Acta Herpetologica 10(1): 73-74, 2015 ISSN 1827-9635 (print) © Firenze University Press ISSN 1827-9643 (online) www.fupress.com/ah DOI: 10.13128/Acta_Herpetol-15321 Book Review: Harold Heatwole, John W. Wilkinson (Eds). Amphibians Biology. Volume 11 - Status of conservation and decline of Amphibians. Eastern Hemisphere. Part 4 . Southern Europe and Turkey Sebastiano Salvidio Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, dell’Ambiente e della Vita (DISTAV), Università di Genova, I 16132 Genova Italy. E-mail: sal- vidio@dipteris.unige.it This book consists of 158 pages, a soft cover and is available from Pelagic Publishing, Exeter United King- dom. It is part of a series of similar volumes recently published on the conservation status of amphibians in Western Europe (Heatwole and Wilkinson, 2013), Asia (Heatwole and Das, 2014) and North Africa (Busach and Heatwole, 2014). The book covers, with a specific chap- ter each, the following countries (in alphabetical order): Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Malta, Mon- tenegro, Republic of Serbia, Romania, Slovenia and Tur- key. The reader may notice the absence of Portugal and Spain, that in fact were included in a previous volume (Heatwole and Wilkinson, 2013). The list of contributors includes 25 Authors, all of them well known herpetolo- gists being, without any doubt, among the major experts of the region they are called to illustrate within this book. Each chapter is organised in short sections, gener- ally similar but not identical for all countries. Gener- ally, an introductory section presents and discuss the diversity of the batrachofauna, with usually at least one table listing the species found in each territory, their international and national level of protection and their local conservation status. These sections are very useful and informative at the same time, because they provide immediate information about the current situation of the local amphibian diversity found in each country. A second section is devoted to species of special concerns (e.g. rare, highly isolated or declining) or to urgent con- servation problems, such as the diffusion of chytrids, the introduction of invasive species that threaten amphibians or specific cases of habitat degradation or destruction. The third section is specifically dedicated to “Conser- vation measures and monitoring programmes” and, in my personal opinion, provides the most interesting and original information of the entire book. Unfortunately, the quantity and quality of the information provided for the different chapters is highly heterogeneous, going from the three full pages of Slovenia, to only five lines of Macedonia, without speaking of Bosnia and Herzegovina where this section is completely missing. Each chapter ends with a list of references. This book is informative as it provides updated infor- mation about the status of amphibian populations in the many countries treated. Reading it, I found many useful data concerning different places, species or populations and I think the book will be of interest to professional herpetologists and to conservationists as well. However, I regret that these positive result could have been even more successful with some additional effort to standard- ise the different contributions that are often too unbal- anced, at least concerning the quantity of the information provided. Finally, readers would have surely appreciated a better quality of the printed colour illustrations. REFERENCES Busack, S.D., Heatwole, H. (2014). Amphibian Biology. Volume 11. Status of Conservation and Decline of Amphibians: Eastern Hemisphere Part 2: North Afri- ca. Basic Appl. Herpetol. 27: 1-117. 74 S. Salvidio Heatwole, H., Das, I. (2013). Amphibian Biology. Volume 11. Status of Conservation and Decline of Amphibi- ans: Eastern Hemisphere Part 1: Asia. Natural History Publications, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. Heatwole, H., Wilkinson, J.W. (2013). Amphibian Biol- ogy. Volume 11 Part 3: Status of Conservation and Decline of Amphibians: Eastern Hemisphere: Western Europe. Pelagic Publishing, Exeter UK. Acta Herpetologica Vol. 10, n. 1 - June 2015 Firenze University Press Obituary: Valery K. Eremchenko (1949-2014) Leo J. Borkin1, Tatjana Dujsebayeva2, Roberto Sindaco3, Matthias Stöck4 Haplotype variation in founders of the Mauremys annamensis population kept in European Zoos Barbora Somerová1, Ivan Rehák2,*, Petr Velenský2, Klára Palupčíková1, Tomáš Protiva1, Daniel Frynta1 Reproductive ecology of Sichuan digging frogs (Microhylidae: Kaloula rugifera) Wei Chen1,*, Lina Ren2, Dujuan He2, Ying Wang2, David Pike3 Toxic effects of carbaryl on the histology of testes of Bufotes variabilis (Anura: Bufonidae) Özlem Çakici Basal frequency of micronuclei and hematological parameters in the Side-necked Turtle, Phrynops hilarii (Duméril & Bibron, 1835) María A. Latorre 1,2,*,#; Evelyn C. López González1,2, #; Pablo A. Siroski1,2,3; Gisela L. Poletta1,2,4 Into a box interiors: clutch size variation and resource allocation in the European pond turtle Marco. A.L. Zuffi1,*, Simonetta Citi2, Elena Foschi1, Francesca Marsiglia1, Eva Martelli1 Where to “Rock”? Choice of retreat sites by a gecko in a semi-arid habitat Andreia Penado1,2, Ricardo Rocha3,4,*, Marta Sampaio3, Vanessa Gil3, Bruno M. Carreira3, Rui Rebelo3 Age structure, growth and longevity in the common toad, Rhinella arenarum, from Argentina Clarisa de L. Bionda1,2,*, Silvia Kost 4, Nancy E. Salas1, Rafael C. Lajmanovich3, Ulrich Sinsch4, Adolfo L. Martino1 On a putative type specimen of Pleurodema bibroni Tschudi, 1838 from Chile (Anura: Leptodactylidae) Daiana Paola Ferraro Re-description of the external morphology of Phyllomedusa iheringii Boulenger, 1885 larvae (Anura: Hylidae), with comments on the external morphology of tadpoles of the P. burmeisteri group Samanta Iop¹, Victor Mendes Lipinski¹, Bruno Madalozzo¹, Franciele Pereira Maragno¹, Sonia Zanini Cechin¹, Tiago Gomes Dos Santos² Book Review: Harold Heatwole, John W. Wilkinson (Eds). Amphibians Biology. Volume 11 - Status of conservation and decline of Amphibians. Eastern Hemisphere. Part 4 . Southern Europe and Turkey Sebastiano Salvidio Book Review: Antonio Romano. Atlante degli anfibi del Parco Nazionale del Cilento Vallo di Diano e Alburni - Distribuzione, biologia, ecologia e conservazione Sebastiano Salvidio ACTA HERPETOLOGICA Journal of the Societas Herpetologica Italica