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The only Italian population of the Eastern Montpellier snake is found on Lampedusa, a small island in the Strait of Sicily, Mediterranean Sea. This population is currently attributed to Malpolon insignitus based only on morphology. Here, we present the first genetic data on this population, based on mitochondrial cytochrome b and 12S ribosomal RNA data. Our results confirm that the population on Lampedusa belongs to M. insignitus, falling within a clade that also includes Tunisian populations, and presents private haplotypes for both markers. Their slight differentiation from the Tunisian populations suggests an origin linked to natural expansion from Africa, during the latest glaciation events.

Desertification, as it has been defined by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), represents the whole phenomena of land degradation, resulting from many causes. Southern European countries are considered as areas of new expansion of desertification, caused by inadequate agricultural practices, overgrazing, and deforestation, which increase anthrophic pressure. During the last few years, in the context of several international research projects, methodologies were proposed, based on various parameters. These are grouped in uniform classes and weighted by the attribution of scores in order to assess the so-called "quality indexes". By computation of the previous indexes, "desertification indicators" are defined. This work reviews the most-used methodologies and presents an application of the methodology proposed in the European MEDALUS project to an area of the Calabrian territory (southern Italy), relative to the physical aspects

Knowledge of genetic diversity is important to wildlife conservation because genetically depleted populations experience an increased risk of extinction. Mammalian carnivores are characterized by small and fragmented populations and low dispersal, so that genetic erosion can lead to the fixation of deleterious genes relatively quickly, leading to morphological abnormalities. Kinked tails and cowlicks are indicative of inbreeding depression and have been described in two wild cat species so far, the puma (Puma concolor) and the cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus). Here we report the first records of morphological abnormalities in five populations of the European wildcat (Felis silvestris silvestris) in Italy by using (1) camera-trapping and (2) necropsy of road-killed individuals assessed through genetic analysis. We collected 24,055 trap-nights from 251 cameras and recorded 566 wildcat detections, from which we identified 148 wildcats. Among these, 11 individuals had a kinked tail and four displayed brachyuria, whereas three wildcats from Sicily had cowlicks on the thorax. We recovered 28 road-killed wildcats and two of them (from Sicily and Friuli Venezia Giulia) had a kinked tail. Among these, one female with a kinked tail had a male foetus with a kinked tail, which proved that this characteristic was genetically inherited. We are unsure why brachyuria or cowlicks were not detected across all monitored wildcat populations, given we found kinked tails throughout Italy. The frequencies at which we have detected these abnormalities in wildcats are far lower than reports from Florida panthers (Puma concolor). Future research is needed to verify whether these abnormalities are also associated with low genetic diversity or other morphological defects which might lower fitness. We recommend a nationwide effort, using these techniques within a standardized sampling design, to further understand the status of the wildcat in Italy.

Sicily (Italy) hosts a “relict”, endemic population of the birds Alectoris graeca whitakeri commonly known as Sicilian Rock Partridge. In the last decades, due to the risk of restocking with other European and Asiatic species for hunting purpose, a study was carried out to investigate the potential risk of hybridisation. The mtDNA control-region and nuclear microsatellites were genotyped. Due to the importance of the species, samples were mainly characterized by feather and stool samples, and rarely by carcasses found in the environment, from year 2011 to 2012. A panel of 7 microsatellite loci was validated. Three multiplexes that allowed the simultaneous amplification of 3 microsatellites, and 2 for other two microsatellites, for a total of 7 markers, were utilized. Results showed the occurrence of hybridization both towards the Middle Eastern species, A. chukar and the Northern European species, A. rufa. A total of 18.5% of the samples were collected from the wild environment showed a high degree of hybridization. This fact, even if linked to a small number of samples, highlights a potential risk of hybridization in 4 Sicilian provinces and underlines the importance of further investigations to understand the entity of the problem.

