Acta Herpetologica 17(1): 45-58, 2022 ISSN 1827-9635 (print) © Firenze University Press ISSN 1827-9643 (online) www.fupress.com/ah DOI: 10.36253/a_h-12349 Threatened and extinct amphibians and reptiles in Italian natural history collections are useful conservation tools Franco Andreone1,*, Ivano Ansaloni2, Enrico Bellia3, Andrea Benocci4, Carlotta Betto5, Gabriella Bian- chi6, Giovanni Boano7, Antonio Borzatti de Loewenstern8, Rino Brancato9, Nicola Bressi10, Stefano Bul- la11, Massimo Capula12, Vincenzo Caputo Barucchi13, Piero Carlino14, Umberto Chalvien15, Marta Colo- berti16, Pierangelo Crucitti17, Maria C. Deflorian18, Giuliano Doria19, Simone Farina20, Valeria France- schini21, Simona Guioli22, Roberta Improta23, Luca Lapini24, Leonardo Latella25, Giuseppe Manganelli26, Stefano Mazzotti27, Marta Meneghini28, Paola Nicolosi20, Annamaria Nistri29, Nicola Novarini30, Roberta Pala1, Edoardo Razzetti31, Giovanni Repetto32, Roberta Salmaso25, Guido C. Salza33, Stefano Scali34, Gio- vanni Scillitani35, Andrea Sforzi36, Roberto Sindaco7, Gionata Stancher37, Maria L. Tavano19, Marco Val- le38, Giannantonio Zanata Santi39, Marco A. L. Zuffi20, Giulia Tessa1,6 1 Museo Regionale di Scienze Naturali, Via G. Giolitti, 36, I-10123 Torino, Italy 2 Polo Museale Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Museo di Zoologia e Anatomia Comparata, Via G. Campi, 213/D, I-41125 Mo- dena, Italy 3 Museo di Zoologia “P. Doderlein”, Via Archirafi, 16, I-90100 Palermo, Italy 4 Museo di Storia Naturale dell’Accademia dei Fisiocritici, Piazzetta S. Gigli, 2, I-53100 Siena, Italy 5 Dipartimento di Geoscienze, Università di Padova, Via Gradenigo, 6, I-35131 Padova, Italy 6 Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Via Cortivacci, 2, I-23017 Morbegno, Italy 7 Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Carmagnola, Via San Francesco di Sales, 188, 10022 Carmagnola, Italy 8 Museo di Storia Naturale del Mediterraneo, Via Roma, 234, I-57127 Livorno, Italy 9 Museo Civico Craveri di Storia Naturale, Via F. Craveri, 15, I-12042 Bra, Italy 10 Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Trieste, Via dei Tominz, 4, I-34139 Trieste, Italy 11 Museo di Storia Naturale, U.O. Musei d’Ateneo, Università di Parma, Strada L.C. Farini, 90, I-43121 Parma, Italy 12 Museo Civico di Zoologia, Via U. Aldrovandi, 18, I-00197 Roma, Italy 13 Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell’Ambiente, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, I-60131 Ancona, Italy 14 Museo di Storia Naturale del Salento, sp Calimera Borgagne km 1, I-73021 Calimera, Italy 15 Museo Civico di Storia Naturale Silvia Zenari, Via della Motta, 16, I-33170 Pordenone, Italy 16 Museo di Storia Naturale “P. Calderini”, Palazzo del Musei, Via Calderini, 25, I-13019 Varallo Sesia, Italy 17 Società Romana di Scienze Naturali, Via Fratelli Maristi, 43, I-00137 Roma, Italy 18 MUSE Museo delle Scienze, Corso del Lavoro e della Scienza, 3, I-38122 Trento, Italy 19 Museo Civico di Storia Naturale “G. Doria”, Via Brigata Liguria, 9, I-16121 Genova, Italy 20 Museo di Storia Naturale dell’Università di Pisa, Via Roma, 79, I-56011 Calci, Italy 21 Collezione di Anatomia Comparata, Sistema Museale di Ateneo, Università di Bologna, Via F. Selmi, 3, I-40121 Bologna, Italy 22 Civico Museo di Scienze Naturali, Via A. Gramsci, 1, I-27058 Voghera, Italy 23 Centro Musei delle Scienze Naturali e Fisiche, Università di Napoli Federico II, Via Mezzocannone, 8, I-80134 Napoli, Italy 24 Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Via C. Gradenigo Sabbadini, 22/32, I-33100 Udine, Italy 25 Museo di Storia Naturale, Lungadige Porta Vittoria, 9, I-37129 Verona, Italy 26 Università di Siena, Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, della Terra e dell’Ambiente, Via P.A. Mattioli, 4, I-53100 Siena, Italy 27 Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Largo F. Vancini, 2, I-44121 Ferrara, Italy 28 Museo di Zoologia, Università di Padova,Via G. Jappelli, 1/a, I-35121 Padova, Italy 29 Museo di Storia Naturale, Università di Firenze, Via Romana, 17, I-50125 Firenze, Italy 30 Museo di Storia Naturale di Venezia G. Ligabue, Santa Croce, 1730, I-30135 Venezia, Italy 31 Kosmos - Museo di Storia Naturale, Università degli Studi di Pavia, Piazza Botta, 9/10, I-27100 Pavia, Italy 32 Museo Civico di Storia Naturale “F. Eusebio”, Via Vittorio Emanuele II, 19, I-12051 Alba, Italy 46 Franco Andreone et alii 33 Museo di Storia Naturale “Don Bosco”, Viale E. Thovez, 37, I-10131 Torino, Italy 34 Museo di Storia Naturale di Milano, Corso Venezia, 55, I-20121 Milano, Italy 35 Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Dipartimento di Biologia, via Orabona, 4a, I-70125 Bari, Italy 36 Museo di Storia Naturale della Maremma, Strada T. Corsini, 5, I-58100 Grosseto, Italy 37 Fondazione Museo Civico di Rovereto, Largo Santa Caterina, 41, I-38068 Rovereto, Italy 38 Museo Civico di Scienze Naturali, Piazza Cittadella, 10, I-24129 Bergamo, Italy 39 Musei del Seminario Vescovile di Treviso, Piazzetta Benedetto XI, 