The goal of the research is to bring together the information about the Amphibians and Reptiles that inhabited the Veneto Region during the Quaternary (that is to say the last 1.8 million years) by the analysis of all the remains available at present. Since the neighbouring regions (i.e. Lombardia and Emilia Romagna) are particularly poor in fossil remains of the extant taxa, the general results concerning this region, will furnish elements for a better understanding of the faunal changes that occurred in the Po Plain, or at least its easternmost sector.

The genus Salamandrina is an endemic genus of the Italian Peninsula, whose phylogenetic relationships are still not clear and whose rare fossils come from areas (like Sardinia or Greece) outside its present range. The need of an updated summary of the phylogenetic and biogeographic information, stimulated this attempt of integrating the analysis of fossil remains, osteological characters and molecular data.

This project has been supported by "SYNTHESYS" (with a stay at the Museo Ciencias Naturales de Madrid - grant ES-TAF-1642) and has been awarded with the "Premio Barbieri 2007".

A relatively well preserved chelonian shell coming from the Eocene-Oligocene Cixerri Formation, represents the first Paleogene reptile of Sardinia. The goal of the research is the description and the taxonomic allocation of the remain as well as a review of the coeval chelonians of Italy.

Although the fossil reptiles of the so called "Pietra Leccese" (Early-Late Miocene) are known since the middle of the XIX century (Costa, 1848), a general review of all the remains has never been published. Thanks to the activity of Prof. A. Varola, the abundant material discovered in the last decades offers a good chance to revise the "taxonomic landscape" of this herpetofauna. Two degree theses have been planned: one dedicated to the crocodile remains (among others, an interesting long snouted form) and another one to the marine chelonians (probably the best preserved Psephophorus material in Europe).

Crocodilus bambolii Ristori 1890, from the Late Miocene of Tuscany, has been considered by some authors as the ancestral form of C. niloticus (Berg, 1966; Steel, 1973) but simply a "putative Crocodylus" by others (Brochu, 2000). The aim of the undertaken research is to recover the original material and to revise its taxonomic allocation.

Although the fossil reptiles of the so called "Pietra Leccese" (Early-Late Miocene) are known since the middle of the XIX century (Costa, 1848), a general review of all the remains has never been published. Thanks to the activity of Prof. A. Varola, the abundant material discovered in the last decades offers a good chance to revise the "taxonomic landscape" of this herpetofauna. Two degree theses have been planned: one dedicated to the crocodile remains (among others, an interesting long snouted form) and another one to the marine chelonians (probably the best preserved Psephophorus material in Europe).