Acta Herpetologica 17(2): 125-133, 2022 ISSN 1827-9635 (print) © Firenze University Press ISSN 1827-9643 (online) www.fupress.com/ah DOI: 10.36253/a_h-13627 Species diversity and distribution of amphibians and reptiles in Sardinia, Italy Claudia Corti1,2,*, Marta Biaggini1, Valeria Nulchis2, Roberto Cogoni2, Ilaria Maria Cossu2, Salvatore Frau4, Manuela Mulargia2, Enrico Lunghi2, Lara Bassu2 1 Museo di Storia Naturale dell’Università di Firenze, Museo “La Specola”, Via Romana, 17, 50125 Firenze, Italia 2 Sezione Sardegna della Societas Herpetologica Italica “tilighelta” (shisardegna.it) 3 Dipartimento di Medicina clinica, Sanità Pubblica, Scienze della Vita e dell’Ambiente (MESVA), Piazzale Salvatore Tommasi 1, 67100 Coppito, L’Aquila, Italy 4 Viale Lungomare156, Loc. Cala Liberotto, 08028 Orosei, Nuoro, Italy *Corresponding author. Email: claudia.corti@unifi.it Submitted on: 2022, 30th August; revised on: 2022, 23rd September; accepted on: 2022, 17th October Editor: Marco Mangiacotti Abstract. Although distribution databases are a dynamic tool, continuously updated, it is important to take “snap- shots” of the species distribution over time to promptly identify potential conservation issues. With this work, we provide an update of the distribution of amphibians and reptiles in Sardinia and satellite islands. Data derive from both direct field observations (carried out since 2005 until July 2022) and literature, accounting for over 7000 records: 1416 records of 11 species of amphibians and 5600 records of 18 species of reptiles. Distribution maps (on 10 × 10 km UTM grid) of 29 species are provided in supplementary materials as well as the updated list of the amphibians and reptiles occurring in the circum-Sardinian islands. Most of the meshes were characterized by the presence of 1-3 amphibian species (73%) and 6-8 or 9-11 reptile species (32% with 6-8 species, 30% with 9-11 species). Species abun- dance was favoured by environmental heterogeneity, and mostly varied in relation to elevation range and edge density. Keywords. Sardinia, amphibians, reptiles, islands, endemics, micro-insular herpetofauna, distribution maps. INTRODUCTION Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediter- ranean and, together with Corsica, with which it shares its paleo-origin, it is one of the most relevant biodiversity hotspots in the Mediterranean (Blondel et al., 2010). Due to its long isolation (24-20 Mya), the complex geological history, the geographical position, the climat- ic and historical events, Sardinia is home to numerous endemic herpetological species, eight amphibians and five reptiles, some of which derive from ancestors present on the Sardinian-Corsican microplate before its detach- ment from the main European plate (Alvarez, 1972; Lanza, 1983; Carmignani et al., 1995, 2001, 2016; Corti et al., 1999; Speranza et al., 2002; Rodríguez et al., 2017). Sardinia is home to 11 amphibian and 18 reptile species (SHI, 1996; Bassu et al., 2010). The current herpetologi- cal composition of the Island can be mainly referred to a) the Messinian salinity crisis which occurred in the Miocene (~5 Mya) when important climatic variations occurred with consequent impact on flora and fauna, b) sea level oscillations due to the alternation of recurrent glacial and interglacial periods that have repeatedly sep- arated and connected the island with Corsica and with the continent, c) the arrival of man (Corti et al., 1999; Duggen et al., 2003; Senczuk et al., 2019). In the “Provisional atlas of Italian amphibians and reptiles” (Atlante provvisorio degli Anfibi e Rettili italiani, 126 Claudia Corti et alii as part of the atlas project of the Italian Society of Her- petology, SHI, 1996) preliminary distribution maps of the Sardinian species were reproduced, subsequently pub- lished with