2, I-31100 Treviso, Italy *Corresponding author. E-mail: franco.andreone@regione.piemonte.it Submitted on: 2021, 25th November; revised on: 2022, 24th February; accepted on: 2022, 2nd March Editor: Andrea Villa Abstract. Natural history museums are irreplaceable tools to study and preserve the biological diversity around the globe and among the primary actors in the recognition of species and the logical repositories for their type specimens. In this paper we surveyed the consistency of the preserved specimens of amphibians and reptiles housed in the major Italian scientific collections, and verified the presence of threatened species according to the IUCN Red List, includ- ing the Extinct (EX), Extinct in the Wild (EW), Critically Endangered (CR), Endangered (EN), and Vulnerable (VU) categories. Altogether, we analyzed 39 Italian zoological collections. We confirmed the presence of one extinct rep- tile (Chioninia coctei) and five extinct or extinct in the wild amphibian species (Atelopus longirostris, Nectophrynoides asperginis, Pseudophilautus leucorhinus, P. nasutus, and P. variabilis). Seven CR amphibians, fourteen CR reptile spe- cies and the extinct skink C. coctei are shared by more than one institution. Museums which host the highest number of threatened and extinct amphibian species are respectively Turin (17 CR and 1 EX), Florence (13 CR and 1 EX), and Trento (15 CR and 1 EW), while for reptiles the richest museums are those from Genoa (15 CR and 1 EX), Florence (11 CR and 1 EX), and Pisa (7 CR). Finally, we discussed the utility of natural history museums and the strategies to follow for the implementation of their functionality. Keywords. Biodiversity, collections, conservation, herpetology, IUCN categories, natural history museums. INTRODUCTION Biodiversity collections hosted in natural history museums, universities and other institutions are impor- tant cultural, scientific heritages, irreplaceable resources, and useful tools for a great array of studies to enhance biodiversity understanding and conservation. These include systematic investigations, taxonomic revisions, species descriptions, epidemiology, anatomy, historical reconstructions (e.g., about collectors and the institutions housing their collections, as well as about the history of science in general), but also many more science-outreach purposes, such as educational activities, and exhibitions (Bakker et al., 2020). The origin and the history of biological – in particu- lar zoological - “voucher specimens” or, simply, “vouch- ers” (Schilthuizen et al., 2015) housed in scientific col- lections, are rather heterogeneous, since they may result from various activities, e.g., field surveys with collecting, sampling for scientific research, recovery of dead animals (e.g., on roads, from zoological parks, captive breed- ers, etc.), direct purchases from dealers (for collections increase, exhibits and education), and others (Funk et al., 2005). Data associated with vouchers may also vary substantially across periods, going from just a rough spe- cies determination (as it was often the case in the past, especially for specimens obtained from commercial deal- ers), to an exhaustive set of information, including place and date of collection, collectors, donors, ecological and behavioral parameters, etc. The different kind of preservation techniques may also affect the degree of scientific, expositive and util- ity of specimens, going from traditionally naturalized / preserved specimens used for display, to “ad hoc” pre- pared series for scientific research, accompanied by tis- sue samples, photographs, parasitological/epidemiologi- cal specimens, etc. (Lorch et al., 2021). Particular and precious vouchers hosted in collections of museums are the so-called «type specimens», i.e., preserved individu- als upon which new taxa are described, including, among the others, holotypes, paratypes, lectotypes, and syntypes (Dubois, 2017). Natural history museums (hereafter NHMs or muse- ums) are considered the heirs of the 16th-17th century “Wunderkammern”, also known as “cabinets of curiosi- ties” (Butler et al., 1998; McCarter et al., 2001). The collections of “mirabilia”, “naturalia” and “exotica” (as natural history objects were sometimes labeled in the 47Threatened amphibians and reptiles in Italian museums past) were accumulated over the time by naturalists and “savants”. In a first phase of museums’ life, these objects were mainly used to solicit and address the wonders and varieties of nature, at those times still largely unknown. Until then, objects were at the same time the origin and the pulsing heart of these collections and early museums, as well as one of the few ways to discover and describe nature (Findlen, 1996). Nowadays, the ultimate profile of scientific collec- tions can be drawn looking at what happened in medi- um-large and national museums (Suarez and Tsutsui, 2004). These institutions, which are true documenting centers and repositories of the world’s geo- and biodi- versity, manage