Acta Herpetologica 10(2): 159-160, 2015 ISSN 1827-9635 (print) © Firenze University Press ISSN 1827-9643 (online) www.fupress.com/ah DOI: 10.13128/Acta_Herpetol-16436 Book Review: Florian Doré, Marc Cheylan, Pierre Grillet. Le Lézard ocellé - Un géant sur le continent européen Sebastiano Salvidio Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, dell’Ambiente e della Vita (DISTAV), Università di Genova, I 16132 Genova Italy. E-mail: salvidio@dipteris.unige.it The Ocellated lizard, Timon lepidus (Daudin, 1802) is found in Portugal, Spain, in southern and western France and in Italy, but only in the north-western part of Liguria, where the populations are in direct continuity with those of Provence (Sindaco and Jeremćenko, 2008; Salvidio et al., 2009; Mateo, 2011). In the last years, this large and attractive lizard has been object of two mono- graphic books, the first published by Cheylan and Gril- let (2004) and the second one making the object of this review. “Le Lézard ocellé - Un géant sur le continent euro- péen” (The Ocellate lizard - A giant on the European con- tinent) is divided in four main sections. The first “Origine et caractéristiques du genre Timon” (Origin and charac- teristics of the genus Timon) synthetizes the systematics, taxonomy, evolution and morphology of this large Medi- terranean lizards. The approach is a practical naturalistic one, providing information on species variability and also the means to detect the lizard’s presence by illustrating its traces and in particular burrows, footprints, feces and shredded skin. The second part “Un hôte des garrigues et maquis méditerranéen” (An inhabitant of Mediterranean garrigue and maquis) gives the detailed and updated situ- ation of the Ocellated lizard populations distribution in different Countries, with particular emphasis on French populations, that have been surveyed by the Authors since many years. The connection between the species and its habitat and microhabitat characteristics is well explained and described by many illustrations of lizards in their natural environment. In this part, the Authors stress the importance of burrows and shelters for the per- sistence of populations, suggesting a strict connection with other Mediterranean digging species, such as the rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus and the European bee-eater Merops apiaster. The third section “Histoire naturelle du lézard ocellé” (Natural history of the Ocellated lizard) gives detailed information on the trophic niche, seasonal activity pattern, reproductive behavior, individual growth, population structure, displacement and predators. The last part of this book “Une espèce en déclin” (A declining species) is based on the many scientific reports and publications written in recent years by the Authors on the long-term survey and monitoring of several pop- ulations in different regions of France. The examples reported show some striking cases of local decline, some- times attributable to natural vegetation succession and urbanization, others more enigmatic as is the case of the one from the Crau plain, in which the Ocellated lizard was very abundant about twenty years ago. It has to be said that since many years, Doré, Chey- lan and Grillet proposed and implemented specific sur- vey protocols to assess the temporal trend of Ocellated lizard populations (e.g., Doré et al., 2011). These meth- ods, that account for the species detectability or observ- ability (MacKenzie et al., 2002, 2003), are robust and give sound results, thus permitting to evaluate in an objective way the population trend and, therefore, should be tak- en as examples when establishing monitoring protocols for other lizards species. Finally in this part of the book, the Authors stress again the importance of artificial bur- rows and underground man-made shelters for the con- servation of Ocellated lizard populations living in open habitats, in which natural rocky shelters are missing or in which tunnel-digging animals are rare or absent. Indeed, 160 Sebastiano Salvidio providing artificial shelters could represent a low-cost strategy to locally ameliorate the species conservation sta- tus or at least to increase its observability, thus permitting a better assessment of its presence and abundance. This hard cover book of 192 pages is robustly bound and is illustrated by dozen of really fantastic photos of lizards and their allies in their natural habitat. It is not only extremely informative but is also graphically appeal- ing and full, really full of first-hand informations about the natural history of this fascinating animal, that should be considered as an emblem of non-forested Mediter- ranean habitats in SW Europe. Since many years, the Authors are giving original contributions on the conser- vation and ecology of many reptile species in southern Europe and the present book should be of interest not only for herpetologists but also for ecologists and habi- tat managers dealing with conservation of Mediterranean biodiversity. This book is available from Biotope éditions (http://www.biotope-editions.com/) and is priced € 28.00. REFERENCES Cheylan, M., Grillet, P. (2004): Le Lézard ocellé. Editions Belin, Paris. Doré, F., Grillet, P., Thirion, J-M., Besnard, A., Cheylan, M., (2011): Implementation of a long-term monitor- ing program of the ocellated lizard (Timon lepidus) population on Oleron Island. Amphibia-Reptilia 32: 159-166. MacKenzie, D.I., Nichols, J.D., Lachman, G.B., Droege, S., Royle, J.A., Langtimm, C.A. (2002): Estimating site occupancy rates when detection probabilities are less than one. Ecology 83: 2248-2255. MacKenzie, D.I., Nichols, J.D., Hines, J.E., Knutson, M.G., Franklin, A.B. (2003): Estimating site occupancy, colonization, and local extinction when a species is detected imperfectly. Ecology 84: 2200-2207. Mateo, J. A. (2011). Lagarto ocelado - Timon lepidus. In: Enciclopedia virtual de los vertebrados españoles, pp: 1-52. Salvador, A., Marco, A. Eds. Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid. http://www.vertebradosi- bericos.org/ Salvidio S., Bologna M.A., Cheylan M. (2011). Timon lepidus (Daudin, 1802), pp. 441-449. In: Corti C., Capula M., Luiselli L., Razzetti E., Sindaco R. Eds. Fauna d’Italia - Reptiliia. XLV. Calderini, Bologna. Sindaco, R., Jeremčenko, V.K. (2008): The Reptiles of the Western Palearctic. 1. Annotated checklist and distri- butional atlas of the turtles, crocodiles, amphisbaeni- ans and lizards of Europe, North Africa, Middle East and Central Asia. Monografie della Societas Herpeto- logica Italica I - Edizioni Belvedere, Latina (Italy). Acta Herpetologica Vol. 10, n. 1 - June 2015 Firenze University Press ACTA HERPETOLOGICA Journal of the Societas Herpetologica Italica