some updates in the “Atlas of Italian amphib- ians and reptiles” (Sindaco et al., 2006). In the last three decades, the scientific interest in Sardinian herpetological species has intensified. In addition to some updates on the species distribution, an increasing number of arti- cles have been produced focusing on phylogeography, ecology and conservation which have also contributed to provide data on the distribution of amphibians and reptiles on the Island (Corti et al., 2000, 2010; Vascon- celos et al., 2006; Van der Meijden et al., 2009; Salvi et al., 2010, 2011, 2017; Salvi and Bombi, 2010; Vamberger et al., 2011; De Pous et al, 2012; Fritz et al., 2012; Bombi and Vignoli, 2014; Biaggini et al., 2016; Rodríguez et al., 2017; Cossu et al., 2018; Ficetola et al., 2018; Lunghi et al., 2020; Mulargia et al., 2018; Sillero et al., 2018; Bellati et al., 2019; Senczuk et al., 2019; further references are given as supplementary material L1). At the same time, recent paleontological investigations (see Zoboli et al., 2019, 2022, and literature therein) are providing inter- esting baseline information testifying for the presence of taxa that are present in Sardinia since a relatively deep past (as green toads, Emys orbicularis, Testudo hermanni, Natrix) or went locally extirpated (as Speleomantes, Dis- coglossus, Salamandrina, Mauremys, giant tortoises, soft- shell turtles, worm lizards, agamid lizards, Timon, Vipera) or even globally extinct (‘Tomistoma’ calaritanus, Trach- yaspis lardyi, Testudo pecorinii, pleurodiran turtles, Sar- dophis elaphoides). With this work, we aim to provide updated distribu- tion data collected from literature and direct field obser- vations, together with a critical comment on the diver- sity of the Sardinian herpetofauna. Although distribution databases are a dynamic tool constantly updated, we still believe it is important to take “snapshots” of the distribu- tion of the various species from time to time to promptly identify potential critical issue and intervene with appro- priate conservation measures. A particular focus was also made on the fauna of sat- ellite islands, with an updated list of amphibians and rep- tiles of the circum-Sardinian islands that actively contrib- ute to the herpetological diversity of Sardinia. MATERIAL AND METHODS Study site and data source, maps Sardinia is located in the western Mediterranean and is one of the largest Italian regions. The island has an area that slightly exceeds 24,000 km2 and is characterized by a diversified territory consisting of plains, plateaus, hills, and mountains, as well as an extensive and varied geo- morphological coastline and numerous satellite islands, islets, and rocks. The data on the distribution of amphibians and rep- tiles derive from both literature review and direct obser- vations in the field carried out since 2005 until July 2022. Surveys have been carried out at different altitudes and visiting different types of natural and anthropogenic habi- tats, both by day and by night. Each data has been geo- referenced with a satellite radio navigation device (Global Positioning System-GPS), or has been attributed to a toponym reported by the IGM maps (Istituto Geografico Militare). All data are stored in the database of the Sar- dinian Section of the Italian Society of Herpetology (SHI) “tilighelta”. The dataset was enriched with bibliographic (e.g., Corti et al., 2000; Bassu et al., 2008, 2010, 2013; Sal- vi & Bombi, 2010; De Pous et al., 2012; Cossu et al., 2018; Mulargia et al., 2018) and with museum records (MZUF). For the elaboration of species distribution maps, we used the UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator Projection, Coordinate Reference System WGS84 / UTM zone 32N) grid (10 × 10 km), dividing the island into 312 meshes. Bibliographic data without