specimens and associated materials that often represent unique evidence of species distribution and evolution patterns (Clemann et al., 2014). The infor- mation gathered from extinct species is irreplaceable and lost forever: the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) declared 160 animal and plant species extinct between 2010 and 2019, although recent estimates suggest that this estimate may be as high as one thousand species per year (Ceballos et al., 2015; Shivanna, 2020). NHMs are relevant in preserving specimens and other materials, and this is gradually becoming one of the modern museums’ top finalities. Indeed, vouchers of extinct species are useful reservoirs of information, cru- cial to understand the reasons and history of their extinc- tion. At the same time, the availability of samples belong- ing to threatened species is an important and irreplace- able source of data for better understanding the conser- vation threats (e.g., Reed and Shine, 2002). As reported elsewhere (Alberch et al., 1994; Bakker et al., 2020), NHMs should be primarily considered as research, documentation and divulgation centers, since their role in biodiversity discovery and nature valoriza- tion is central, and useful in showing variations in abun- dance, florae and faunae (Ewers-Saucedo et al., 2021). Natural history and biodiversity museums are also the logical repositories for vouchers of species becoming rar- er, and in some cases extinct (Buckingham et al., 2021). This allows to keep track of biological changes since pre- served specimens are excellent scientific resources repre- senting unique means through which such species can be studied for their morphology, ecology, genetics, and other traits. In addition, they can be used in comparative stud- ies, e.g., with extant species, not only for taxonomic and phylogenetic studies, but also to unveil ecological and life history traits (Figueirido and Janis, 2011). Notwithstanding, while the advancement in our understanding of nature and the drafting of a life cata- logue of our planet are still badly needed and considered as a humankind priority mission, in many cases NHMs themselves are increasingly facing severe problems of identity and survivorship, due not only to economic rea- sons but also to a generalized shift and diffused amnesia of their original missions (Boero, 2010; Andreone et al., 2014, 2022; Andreone, 2015; Ceríaco et al., 2021). On the other hand, we also believe that it is imperative to recon- cile the research/collection and outreach/education com- ponents within NHMs, and that vouchers and scientific collections can be efficiently used for this aim. In the course of two national projects focused on the valorization of natural history collections – namely “Ver- tEx (Vertebrata Extincta)” and “Estinzioni” (Extinctions) (Nicolosi et al., 2013, 2019) – we evaluated the consist- ency of vertebrate collections in Italian NHMs, with the aim to define the conservation status and IUCN Red List placement of the housed voucher specimens. Hopefully, the identification of threatened and extinct species with- in museum collections is useful to address scientists and the public to understand and contrast the rarefaction and disappearance of our biodiversity, with dedicated tempo- rary expositions, books, postcards, and gadgets. So far, in the present paper we focused our attention on amphibians and non-avian reptiles, two vertebrate groups often treated together in both research and the traditional imagery, which represent a major component of museum collections. Here, we also give a general over- view of the overall Italian herpetological/museological patrimony, about ten years after the first comprehensive work (Mazzotti, 2010) and provide indications on their conservation assessment. MATERIAL AND METHODS We selected the major Italian herpetological collec- tions, basing upon data provided by the National Asso- ciation of Scientific Museums (Associazione Nazionale dei Musei Scientifici - ANMS), associated projects, e.g., CollMap (Vomero, 2013), and previously published con- tributions (Mazzotti, 2010). Basing upon feedbacks from curators and referring institutions, we gathered useful information from 39 natural history collections (man- aged by public museums, universities, and/or a few pri- vate bodies), which replied positively to our request and provided relevant data (Table 1). A few NHMs were excluded since, although known for possessing herpeto- logical specimens, they did not reply, or did not provide sufficiently complete information. The existence of published/unpublished catalogues and/or lists of species/specimens housed in each collec- tion was assured by the relative curator/referent, as well as through bibliography [(Carmagnola: Boano and Del- 48 Franco Andreone et alii mastro, 1990; Sindaco, 1990); (Turin: Elter, 1982; Gavetti and Andreone, 1993; Andreone et al., 2007); (Domodos- sola: Andreone et al., 2005); (Genoa: Doria et al., 2002); (Milan: Leonardi et al., 1995; Scali, 1996; Blackburn and