The Southern smooth snake, Coronella girondica, is a small-sized colubrid found in Northwest Africa and Southwest Europe. Mitochondrial DNA-based studies showed that the species can be split into five clades: two from Northwest Africa (one Moroccan and one Tunisian-Algerian) and three from Europe (one in the south-west of the Iberian Peninsula, one in the south-east of Spain and one in the rest of the European range). With regards to Italy, to date, only two samples have been analysed both from the Province of Pisa, Tuscany, pointing at that fact that genetic characterisation of Italian populations is still lacking. Accordingly, we have increased the sampling coverage with 19 new samples from northern and central regions of Italy, including two populations, apparently disconnected from the rest of the known range, and analysed their phylogenetic relationships using a portion of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene. Our results confirm the general phylogenetic arrangement detected in previous studies; specifically for Italian populations, no variability emerged from the Apennine populations, and a slight differentiation could be shown for the Alpine and subalpine ones. This pattern can be explained assuming past spread and recent isolation of C. girondica relict populations in the Alpine region, likely during the Last Glacial Maximum. Later, during the Holocene, the Italian Alps and the Po Plain went through various climatic variations and high anthropization which may have influenced C. girondica distribution through expansion and contraction processes.

Preliminar observation about reproduction phenology of the green toad population in the natural reserve of “Monte Pellegrino” (Sicily). The Green toad is one of the six species of amphibias actually living in Sicily, the only one that has colonised some of small islands (Ustica and Lampedusa). The sicilian populations are, neverthless, the most meridional of european distribution and subject to insularity. The reproductive period of one population of north-west Sicily that we have studied, has began at the beginning of january, with a result of anticipation of minimum one month respect of the periods analysed by others authors in different italian countries. it could be explaned not only with the positive clima, because of the low latitude, but even for the big body size of this population that gives influence in positive manner to the activity of the species.The non reproduction during the autumnal months that usually happen in the Ustica island, where latitude, precipitations and temperature are almost similar to the “Monte Pellegrino” area, could be depend with the low percentage of humidity that influences in opposite manner into the mouvement of the Green toad in direction of the reproduction site.

Longevity data for wild felids are lacking in the literature. Here we report a camera trap recapture of a European Wildcat Felis silvestris at Mt. Etna in Sicily, Italy after nine years. This individual was clearly identifiable as its tail ended with a white ring rather than the typical black ring and had a unique shape of the dorsal stripe. At first capture on 26 May 2009, this cat was assessed as an adult, so that the likely minimum age of this individual at the time of recapture on 10 June 2018 must have been be at least 10 years. This finding represents the oldest known European Wildcat in the wild and provides insight into age structure in wildcat populations.

The Javelin Sand Boa, Eryx jaculus, is reported to be a predator of mammals, lizards and their eggs, and occasionally of birds and invertebrates, but data on its diet are scarce and fragmentary. Here we describe some aspects of the feeding behavior of E. jaculus on the Mediterranean island of Sicily. A total of 132 individual snakes were examined. Prey remains were found in 43% of them, both in their feces (82.5%) and gut contents (17.5%). The number of snakes observed and their feeding rate decreased in August, probably as a result of the relatively higher temperatures. Feeding rate increases were observed in adult females in September, perhaps to enhance body reserves before hibernation. The overall prey spectrum is dominated by small mammals, with a frequency of occurrence of 71.4%, but also consisted of lizard eggs (30.2%) and lizards (7.9%). Lizards seem to be occasional prey, and our frequent detection of ingested autotomized tails suggests E. jaculus has low efficiency as a saurian predator. We observed a relationship between prey type and snout- vent length of the snakes. Lizard eggs are most frequently eaten by smaller snakes, which could be linked to gape size ontogenetic variation. We found differences in the prey spectrum between sexes and age classes. Our results indicate that juveniles, adult males, and females seem to adopt different foraging strategies. Females probably adopt ambush predation on small mammals, while juveniles are active foragers of lizard eggs. Adult males appear to be slightly more versatile predators, consuming both types of prey, probably because of their high mobility rates during the mating period.

Human expansion can cause disturbance and intrusion of invasive species, which are detrimental to small carnivores. We investigated how European wildcats responded to disturbance from mushroom collectors, cattle and feral pigs in Sicily, Italy. We used detections from 76 cameras over 2 surveys (2015–2016 and 2018; camera days = 1985) to run occupancy and co-occurrence models and estimate overlap in activity patterns between species pairs. During 2015–2016, wildcats were detected at the same location with cattle, mushroom hunters and feral pigs at 14.4%, 26.3% and 17.1% of cameras. During 2018, wildcats were detected at the same location with cattle, mushroom hunters and feral pigs at 7.8%, 19.7% and 6.5% of cameras. Dominant species (A; cattle, mushroom hunters and feral pigs) did not affect occupancy of the subordinate species (B; wildcats) during 2015–2016. In 2018, the effect of species A on wildcat occupancy was evident for cattle-wildcat and mushroom hunters-wildcat pairs and wildcat occupancy was higher at sites where species A was not present. Probabilities of detecting wildcats at sites where species A was not present or not detected were higher than probabilities of detecting wildcats at sites where species A was detected. Overlap in activity levels was low between mushroom hunters and wildcats and higher between cattle and wildcats, but varied between surveys for feral pig-wildcat pair. Although results differed between survey periods, we suggest that wildcats generally avoided cattle, feral pigs and mushroom hunters, at both temporal and spatial scales. Anthropogenic disturbance, livestock and invasive species are emerging threats to wildcats and future conservation actions should consider our results.