exact coordinates were reported in the respective UTM mesh. Each map shows data prior to 2010 and new data recorded from 2010 until July 2022. Other categories represented in the maps for some spe- cies are: a) doubtful records; b) single sporadic observa- tion, referred to single individuals found out of the species range; c) multiple sporadic observations, when more than one individual was observed - simultaneously or over time – out of the species range (e.g., translocated Testudo spp.). The species distribution maps (see supplementary material) were produced using QGIS 3.14.16-Pi (QGIS.org, 2022). Study species The complete list of amphibian and reptile species inhabiting Sardinia is given in Table 1, where the endem- ic species are also indicated; Table S1 (supplementary material) reports the updated list of the herpetofauna of the circum-Sardinian islands. The species nomenclature follows Speybroeck et al. (2020). The presence of Zamenis lineatus/longissimus in Sardinia is currently debated (Razzetti and Zanghellini, 2006) and therefore here not reported. Introduced species with a relatively wide distri- bution are reported (e.g., Trachemys), while those record- ed only through sporadic encounters of single individuals (e.g., Mauremys) are not. Due to ongoing studies on the presence of different Pelophylax species, all the observa- tions related to the species of this genus are reported in a single map. However, in Table 1 they are all listed. 127Diversity and distribution of Sardinian amphibians and reptiles Data analyses Analyses were performed excluding sporadic obser- vation (mainly related to Testudo), doubtful observations, and Trachemys spp. as an alien species that in recent times spread on the islands. For each UTM mesh, we extrapolated the follow- ing environmental variables: number of Corine Land Cover classes, classified at level 3 (NCLC3; Kosztra et al., 2019); index of environmental heterogeneity increasing with NCLC3 and number of land use polygons (HETER = NCLC3 × N polygons / mesh surface); index of edge density (ED = perimeter/surface calculated on land uses’ polygons; we considered the mean value per mesh); maximum elevation (Elev); elevation range (ΔElev); abundance of wetlands (WET, the relative surface occu- pied, in a UTM mesh, by polygons belonging to the CLC classes Wetlands and Waterbodies). For each UTM mesh, we also extrapolated the number of all species (NTOT); endemic species (NETOT, Discoglossus sardus, Euproc- tus platycephalus, Speleomantes spp., Hyla sarda among amphibians; Algyroides fitzingeri, Archaeolacerta bedria- gae, Euleptes europaea, Natrix helvetica cetti, Podarcis tiliguerta among reptiles); amphibian species (NAmph); endemic amphibian species (NEAmph); reptile spe- cies (NRept); endemic reptile species (NERept). Even if the total number of species was correlated with those of amphibians and reptiles (considering all species and the endemic ones; tested with Pearson correlation, see Results), we performed analyses on all the six catego- ries of species abundance, in order not to miss possible meaningful differences. To test if the species abundance per UTM mesh var- ied depending on the above-listed environmental vari- ables (NCLC3, HETER, ED, Elev, ΔElev, WET), we used generalized linear models (GLZ) with, in turn, NTOT, NETOT, NAmph, NEAmph, NRept, NERept, as dependent variable, with Poisson error distribution. We performed stepwise regression, and we selected the best-fit model according to the Akaike Information Criterion (we select- ed the models with the lowest AIC; Burnham and Ander- son, 2002). RESULTS Sardinia falls inside 312 grid meshes, seven of which occupied by a very small terrestrial surface (<1 ha to about 37 ha). We analysed 7016 records: 1416 records of 11 species of amphibians and 5600 records