Scali, 2014); (Varese: Danini and Baratelli, 2000); (Mor- begno: Zuffi, 1990); (Padua: Centis, 2004); (Udine: Lap- Table 1. List of the Italian natural history museums contributing with collections data (abbreviations of provinces are reported between parentheses; TAEI = taxonomic auto-evaluation index; total number of species of amphibians and reptiles preserved in the collection is reported). Museums accompanied by an asterisk (*) are those having a herpetologist as curator. Used acronym and official museum denomination Municipality (Province) Management type TAEI Species number Amphibians Reptiles TO Museo Regionale di Scienze Naturali * Turin (To) Region 3 593 855 TO-DB Museo di Storia Naturale “Don Bosco” Turin (To) High school 2 12 49 TO-C Museo Civico di Storia Naturale * Carmagnola (To) Municipality 4 69 374 CN-A Museo Civico “Federico Eusebio” Alba (Cn) Municipality 4 8 9 CN-B Museo Civico “Craveri” di Storia Naturale Bra (Cn) Municipality 4 10 53 VC-V Museo di Storia Naturale “Pietro Calderini” Varallo Sesia (Vc) Foundation 4 2 20 VCO-D Civico Museo di Storia Naturale “G. G. Galletti” Domodossola (VCO) Municipality 3 28 46 GE Museo Civico di Storia Naturale “Giacomo Doria” * Genoa (Ge) Municipality 4 590 1450 MI Museo di Storia Naturale * Milan (Mi) Municipality 4 116 637 PV Museo di Storia Naturale dell’Università * Pavia (Pv) University 4 100 310 PV-V Civico Museo di Scienze Naturali Voghera (Pv) Municipality 4 6 16 BG Museo Civico di Scienze Naturali Bergamo (Bg) Municipality 4 28 153 SO-M Museo Civico di Storia Naturale * Morbegno (So) Municipality 4 10 16 TV Museo Zoologico “G. Scarpa” Treviso (Tv) Diocese 4 83 285 VR Museo di Storia Naturale * Verona (Vr) Municipality 4 99 263 VI Museo Naturalistico Archeologico di Vicenza Vicenza (Vi) Municipality 1 12 23 PD Museo di Zoologia dell’Università Padova (Pd) University 3 75 115 VE Museo di Storia Naturale “G. Ligabue” * Venice (Ve) Foundation 4 77 170 RO Fondazione Museo Civico di Rovereto Rovereto (Tn) Foundation 4 11 41 TN MUSE - Museo delle Scienze * Trento (Tn) Province 4 185 170 PN Museo Civico di Storia Naturale Pordenone (Pn) Municipality 3 1 23 UD Museo Friulano di Storia Naturale * Udine (Ud) Municipality 4 153 63 TS Museo Civico di Storia Naturale * Trieste (Ts) Municipality 4 78 360 PR Museo di Storia Naturale dell’Università Parma (Pr) University 2 17 75 MR Museo di Zoologia e Anatomia Comparata dell’Università Modena (Mo) / Reggio Emilia (Re) University 3 37 112 BO Collezione di Anatomia Comparata, Sistema Museale di Ateneo Bologna (Bo) University 4 4 53 FE Museo Civico di Storia Naturale * Ferrara (Fe) Municipality 4 77 95 AN-O Museo di scienze naturali “Luigi Paolucci” Offagna (An) Municipality 3 10 12 FI Museo di Storia Naturale dell’Università * Florence (Fi) University 3 627 1268 PI Museo di Storia Naturale dell’Università * Calci di Pisa (Pi) University 2 158 582 GR Museo di Storia Naturale della Maremma Grosseto (Gr) Municipality 3 3 14 LI Museo di storia naturale del Mediterraneo Livorno (Li) Province 3 6 31 SI Museo di Storia Naturale dell’Accademia dei Fisiocritici Siena (Si) Association 3 26 95 RM Museo Civico di Zoologia * Rome (Rm) Municipality 4 168 194 RM-S Società Romana di Scienze Naturali Rome (Rm) Association 4 43 117 LE Museo di Storia Naturale del Salento * Calimera (Le) Municipality 4 29 77 NA Centro Museale Centro Musei delle Scienze Naturali dell’Università Naples (Na) University 2 35 72 BA Museo di Zoologia “Lidia Liaci” dell’Università Bari (Ba) University 4 25 71 PA Museo di zoologia “Pietro Doderlein” dell’Università Palermo (Pa) University 2 32 85 49Threatened amphibians and reptiles in Italian museums ini, 1984); (Trieste: Bressi, 1996); (Florence: Lanza et al., 2005, 2006); (Ferrara: Mazzotti and Miserocchi, 2009, 2010); (Rome: Capula et al., 2011; Crucitti et al., 2017, 2021); (Naples: Maio et al., 2004)]. We used as taxonomic references “Amphibian Species of the World” (Frost, 2021), “AmphibiaWeb” (AmphibiaWeb, 2021), and “The Reptile Database” (Uetz et al., 2021). Exhaustiveness and correctness of the reported information is warranted directly by cura- tors of the museums in this study. Taken into account that the degree of past and ongoing curatorial activ- ity and taxonomic revisions are rather variable among institutions and since it was impossible to revise all the collections, we asked to provide a “taxonomic auto- evaluation index” (TAEI), as follows: 1 (lowest taxo- nomic accurateness and/or collection without a proper revision), 2 (collection revised for the 30-40%), 3 (col- lection revised for the 60-70%), 4 (highest taxonomic accurateness, with both the amphibian and reptile col- lections fully revised). Finally, we carried out a conservation assessment for each species, including attribution of threat categories according to the IUCN Red List (IUCN, 2021). RESULTS The examination of the Italian herpetological col- lections produced a catalogue including more than 1400 species and 67 families of amphibians, and more than 2500 species and 80 families