Extreme feeding behaviours in the Italian wall lizard, Podarcis siculus

In the present paper the occurrence of cannibalism, unusual predation on small reptiles [Hemidactylus turcicus (Reptilia, Gekkonidae)], and foraging on small mammal carrion [Suncus etruscus (Mammalia, Soricidae)] by P. siculus is reported

The decline of the Aeolian wall lizard, Podarcis raffonei : causes and conservation proposals

Investigations carried out in the Aeolian Islands (off north-east Sicily) during 1989–99 gathered evidence strongly indicating that the endemic Aeolian wall lizard Podarcis raffonei is close to extinction. Competitive exclusion by the lizard Podarcis sicula, which has been introduced by man, habitat degradation, and possibly reduced genetic variability and inbreeding, were the main causes for the decline of the species. For the Aeolian wall lizard to recover from its threatened status and to prevent further decimation of populations, collection and trade in the species should be prohibited, and an education programme for local people should be promoted. An integrated project involving habitat protection and captive breeding is needed to secure the species in the wild for the future

Feeding habits of a Mediterranean community of snakes in relation to prey availability

Les habitudes alimentaires de quatre espèces sympatriques de serpents terrestres (Vipera aspis, Coluber viridiflavus, Elaphe longissima, Elaphe quatuor-lineata) ont été étudiées dans une zone forestière de la « Campagne romaine », environ 15 km au nord-est de Rome. Toutes les espèces sont apparues extrêmement semblables quant à leurs choix alimentaires, capturant avant tout des petits mammifères (rongeurs et musaraignes) et des lézards (Lacertidés). Les vipères adultes capturent occasionnellement des grenouilles ; à l'exception d'E. longissima, toutes les espèces, et en particulier E. quatuorlineata, prennent des oisillons. La densité relative de diverses proies potentielles (tous les petits mammifères et trois espèces de lézards) a été estimée et une forte relation positive a été trouvée entre la disponibilité des proies et leur consommation par les serpents. En raison du fort recouvrement des régimes alimentaires des quatre espèces de serpents dans la zone d'étude, une forte compétition interspécifique apparaît prévisible en cas de diminution des proies

Predicting elusiveness: potential distribution model of the Southern smooth snake, Coronella girondica, in Italy

Predictive models of species distribution may be very useful for understanding actual distribution of elusive species, including several snakes. The southern smooth snake (Coronella girondica) is likely the most elusive snake species of peninsular Italy, and is therefore well-suited for predicting potential distribution studies. In this paper we predict the potential distribution map of this species in Italy by using MAXENT algorithm, that finds the probability distribution of maximum entropy that is constrained by considered ecological parameters. Presence data for Coronella girondica were gotten from CKmap. The potential distribution model of Coronella girondica showed a very good overall performance (AUC = 0.959), and indicated that high suitability areas correspond mainly to Tyrrhenian north and central regions, including Liguria, western Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, Umbria, and northern Latium. Southern Italian regions were clearly unsuitable for this snake species. Overall, our study revealed that previous distribution maps indicating the occurrence of Coronella girondica in southern Italy and Sicily were poorly reliable. The conservation and management implications of our study are also addressed

Asynchrony of actuarial and reproductive senescence: a lesson from an indeterminate grower

International audienceAging evolutionary theories predict that patterns of actuarial and reproductive senescence should be aligned, with a common onset of senescence set at the age of first reproduction. However, a few empirical studies reported asynchrony between actuarial and reproductive senescence. This asynchrony is expected to be particularly pronounced in organisms with indeterminate growth. Yet, this process is still poorly documented due to the lack of long-term demographic data on knownaged individuals. We investigated the asynchrony of actuarial and reproductive senescence in th

Breeding frequency, clutch size, reproductive status and correlated behaviours in sympatric females Elaphe quatuorlineata and Elaphe longissima (Reptilia : Colubridae)

Le statut reproducteur, la taille des portées et les comportements liés à ces paramètres ont été étudiés par suivi sur le long terme de femelles de deux espèces de couleuvres sympatriques Elaphe quatuorlineata (n=6) et E. longissima (n = 5). L'étude a été conduite dans une zone de collines méditerranéennes du centre de l'Italie (Monts de Tolfa, Latium). Elle a révélé que les deux espèces sont semblables en termes de fréquence de la reproduction (la plupart des femelles portent chaque année), de taille absolue des pontes (9,42 ± 1,86 oeufs pour E. longissima et 10,32 ± 1,25 oeufs pour E. quatuorlineata), de taille de la ponte relativement à celle de la femelle (0,08 ± 0.01 chez E. longissima et 0,07 ± 0,01 chez E. quatuorlineata), de période de ponte (du 19 juillet au 2 août) et de période d'éclosion (fin août). De plus, sont apparus chez les deux espèces de faibles coûts de mortalité associés à la post-oviposition. Les femelles d'E. quatuorlineata ont toutefois produit, d'année en année, des portées de même taille, ce qui ne fut pas le cas de celles d'E. longissima. Aucune des années de l'étude ne fut particulièrement positive (ou négative) pour ce qui concerne la production par toutes les femelles examinées de portées plus importantes (ou plus faibles) que celles attendues de leur taille corporelle

Italian natural history museums on the verge of collapse?

The Italian natural history museums are facing a critical situation, due to the progressive loss of scientific relevance, decreasing economic investments, and scarcity of personnel. This is extremely alarming, especially for ensuring the long-term preservation of the precious collections they host. Moreover, a commitment in fieldwork to increase scientific collections and concurrent taxonomic research are rarely considered priorities, while most of the activities are addressed to public events with political payoffs, such as exhibits, didactic meetings, expositions, and talks. This is possibly due to the absence of a national museum that would have better steered research activities and overall concepts for collection management. We here propose that Italian natural history museums collaborate to instate a “metamuseum”, by establishing a reciprocal interaction network aimed at sharing budgetary and technical resources, which would assure better coordination of common long-term goals and scientific activities