alpine salamanders produce a toxin from their skin, and both fully melanistic, black salamanders and spotted individuals produce the compound.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Beukema |first1=Wouter |last2=Speybroeck |first2=Jeroen |last3=Velo-Antón |first3=Guillermo |date=August 2016 |title=Salamandra |journal=Current Biology |volume=26 |issue=15 |pages=R696–R697 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2016.03.045 |pmid=27505235 |s2cid=235611059 |issn=0960-9822|doi-access=free }}</ref>

Studies done that traced DNA histories have suggested that the original alpine salamander phenotype was black with some yellow spots, meaning that the fully black color evolved over time and was thus selected for over many generations.<ref name=":4" />