of reptiles (respectively 1418 and 2513 species). Of the amphibians, 257 (18.1%) belong to a threat category. Of these species, 5 (1.9%) are Extinct (EX), 47 (18.3%) Critically Endangered (CR), 100 (38.9%) Endan- gered (EN), and 105 (40.9%) Vulnerable (VU). Regarding reptiles, 210 (8.3%) belong to a threat category: one spe- cies (0.5%) is considered EX, 32 (15,2%) CR, 74 (35.2%) EN, and 103 (49.1%) VU (Fig. 1). Museums and collec- tions were quite heterogeneous, varying in size and finali- ties. Overall, the NHMs hosting the greatest number of threatened species of amphibians and reptiles (> 50 spe- cies of each group) are Genoa (174 in total), Florence (166 in total), and Turin (161 in total) (Fig. 2). Amphibians hosted in the Italian institutions belong to 7 Gymnophiona, 52 Anura, and 8 Urodela fami- lies, while reptiles are represented by 13 Testudines, one Rhyncocephalia, three Crocodylia, 38 Sauria, and 25 Ophidia families (Appendix I). Species assessed as CR constitute respectively the 0.56% and 0.28% of the amphibian and reptile world fauna, on the basis of the global numbers provided by AmphibiaWeb (8384 amphibians on 25th October 2021) and Reptile Database (11570 reptiles on May 2021; Uetz et al., 2021). Preserved CR amphibians include five urodeles and 46 anurans (Table 2). Atelopus longirostris, Nectophry- noides asperginis, Pseudophilautus leucorhinus, P. nasu- tus, and P. variabilis are currently assessed as EW or EX. About reptiles, we found respectively 32 CR and one EX species, Chioninia coctei (Table 3). Four CR species are loricates, 14 chelonians, 12 saurians, and one snake. Fourteen CR reptile species and the extinct C. coctei are shared by more than one collection. NHMs hosting the highest number of high threat- ened and extinct amphibian species are respectively Turin (17 CR / 1 EX), Florence (13 CR / 1 EX), and Trento (15 Fig. 1. Percentage of threatened species of amphibians (left) and reptiles (right) in the different IUCN categories. Fig. 2. Presence of threatened species in Italian museums for amphibians (above) and reptiles (below). Museum abbreviation as in Table 1. 50 Franco Andreone et alii CR / 1 EW), while for reptiles are Genoa (15 CR / 1 EX), Florence (11 CR / 1 EX), and Pisa (7 CR). A large part of the CR amphibian and reptile species (26) comes from a single museum/collection (Florence). The most shared CR species are, among the amphibians, Atelopus ignes- cens, which is present in four collections, and, among the reptiles, Eretmochelys imbricata and Gavialis gangeticus, respectively hosted by fourteen and eleven institutions. A particular consideration should be deserved for the case of the axolotl Ambystoma mexicanum. This urodele species is present in 16 of the examined collections, and, according to the IUCN Red List, it should be assessed as CR. Anyhow, since it is likely that most of the preserved specimens derivate from captive and laboratory strains and given the impossibility of determining whether these animals (especially the historical ones) introgressed with Ambystoma tigrinum (Torres-Sánchez, 2020), we decided not to consider them within the list of threatened taxa housed in Italian museums. DISCUSSION Extinct and threatened species in scientific collections The presence in natural history collections of amphibian and reptile species included within the IUCN’s threatened categories gives the opportunity to unveil aspects otherwise difficult to obtain in the wild. As an example, the availability of a sufficiently large voucher series of some frogs of the genus Mantella from Mada- gascar allowed to investigate their fecundity (Tessa et al., 2009), age structure (Andreone et al., 2011) and, succes- sively, to use these parameters to draw a general model exploitation method (Andreone et al., 2021). Differently from collecting for food, traditional medi- cine, fashion market, handicraft production, and other purposes, which are clearly recognized as relevant threats affecting rare and localized species (especially for the high number of traded individuals), a reasoned collect- ing of scientific vouchers is unlikely to be or become an Table 2. List of Critically Endangered (CR), Extinct (EX) and Extinct in the Wild (EW) amphibian species housed in Italian natural history museums and their occurrence in the analysed collections. Extinct species are given in bold. Museums are reported according to the abbre- viations provided in Table 1. Species IUCN Family Museums Hynobius abei CR Hynobiidae FI Hynobius okiensis CR Hynobiidae FI Chiropterotriton magnipes CR Plethodontidae RM Thorius pennatulus CR Plethodontidae FI Pseudoeurycea goebeli CR Plethodontidae GE Latonia nigriventer CR Alytidae FI Arthroleptis nikeae CR Arthroleptidae TN Atelognathus patagonicus CR Batrachylidae FI Callulina hanseni CR Brevicipitidae TN Callulina kanga CR Brevicipitidae TN Callulina laphami CR Brevicipitidae TN Callulina meteora CR Brevicipitidae TN Callulina shengena CR Brevicipitidae TN Callulina stanleyi CR Brevicipitidae TN Altiphrynoides