of 18 species of reptiles. Most of the meshes were characterized by the presence of 1-3 amphibian species (73%; Figure 1) and 6-8 or 9-11 reptile species (32% with 6-8 species, 30% with 9-11 species; Figure 2). Distribution maps (on 10 × 10 km UTM grid) of the 29 species are provided as sup- plementary materials. NTOT was correlated with NAmph (N = 312, r = 0.697, P < 0.001) and NRept (r = 0.961, P < 0.001); NETOT with NEAmph (r = 0.772, P < 0.001) and NERept (r = 0.870, P < 0.001). Results of the analysis of the pat- tern of species abundance per UTM mesh (model selec- tion and following GLZs) are shown in Table 2 and 3. NTOT decreased in those meshes with higher maximum elevation but, at the same time, was favoured by increas- Table 1. List of amphibians and reptiles of Sardinia. The endemic species are marked as follow: EEE = exclusively endemic to Sar- dinia; EE = Endemic to Sardinia and Corsica; E = Endemic to the Central-Western-Mediterranean. Amphibia Euproctus platycephalus (Gravenhorst, 1829) EEE Speleomantes flavus (Stefani, 1969) EEE Speleomantes genei (Temminck & Schlegel, 1838) EEE Speleomantes imperialis (Stefani, 1969) EEE Speleomantes sarrabusensis Lanza, Leo, Forti, Cimmaruta, Caputo & Nascetti, 2001 EEE Speleomantes supramontis (Lanza, Nascetti & Bullini, 1986) EEE Bufo bufo (Linnaeus, 1758) Bufotes viridis balearicus (Boettger, 1880) Discoglossus sardus Tschudi, 1837 E Hyla sarda (De Betta, 1857) E Pelophylax bedriagae (Camerano, 1882) Pelophylax bergeri (Günther, 1986) Pelophylax kurtmuelleri (Gayda, 1940) Reptilia Emys orbicularis (Linnaeus, 1758) Trachemys scripta (Thunberg in Schoepff, 1792) Testudo hermanni Gmelin, 1789 Testudo graeca Linnaeus, 1758 Testudo marginata Schoepff, 1792 Euleptes europaea (Gené, 1839) E Hemidactylus turcicus (Linnaeus, 1758) Tarentola mauritanica (Linnaeus, 1758) Algyroides fitzingeri (Wiegmann, 1834) EE Archaeolacerta bedriagae (Camerano, 1885) EE Podarcis siculus (Rafinesque, 1810) Podarcis tiliguerta (Gmelin, 1789) EE Chalcides chalcides (Linnaeus, 1758) Chalcides ocellatus (Forskål, 1775) Hemorrhois hippocrepis (Linnaeus, 1758) Hierophis viridiflavus (Lacépède, 1789) Natrix helvetica cetti Gené, 1839 EE Natrix maura (Linnaeus, 1758) 128 Claudia Corti et alii ing elevation range, number of land uses and edge den- sity. Not surprisingly, given the numerical preponder- ance of reptiles on the total amount of data, the predic- tors selected when considering all reptiles were the same selected for NTOT, with the small difference that, among those with a significant effect, there was the index of het- erogeneity instead of NCLC3. On the contrary, consider- ing all amphibians, the selected predictors with a signif- Fig. 1. Number of amphibian species in UTM 10 × 10 km grid meshes. Dots in the map indicate the presence of 1 (white small dot), 2-3 (small dot, in light blue), 4-5 (big dot, in dark blue) spe- cies. The pie chart summarizes the number of meshes hosting dif- ferent ranges of species abundance, including those meshes with no species. Fig. 2. Number of reptile species in meshes UTM 10 × 10 km grid. Dots in the map indicate the presence of 1-2 (small white dot), 3-5 (small light green dot), 6-8 (medium light green dot), 9-11 (medi- um dark green dot), 12-15 (dark green dot) species. The pie chart summarizes the number of meshes hosting different ranges of spe- cies abundance, including those meshes with no species. Table 2. Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) in the selection of the best model explaining the pattern of abundance of all amphibian and reptile species (NTOT, NAmph, NRept) and of only endemic species (NETOT, NEAmph, NERept) per UTM mesh, considering the following predictors: number of land cover classes (NCLC3), index of environmental heterogeneity (HETER), index of edge density (ED), maximum elevation (Elev), elevation range (ΔElev), abundance of wetlands (WET); w = Akaike weight of the best model; w1/w2 = Akaike weight ratios between the first and second ranking models. Response variable Predictors AIC w w1/w2 NTOT HETER; Elev; ΔElev; NCLC3; ED 1667.340 0.326 1.310 N ETOT HETER; ΔElev; ED 1158.529 0.139 1.014 NRept HETER; Elev; ΔElev; NCLC3; ED 1525.052 0.315 1.721 NERept HETER; ΔElev; NCLC3; ED 955.4630 0.283 2.594 NAmph HETER; ΔElev; ED; WET 795.2846 0.188 1.141 NEAmph ΔElev; ED; WET 800.9570 0.259 1.830 129Diversity and distribution of Sardinian amphibians and reptiles icant effect on the abundance of species per mesh were ΔElev, ED, and the relative abundance of wetlands. Focusing on endemic species, the abundance of all species was significantly influenced by ΔElev and ED (HETER was selected, but it had no significant effects) (Table 2 and 3). NCLC3 was added to these predictors when analysing endemic reptiles, and WET when analys- ing endemic amphibians, but without a significant effect (Table 2 and 3). DISCUSSION The maps we obtained in this work represent an important improvement on the distribution of amphibians and reptiles in Sardinia. Compared to previous publica- tions (Sindaco et al., 2006; Bassu et al., 2008, 2010, 2013), the area surveyed for each species has been widely imple- mented (percentage increase of UTM meshes compared to Sindaco et al., 2006: e.g., Euproctus platycephalus 142%, Speleomantes spp. 0-115%, Bufotes viridis balearicus 632%, Discoglossus sardus 130%, Hyla sarda 379%; Euleptes euro- paea 228%, Hemidactylus turcicus 226%, Emys orbicularis 518%, Testudo hermanni 370%, Algyroides fitzingeri 121%, Archaeolacerta bedriagae 58%, Podarcis tiliguerta 142%, Chalcides ocellatus 105%, Hierophis viridiflavus 130%, Natrix helvetica 54%). By examining the distribution of the single species, it is to be noted that almost all the endemic species are missing in the plains of Nurra and Campidano (NW and SW Sardinia, respectively). Only in a few places, some of the endemic species occur in these regions. In particular, the distribution of the endemic lizards Algyroides fitzingeri and Podarcis tiliguerta very rarely includes wetlands and intensively cultivated plains where they have been observed only in “edge” contexts, while Archaeolacerta bedriagae, being a rupicolous spe- cies, is found exclusively in rocky habitats, from sea level to high altitudes (Sindaco et al., 2010). Approximately the same applies to Euleptes europaea, a tiny gecko also wide- ly distributed in micro-insular systems. Only Hyla sarda, among endemic species, being particularly linked to lentic waters, has settled in these two aforementioned plains. Among the amphibians and in particular among Urodela, the endemic and/or sub-endemic species, such as the endemic Sardinian brook newt, Euproctus plat- ycephalus, and the cave salamanders, Speleomantes fla- vus, S. genei, S. imperialis, S. sarrabusensis, S. supramon- tis (the ranges of these last five species do not overlap), are distributed on the main island exclusively in hilly and mountain environments. It is interesting to note that four species of Testudines live in Sardinia, one Emydidae and three Testudinidae: the native freshwater European pond terrapin, Emys orbicularis and Testudo hermanni, whose presence on the island seems to date back to the Early Pleistocene (Biello et al., 2021; Zoboli et al., 2022) and, T. graeca and T. marginata. The populations of these last two species settle in distinct areas of the island despite T. marginata, whose large size often makes this species a preferred target of illegal collection and translocation, is the most easily observed in areas far from its primary Sardinian range. As for snakes, four species inhabit the island. The distribution of the endemic Natrix