This species is currently found only in small streams deeply carved into limestone mountains. The presence of the species is positively associated with steep slopes. A few subpopulations occur by man-made water sources (cattle troughs, containers, rain tanks etc.) in open mountainous country; these are within the river basins of nearby canyon-living subpopulations. Animals are generally found in rock crevices and under stones. This species does not tolerate serious habitat degradation. The distribution of predators on the species is negatively associated with elevation, and reproductive success is positively associated with elevation.

Breeding takes place in the small streams that persist as pools in summer. Clutch size varies from 4-34 eggs (Pinya and Perez-Mellado 2014a). Females and males had a mean longevity of 4.70 years and 3.24 years, respectively, the maximum estimated longevity was 18 years for both sexes, males reached sexual maturity at the age of one year, and most females at two years (Pinya and Perez-Mellado 2014b). Survival was estimated as 0.737±0.042 and 0.726±0.045, for males and females, respectively (Pinya et al. 2017).

This species is restricted to the Sierra Tramuntana of northern Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain, between 10-850 m asl (Doddington et al. 2013). Its area of occupancy (AOO) including successful reintroduction sites is uncertain but probably great than 50 km² but certainly much less than 500 km² (Doddington et al. 2013; J. Bosch pers. comm. November 2019, 2022). The AOO is slowly increasing as a result of intensive conservation action, including reintroduction sites. It occurs in fewer than five threat-defined but more than one threat-defined locations, and its extent of occurrence (EOO) is 519 km².

Conservation Actions In-Place
The species is protected by sub-national and national legislation. It is listed on Appendix II of the Berne Convention, on Annexes II and IV of the EU Natural Habitats Directive, and on the national and sub-national Red Data Books. It is present in the protected areas of the Tramuntana Mountains.

The Balearic Government and the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust have undertaken captive-breeding, re-introduction and other conservation initiatives. At least ten subpopulations have been successfully reintroduced. Reintroductions of animals from the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust stopped in 2002, but a new captive-breeding facility now exists on Mallorca, and reintroductions continue. However, as a result of the recent discovery of disease, a recommendation was made in 2004 to the Balearic Government to halt the reintroduction programme. A new recovery programme for the species is now being developed. A systematic programme is in place to remove Natrix maura from the range of the species. Successful mitigation of chytridiomycosis took place after thousands of tadpoles were treated with fungicide in the laboratory and chemicals were applied into the environment (J. Bosch pers. comm. November 2019).

Conservation Needed
The threats are not likely to decrease, and so the current recovery programme needs to be continued more or less indefinitely. Recreational activities are not adequately regulated or controlled (Á. Román pers. comm. November 2019), thus this could be improved to benefit the conservation of the species.

Research Needed
There is a need for continual population monitoring of this species given the threats of invasive species and disease. An action plan for its recovery and management is needed.