osgoodi CR Bufonidae FI Atelopus boulengeri CR Bufonidae TO Atelopus cruciger CR Bufonidae TO Atelopus ignescens CR Bufonidae FI, PD, PI, TO Atelopus longirostris EX Bufonidae FI Atelopus varius CR Bufonidae PI, TO Churamiti maridadi CR Bufonidae TN Incilius cristatus CR Bufonidae FI Leptophryne cruentata CR Bufonidae GE Nectophrynoides asperginis EW Bufonidae TN Nectophrynoides laticeps CR Bufonidae TN Species IUCN Family Museums Nectophrynoides paulae CR Bufonidae TN Nectophrynoides poyntoni CR Bufonidae TN Nectophrynoides wendyae CR Bufonidae TN Werneria mertensiana CR Bufonidae TN Wolterstorffina parvipalmata CR Bufonidae TN Craugastor fleischmanni CR Craugastoridae TO Craugastor lineatus CR Craugastoridae FI Craugastor milesi CR Craugastoridae GE Hyloxalus vertebralis CR Dendrobatidae GE Isthmohyla debilis CR Hylidae RM Hyperolius davenporti CR Hyperoliidae TN Pleurodema somuncurense CR Leptodactylidae FI, TO Boophis ankarafensis CR Mantellidae TO Boophis tsilomaro CR Mantellidae TO Boophis williamsii CR Mantellidae TO Guibemantis diphonus CR Mantellidae TO Guibemantis punctatus CR Mantellidae TO Mantella milotympanum CR Mantellidae TO Mantidactylus pauliani CR Mantellidae TO Platypelis karenae CR Microhylidae TO Rana holtzi CR Ranidae FI, TO Pseudophilautus leucorhinus EX Rhacophoridae GE Pseudophilautus nasutus EX Rhacophoridae TO Pseudophilautus variabilis EX Rhacophoridae GE, PI Rhinoderma rufum CR Rhinodermatidae TO Telmatobius laticeps CR Telmatobiidae FI, TO 51Threatened amphibians and reptiles in Italian museums extinction cause (Rocha et al., 2014). We stress that speci- men collection for scientific purposes is usually limited to a few vouchers, whose capture and collecting need to be authorised by national authorities and regulated by legislation. At the same time, we believe that the collect- ing activity of vouchers still remains crucial and should be maintained, as stressed by Dubois (2003, 2010, 2017), to document not only the presence of rare and threatened species, but also biological parameters and represents an unsurpassed source of scientific data that are only in part exploited. Finally, it is often crucial to witness the pres- ence of a species at a confirmed geographic locality, pos- sibly integrated with further evidences, such as eDNA, acoustic recordings, photographs, and footage. This is particularly important, as the collecting of series of speci- mens is also useful for conservation purposes, e.g., to identify negative trends in populations, especially in cur- rent times which are featured by dramatic changes of cli- matic and environmental parameters (e.g., Hoffmann et al., 2010; Hou et al., 2021). Threatened and extinct species of amphibians and reptiles in Italian collections Some of the analysed Italian NHMs turned out to be especially relevant due to the high number of species Table 3. List of Critically Endangered (CR) and Extinct (EX) species of reptiles and natural history museums where they are preserved. Extinct species are given in bold. Museums are reported according to the abbreviations provided in Table 1. Species IUCN Family Museums Crocodylus intermedius CR Crocodylidae PI, PR, RM Crocodylus rhombifer CR Crocodylidae FI, GE, GR, MI, VCO-D, Crocodylus siamensis CR Crocodylidae FI, GE, MI, NA, PI, PV, RM, TO, TO-DB, TV Mecistops cataphractus CR Crocodylidae PI, TO Gavialis gangeticus CR Gavialidae FI, GE, MI, NA, PI, PR, PV, RM, TO, TO-DB, TV Eretmochelys imbricata CR Cheloniidae BG, BR, FI, GE, LI, MI, PI, PR, PV, TO, TV, UD, VCO-D, VE Lepidochelys kempii CR Cheloniidae BG, GE Dermatemys mawii CR Dermatemydidae TV Batagur baska CR Geoemydidae GE Batagur dhongoka CR Geoemydidae GE Batagur kachunga CR Geoemydidae GE Batagur trivittata CR Geoemydidae BG, GE Cuora trifasciata CR Geoemydidae FI, UD Heosemys depressa CR Geoemydidae GE Astrochelys radiata CR Testudinidae FI, MI, NA, PI, RM, SI, TO, UD Chelonoidis porteri CR Testudinidae RM Geochelone platynota CR Testudinidae GE Psammobates geometricus CR Testudinidae FI, PI, PV, RM Testudo kleinmanni CR Testudinidae GE Hemidactylus bouvieri CR Gekkonidae CN-B, GE Lygodactylus williamsi CR Gekkonidae TN Conolophus marthae CR Iguanidae RM Acanthodactylus beershebensis CR Lacertidae FI Acanthodactylus harranensis CR Lacertidae FI, RM-S, TO-C Eremias pleskei CR Lacertidae TO-C Erythrolamprus cursor CR Lacertidae GE Gallotia simonyi CR Lacertidae GE Podarcis raffonei CR Lacertidae FE, FI, PA, PD, RM Liolaemus rabinoi CR Liolaemidae FI Chioninia coctei EX Scincidae FI, GE, PA, TO, TV Mabuya mabouya CR Scincidae FI, MI Pseudoacontias menamainty CR Scincidae TO Spondylurus culebrae CR Scincidae GE Atheris matildae CR Viperidae TN 52 Franco Andreone et alii and specimens housed in the scientific collections under their care, and on the amount of threatened species. Most of the extinct species present in these institutions were likely collected during general collecting activities and/ or obtained in exchange from other scientists/institu- tions. In the case of the Kihansi spray