helvetica cetti (Schultze et al. 2020), a relatively elusive subspe- Table 3. GLZ testing the effects of the environmental vari- ables selected by models in Table 2 on the abundance of all spe- cies (NTOT, NAmph, NRept) and of only endemic species (NE, NEAmph, NERept) per UTM mesh. Response var. Predictors df Estimates Wald - Stat. P NTOT Intercept 1 0.931 57.444 0.000 HETER 1 0.006 2.896 0.089 Elev 1 -0.001 18.820 0.000 ΔElev 1 0.001 20.167 0.000 NCLC3 1 0.017 5.297 0.021 ED 1 0.018 52.524 0.000 NETOT Intercept 1 -0.222 1.263 0.261 HETER 1 -0.000 0.000 0.999 ΔElev 1 0.001 54.109 0.000 ED 1 0.019 26.551 0.000 NRept Intercept 1 0.840 39.018 0.000 HETER 1 0.008 4.263 0.039 Elev 1 -0.001 20.727 0.000 ΔElev 1 0.001 14.647 0.000 NCLC3 1 0.015 3.089 0.079 ED 1 0.017 38.575 0.000 NERept Intercept 1 -0.321 1.852 0.174 HETER 1 0.002 0.200 0.654 ΔElev 1 0.001 24.799 0.000 NCLC3 1 -0.033 12.875 0.000 ED 1 0.018 4.563 0.033 NAmph Intercept 1 -0.739 4.879 0.027 HETER 1 0.025 2.526 0.112 ΔElev 1 0.001 17.858 0.000 ED 1 0.0178 7.973 0.005 WET 1 -0.2488 5.259 0.027 NEAmph Intercept 1 -1,238 16.129 0.000 ΔElev 1 0.018 46.501 0.000 ED 1 0.001 15.233 0.000 WET 1 0.019 0.712 0.399 130 Claudia Corti et alii cies, follows the distribution pattern of the other endemic taxa, according to his rupicolous habits and avoidance for plains (Vanni & Cimmaruta, 2010; Lunghi et al., 2019). Hierophis viridiflavus, is certainly the most widespread snake found on the Island whereas Hemorrhois hippocrep- is, whose presence in the past has been reported in much of south-western Sardinia (Bruno and Hotz, 1976), seems to have restricted its range to such an extent that, in the last decade, it has been reported only for the city of Cagliari and its surroundings. Contrary to what is known for this species, considered rather xerophilous (Zuffi, 2006), the Sardinian population of H. hippocrepis lives near wetlands, in agricultural habitats and in urban areas. As for the green frogs, Pelophylax spp., further research is needed to draw a clear picture of the distribu- tion of the different taxa on the island, given that P. kurt- muelleri, P. cf. bedriagae and P. bergeri populations have been detected (Bellati et al., 2018). The introduced P. kurtmuelleri and P. cf. bedriagae can be considered natu- ralized following Bellati et al. (2019). The latter species is found in both northern and southern Sardinia. The set- tlement of the introduced green frogs may be favoured by vacant niches, even though the particularly dry cli- mate could limit their expansion (Bellati et al., 2017, 2018, 2019). When analysing how the number of species var- ies in relation to several environmental variables, the importance of elevation range and edge density in deter- mining the abundance of herpetofauna species emerges. Indeed, increasing the elevation range usually entails a higher habitat diversity, and edge habitats (including, for instance, ecotones and riparian boundaries) are well known key elements for the herpetofauna. The comparison between the factors influencing the abundance of all species and of those influencing the abundance of endemic species only reveals further inter- esting insights. For instance, the total number of species decreases in mountainous areas (that is those included in meshes with higher maximum elevation), while this was not a limiting factor for endemic species, many of which are also found at high altitudes. When focusing on all amphibians, the relative abun- dance of wetlands was among the factors influencing species abundance, whereas it was not selected as sig- nificant factor when analyzing the endemic species, Hyla sarda, Discoglossus sardus, and Speleomantes spp. Indeed, these amphibians often spawn in minor water bodies, not included in the CLC classification as “Wetlands” and “Waterbodies”, or in underground environments as in the case of Speleomantes. