News
New review article on Speleomantes behaviour published in Animals
In this article we performed a review aiming to define the state-of-the-art of researches published on the behabviour of Speleomantes cave salamanders, and we provided insights for future researches aiming to fill the current knowledge gap. Title: Recent Advances in...
I Congresso Nazionale “Biologia e Conservazione degli Urodeli“ Chiavari (GE) 26-27 Ottobre 2023
Amazing conference! Great vibe, great people! I want to thank all particpiants and the great job done by the Organizing Committee. See you at the next one! 😉 https://congressourodeli.wordpress.com/ programmaDownload
METALCAVE: A new project on pollution in subterranean environments
We recently got funds for this project, which aims to assess the presence of trace metals in cave soil and whether they are stored in animals tissues. The project will start in December 2024. Here a breif description. Subterranean environments are widespread on Earth,...
New review article published in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society on behaviour of subterranean species
In this article we performed a review of research papers in which experiments or description of specific behavioural trait were performed in cave species. Data was then analysed to assess the convergent evolution of such behavioral traits, and to infer on the role...
New article published in Animals on foraging behaviour of Speleomantes
In this article we performed a fine-scale analysis of the gut contents obtained from all Speleomantes species, including hybrids. Identifying prey with higher taxonomic resolution and considering their ecology, we were able to infer on potential foraging behaviour of...
Cave survey with students 2023
At the end of April 2023, students participated in an excursion to a cave, activity included in the class "Biology of Subterranean Environments". Students adopted monitoring methodologies to collect data on the environment and on different species, such as cricket,...
8th Conference on the Biology of Plethodontid Salamanders: here the program
The program of the 8th Conference on the Biology of Plethodontid Salamanders is ready! Check it out and I'll see you there! Programroughdraft_revisedDownload
New article published in Animals on the monitoring of Speleomantes sarrabusensis
In this article we provided the data deriving from two monitoring scheme interesting four populations (three epigeous and one from artificial springs) of the Sette Fratelli cave salamander Speleomantes sarrabusensis. Title: Species diversity and distribution of...
New article published in Acta Herpetologica on distribution of Sardinian herpetofauna
In this article we show an updated database on the distribution of herp species in Sardegna, with an analysis on the environmental variables that promote higher species abundance. Title: Species diversity and distribution of amphibians and reptiles in Sardinia, Italy...