toad Nectophry- noides asperginis, a species from Tanzania extinct in the wild due to the spread of the chytrid fungus (Channing et al., 2006), the specimens were obtained in the context of structured multi-year research (Menegon et al., 2004; Msuya and Mohamed, 2019). The giant Cape Verde skink Chioninia coctei is present in a few Italian museums, which are Florence, Genoa, Palermo, Turin, and Trevi- so. Of special relevance are the live individuals (around forty) imported by the herpetologist Mario G. Peracca at the end of the 19th century, and currently hosted in Turin (Andreone and Gavetti, 2007, 2010). Such a conspicuous purchase was made through an animal dealer, and was accompanied by the concurrent importation of some oth- er rare or iconic live herps, i.e., Andrias japonicus, Aldab- rachelys gigantea, Astrochelys radiata, Iguana iguana, and Sphenodon punctatus (Andreone and Gavetti, 1998). Peracca also made some interesting observations on the skink natural history, and then exchanged some individu- als with other naturalists of his time, such as G. Scarpa in Treviso (Andreone et al., 2010). After Peracca’s death some of these skinks were donated (as other animals) to the Turin Museum, which in fact was not the commis- sioner for the collecting of a rare and threatened species, but just its final repository. With respect to amphibians, the institution host- ing the highest number of CR species is the Turin Museum, with 17 taxa, eight of which originated from the collecting surveys carried out during field-work in Madagascar (Andreone et al., 2005, 2021), followed by MUSE - Museo delle Scienze in Trento, with 15 spe- cies from Tanzania and other eastern African countries. Further remarkable species available in Turin come from Latin America, mostly due to the activity of the Italo-Argentinean herpetologist J. M. Cei (Cei, 1993). Florence and Genoa are also the NHMs holding the highest number of CR reptile species. This highlights the importance of active research in the constitution of study collections. The CR amphibian species housed in Trento originated from systematic field research carried out over the past 20 years in the forests of the Eastern Afromontane Ark (Menegon et al., 2008). Many natural history museums supported, among their institutional activities, survey works in unexplored or marginally explored areas of our planet. In particular, this was one of the ultimate aims of middle-large muse- ums, where collections were usually regarded as vouch- er repositories (Grimaldi and Engel, 2007; Engel et al., 2021), much less for smaller museums where the educa- tion aspects are usually prioritised. Is scientific voucher collecting still a needed practice? In Italy, many museums supported collecting activi- ties in the past, but only a few ones pursue research and specimens collecting, especially overseas. In fact, in the 19th century many naturalists gravitating around Ital- ian museums were engaged to explore the World and to collect new materials (Mazzotti, 2011), such as A. Borel- li, E. Festa, and F. De Filippi in Turin, L. D’Albertis, G. Doria, and L. Fea in Genoa, O. Beccari and E. H. Giglioli in Florence, G. Scortecci in Milan, O. Antinori in Peru- gia, and many others, who mirrored the adventures and travels of Victorian naturalists, contributing to discover new species and describing the still unknown world. The beginning of 20th century, however, coincided with a decrease in such activities in most of the Italian muse- ums: the systematic and taxonomic zoology and bot- any that fed those travels were largely left behind, often considered useless and subsidiary to the newly affirmed organismic biology. At the same time, museums were often seen as mere repositories and/or expositive loca- tions, and much less (or no more) as research centers (Fischer, 2015). For these reasons too, many ancient col- lections were neglected and rarely utilised for either sci- entific or educational purposes (Ceríaco et al., 2021). To better frame this situation, it should also be remembered that many Italian museums were, and still are, managed by local administrations, such as munici- palities, provinces, and regions. This often led to a dif- ficult balance between the expositive/outreach finality and research/collection components, in particular since museums were often nested within culture or education departments and only rarely associated with research and/ or environmental ones. Therefore, while research was pro- gressively relegated to a subsidiary activity, most natural history museums acquired a prominent expositive func- tion, sometimes detaching the physiological link between these “souls”. Only a few museums appear to have escaped this trend, such as those of Turin (Andreone, 2013), Tren- to (Menegon et al., 2008), Verona (Latella and Zorzin, 2018), and Florence (Van Lien et al., 2014), whose person- nel was able to carry out recent oversea research. Taking into consideration that many (16) of the ana- lysed Italian NHMs have herpetologists as