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Our thanks go to Andrea Argiolas, Monica Aru, Ste- fano Bovero, Fabio Cherchi, Ylenia Chiari, Sergio Cossu, Corpo Forestale della Regione Sardegna, di Vigilanza Ambientale, Giovanni De Falco, Michel-Jean Delaugerre, Maria Depratis, Yuri Donno, Amedeo Fadda, Lidia Fleba, Carmen Fresi, Antonella Gaio, Roberta Lecis, Cristiano Liuzzi, Pietro Lo Cascio, Simone Loi, Salvatore Manca, Gabriele Manzottu, Marco Marrosu, Rosalba Murgia, Mauro Murru, Sergio Nissardi, Manuelo Olivieri, Danilo Pisu, Massimo Putzu, Maria Grazia Satta, Daniele Seglie, Simona Serusi, Giuseppe Sotgiu, Giovanna Spano, Giulia Tessa, Marco Uccheddu, Daniel Zoboli, Carla Zucca. Spe- cial thanks to Massimo Delfino for revising paleontologi- cal considerations, to Roberto Sacchi and the anonymous referees for their precious suggestions. SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL Supplementary material associated with this article can be found at manuscript number 13627 REFERENCES Alvarez, W. 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Sindaco, R., Doria, G., Razzetti E., Bernini, F., Eds, Edizioni Polistampa, Firenze. Acta Herpetologica Vol. 17, n. 2 - December 2022 Firenze University Press Cryptic diversity in pygmy chameleons (Chamaeleonidae: Rhampholeon) of the Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania, with description of six new species Michele Menegon1,2,*, John V. Lyakurwa3,4, Simon P. Loader5, Krystal A. Tolley6,7 Preliminary genetic characterisation of Southern Smooth Snake Coronella girondica (Serpentes, Colubridae) populations in Italy, with some considerations on their alpine distribution Matteo R. Di Nicola1, Raffaella Melfi2, Francesco P. Faraone3,*, Daniel L. N. Iversen4, Gabriele Giacalone5, Giovanni Paolino1, Mario Lo Valvo6 Species diversity and distribution of amphibians and reptiles in Sardinia, Italy Claudia Corti1,2,*, Marta Biaggini1, Valeria Nulchis2, Roberto Cogoni2, Ilaria Maria Cossu2, Salvatore Frau4, Manuela Mulargia2, Enrico Lunghi2, Lara Bassu2. The Italian wall lizard, Podarcis siculus campestris, unexpected presence on Gorgona Island (Tuscan Archipelago) Marco A.L. Zuffi1,*, Alan J. Coladonato2, Gianluca Lombardo3, Antonio Torroni3, Matilde Boschetti1, Stefano Scali4, Marco Mangiacotti2, Roberto Sacchi2 Molecular analysis of recently introduced populations of the Italian wall lizard (Podarcis siculus) Oleksandra Oskyrko1,2,*, Lekshmi B. Sreelatha1,12,13, Iolanda Silva-Rocha1, Tibor Sos3,4, Sabina E. Vlad5,6,7, Dan Cogălniceanu5,6, Florina Stănescu6,7,8, Tavakkul M. Iskenderov9, Igor V. Doronin10, Duje Lisičić11, Miguel A. Carretero1,12,13 Sunny-side up: ontogenetic variation in egg mass temperatures of the wood frog Rana sylvatica Ryan Calsbeek*, Ava Calsbeek, Isabel Calsbeek Ecological niche differentiation in the Anatolian rock lizards (Genus: Anatololacerta) (Reptilia: Lacertidae) of the Anatolian Peninsula and Aegean Islands Mehmet Kürşat Şahin1,*, Kamil Candan2,3, Danae Karakasi4, Petros Lymberakis4, Nikos Poulakakis4,5,6, Yusuf Kumlutaş2,3, Elif Yıldırım2,3, Çetin Ilgaz2,3 Occupancy and probability of detection of the introduced population of Eleutherodactylus coqui in Turrialba, Costa Rica Jimmy Barrantes-Madrigal1,*, Manuel Spínola Parallada1, Gilbert Alvarado 2, Víctor J. Acosta- Chaves3,4. One site, three species, three stories: syntopy of geckoes Euleptes europaea (Gené, 1839), Hemidactylus turcicus (Linnaeus, 1758), Tarentola mauritanica (Linnaeus, 1758) in a coastal area of southern Tuscany (central Italy) Giacomo Radi1,2, Marco A.L. Zuffi1,* Comparative cytogenetics on Zamenis lineatus and Elaphe quatuorlineata (Serpentes: Colubridae) Marcello Mezzasalma1,* , Elvira Brunelli1, Gaetano Odierna2, Fabio M. Guarino2