Atlante degli Anfibi e dei Rettili d’Italia / Atlas of Italian Amphibians and Reptiles

During a time when a large number of herpetological atlas are being published to cover local, regional, and national scales, specifically in Europe, this new publication was particularly awaited. With its varied landscapes, the Italian peninsula is indeed a hotspot for amphibian and reptile diversity in Europe and attracts the interest of numerous herpetologists. In fact, a preliminary herpetological atlas of Italy was published in 1966, but it only contained black and white maps. The main aim of that publication was to gather more data, mainly by stimulating local atlasa initiatives, and then to move forward with a complete atlas including finalized maps and explicative texts. In this new version, the editors and authors managed to fulfil their objectives perfectly.
This atlas is a bilingual book written in Italian and English. This has the advantage of reaching a larger audience but the drawbook of increasing the size of the book and slightly complicating the reading. The book is divided into eleven chapters and ends with a long, but not exhaustive, list of references.
The book starts with an historical section that will certainly interest those who want a summary of the developments in herpetology in Italy since the 16th century. There they will find a good starting point for more in-depth research on those earlier studies. The second chapter deals with the fossil recosrds of modern Italiana species, amassing data that had previously not been published or placed together in an integrated way. The third chapter presents the methodology. The atlas is based on the UTM grid. Most of the country is covered, but there still remain some unexplored areas, particularly in Sardinia and Basilicata. The fourth chapter gives a cross-species overview of the altitudinal distribution at regional levels, which allows a fast and easy comparison of species. The fifth chapter lists the various species of Italy with some nomenclatural notes. The sixth chapter, fully 55% of the book, includes the successive description of 40 amphibians and 51 reptiles. This list takes into account allochthonous and recently recognized species. More than 50 italian researchers participated in writing the species descriptions. The monographs contain data on taxonomy, geographic and altitudinal distribution, habitat, annual activity cycle, reproduction and status. They also include in-text references and each are illustrated by a few colour pictures, often with a legend. Although this book offers many interesting features spread over 4 to 8 pages per species, it would have benefited by including more details on the biology of the species. The colour maps are very nicely presented with the indication of the relief and the use of different symbols to distinguished between recent and old data. However, the distribution of subspecies within Italy and of species across Europe are not included in the maps. For readers not familiar with Itlay’s provinces, it can be a difficult task to locate the places listed in the text because the book is devoid of political maps showing thei boundaries. The seventh chapter lists the herpetofauna of more than 200 different islands. A special discussion on doubtful taxa is given in the eighth chapter. The following chapter gives an interesting biogeographical analysis, icluding regional, global, historical, and geological considerations. The tenth chapter is an overview of the relative distribution of the Italian species from a conservation perspective, but no section is devoted to the causes of local declines. The last chapter gives a short summary of international and regional legislation. Only two pictures of habitats are presented in the entire book, really too few for a country so diversified.
In conclusion, this is a valuable book that, used with a field guide, will be beneficial for all researchers interested in herpetology or natural history of European and particularly Italian herpetofauna. It will also be useful to local wildlife managers thet need a comprehensive distribution atlas including detailed maps and data on biology and species’ status.