curators, it is worth to verify whether their presence is accompanied by a better knowledge of amphibian and reptile taxonomy in their collections. The TAEI varied from 1 (one collec- tion) to 4 (22 collections), with a mean value of 3.41 + 53Threatened amphibians and reptiles in Italian museums 0.82, thus indicating that most of these collections were revised recently. This happened mostly for small collec- tions, which were objectively easier to be studied and cat- alogued, and usually limited to Italian/European faunae. Since most of these collections are not formed recently, the majority of Italian collections are increas- ingly becoming historical, with recent acquisitions largely due to occasional specimen collections. We consider this a heavy bias, since it means a loss of taxonomic expertise which may have a negative impact on the increase and valorization of scientific collections. Andreone et al. (2014), following a proposal by Minelli (2013, 2015), suggested that, in absence of a tra- ditional national museum, a “diffuse network” or “meta- museum” could be a solution to manage the Italian sci- entific collections in a joint way, also to share resources and personnel. Although little was done to accomplish this proposal so far, this is still an option to be taken into serious consideration together with the possibility of cre- ating a centralized coordination hub. Considering the present fragmentation and the scarce connection among museums, it is first of all important that all Italian natural history collections are increasingly revised and digitalized by each museum, hopefully using shared protocols. This would be enhanced by the establishment of a national strategy that encompasses the coordination and resource distribution as a priority objective. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many friends helped us during the data collection and collection revisions. FA wishes to thank E. Gavetti and L. Ghiraldi for their assistance with maintaining and organizing the Turin herpetological collection. Then for useful discussions and practical help over the years he thanks A. Angulo, C. Barale, S. Bovero, M. Brocchieri, A. Crottini, F. Gallo, S. Gippoliti, J. Luetdke, M. Menegon, and V. Mercurio. Special thanks to the teams which coor- dinated the VertEx and Extinction projects. Finally, we thank A. Kupfer, an anonymous referee for useful com- ments on a preliminary version of this contribution , and A. Gambarelli for useful information. We dedicate this paper and work to the memory of two “giants” of herpe- tology, J. M. Cei and B. Lanza. REFERENCES Alberch, P., Zavala, L., Miles, R. (1994): The identity cri- sis of natural history museums at the end of the twen- tieth century. In: Towards the museum of the future, pp. 195-200. Miles, R., Zavala, L., Eds, Routledge, London. 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ANURA – Alsodidae, Alytidae, Arth- roleptidae, Ascaphidae, Batrachylidae, Bombinatoridae, Brachycephalidae, Craugastoridae, Brevicipitidae, Bufo- nidae, Calyptocephalellidae, Centrolenidae, Ceratoba- trachidae, Ceratophryidae, Conrauidae, Eleutherodac- tylidae, Cycloramphidae, Aromobatidae, Dendrobatidae, Dicroglossidae, Heleophrynidae, Hemiphractidae, Hemi- sotidae, Hylidae, Hylodidae, Hyperoliidae, Leiopelmati- dae, Leptodactylidae, Mantellidae, Megophryidae, Mic- rixalidae, Microhylidae, Limnodynastidae, Myobatrachi- dae, Nyctibatrachidae, Odontophrynidae, Pelobatidae, Pelodryadidae, Pelodytidae, Petropedetidae, Phrynobatra- chidae, Phyllomedusidae, Pipidae, Ptychadenidae, Pyxi- cephalidae, Ranidae, Ranixalidae, Rhacophoridae, Rhi- nodermatidae, Rhinophrynidae, Scaphiopodidae, Telma- tobiidae. URODELA – Ambystomatidae, Amphiumidae, Hynobiidae, Plethodontidae, Proteidae, Rhyacotritonidae, Salamandridae, Sirenidae. REPTILIA TESTUDINES - Emydidae, Testudinidae, Geoemydidae, Platysternidae, Trionychidae, Chelydridae, Der- matemydidae, Kinosternidae, Cheloniidae, Dermochelyi- dae, Chelidae, Pelomedusidae, Podocnemididae. RHYN- CHOCEPHALIA – Sphenodontidae. CROCODYLIA –  Crocodylidae, Gavialidae, Alligatoridae. SAURIA – Agamidae, Chamaeleonidae, Corytophanidae, Crotaphyt- idae, Dactyloidae, Hoplocercidae, Iguanidae, Leiocephali- dae, Leiosauridae, Liolaemidae, Opluridae, Phryno- somatidae, Polychrotidae, Tropiduridae, Gekkonidae, Carphodactylidae, Diplodactylidae, Eublepharidae, Phyl- lodactylidae, Sphaerodactylidae, Pygopodidae, Cordyli- dae, Gerrhosauridae, Scincidae, Xantusiidae, Gymnoph- thalmidae, Lacertidae, Teiidae, Anguidae, Diploglossidae, Xenosauridae, Amphisbaenidae Blanidae, Rhineuridae, 58 Franco Andreone et alii Trogonophidae, Helodermatidae, Varanidae, Dibamidae. OPHIDIA – Acrochordidae, Cylindrophiidae, Uropelti- dae, Loxocemidae, Pythonidae, Xenopeltidae, Boidae, Colubridae, Atractaspididae, Cyclocoridae, Lamprophii- dae, Psammophiidae, Pseudaspididae, Elapidae, Anoma- lepididae, Gerrhopilidae, Typhlopidae, Leptotyphlopidae, Xenotyphlopidae, Aniliidae, Homalopsidae, Pareidae, Tropidophiidae, Viperidae, Xenodermidae.