Simple Summary In Nebrodi Park (Sicily, Italy), live many wild mammal species that move closer to human beings every day. The edible dormouse (Glis glis), in 2017 and 2018, was responsible for nut crop damage in the area. For this reason, a sanitary monitoring campaign involving 30 dormice was carried out by collecting rectal and conjunctival swabs and fur and nest content, which were then processed for laboratory examinations. A large presence of fleas belonging to Monopsyllus sciurorum was found. Necropsy of a dead dormouse revealed an infection of Mesocestoides lineatus, whose cysts were found in the abdomen cavity and on the liver; this is the first report of this in this species. Further studies are necessary to identify their role in the environment, considering the limited knowledge of this species in Italy. Abstract This study reports on the health status of the edible dormouse (Glis glis) living in Nebrodi Park (Sicily, Italy), responsible for nut crop damage in the area. In the frame of a monitoring campaign for potential zoonotic risk involving 30 dormice, rectal and conjunctival swabs and fur and nest content were collected for bacteriological and parasitological examinations, respectively. A large presence of fleas belonging to Monopsyllus sciurorum was found. Necropsy of a dead dormouse revealed an infection of Mesocestoides lineatus, whose cysts were found in the abdomen cavity and on the liver; this is the first report of this in this species. Further studies are necessary to identify their role in the environment, considering the limited knowledge of this species in Italy.

The only Italian population of false smooth snakes is found on Lampedusa, a small island located in the Sicilian Channel and part of the African continental shelf. The taxonomic identity of this population is currently uncertain, although it is most often attributed to Macroprotodon cucullatus textilis on a morphological basis. We present here the first genetic data on this population. The analysis carried out on the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene shows that the Lampedusan false smooth snake belongs to a clade shared with a single sample from central Tunisia. The genetic distance between this lineage and its sister group (M. abubakeri) is comparable to or higher than that found among many reptile species. To define the identity of this distinctive lineage, as well as the Macroprotodon taxonomic structure, further sampling efforts within the undersampled distribution area of this genus and more extensive analyses will be necessary.

A case of cannibalism in the false smooth snake Macroprotodon cucullatus on the island of Lampedusa

Under different environmental conditions, hybridization between the same species might result in different patterns of genetic admixture. Particularly, species pairs with large distribution ranges and long evolutionary history may have experienced several independent hybridization events over time in different zones of overlap. In birds, the diverse hybrid populations of the house sparrow (Passer domesticus) and the Spanish sparrow (Passer hispaniolensis) provide a striking example. Throughout their range of sympatry, these two species do not regularly interbreed; however, a stabilized hybrid form (Passer italiae) exists on the Italian Peninsula and on several Mediterranean islands. The spatial distribution pattern on the Eurasian continent strongly contrasts the situation in North Africa, where house sparrows and Spanish sparrows occur in close vicinity of phenotypically intermediate populations across a broad mosaic hybrid zone. In this study, we investigate patterns of divergence and admixture among the two parental species, stabilized and nonstabilized hybrid populations in Italy and Algeria based on a mitochondrial marker, a sex chromosomal marker, and 12 microsatellite loci. In Algeria, despite strong spatial and temporal separation of urban earlybreeding house sparrows and hybrids and rural late‐breeding Spanish sparrows, we found strong genetic admixture of mitochondrial and nuclear markers across all study populations and phenotypes. That pattern of admixture in the North African hybrid zone is strikingly different from i) the Iberian area of sympatry where we observed only weak asymmetrical introgression of Spanish sparrow nuclear alleles into local house sparrow populations and ii) the very homogenous Italian sparrow population where the mitogenome of one parent (P. domesticus) and the Z‐chromosomal marker of the other parent (P. hispaniolensis) are fixed. The North African sparrow hybrids provide a further example of enhanced hybridization along with recent urbanization and anthropogenic land‐use changes in a mosaic landscape.