Endemic Animals of Italy

The Marsican brown bear, also known as the "Apennine brown bear", and orso bruno marsicano in Italian, is a critically endangered population or subspecies of the Eurasian brown bear, with a range restricted to the Parco Nazionale d'Abruzzo, Lazio e Molise, and the surrounding region in Italy. The Marsican brown bear differs slightly from other brown bears in its appearance and hibernation techniques. The bear’s popular name is derived from M ...
arsica, a historic area of the modern-day region of Abruzzo where the bear has long had a significant presence. With their existence dwindling, the Italian government has recently begun to stress their conservation. The park has become a sanctuary dedicated to animals such as the Marsican brown bear, with hopes of rekindling the large, yet isolative bears’ once-thriving existence. In recent years, more conservation groups have tried to help this bear. Debate exists as to whether it should be considered a subspecies or a taxon of its own. Less

Pecten jacobaeus, the Mediterranean scallop, is a species of scallop, an edible saltwater scallop, a marine bivalve mollusc in the family Pectinidae, the scallops. Less

The Sicilian wolf is an extinct subspecies of the gray wolf that was endemic to Sicily. It was paler than the mainland Italian wolf and comparable in size to the extant Arabian wolf and extinct Japanese wolf. The subspecies reportedly went extinct due to human persecution in the 1920s, though there were several possible sightings up to the 1970s. It was identified as a distinct subspecies in 2018 through morphological examinations of the few ...
remaining mounted specimens and skulls, as well as mtDNA analyses. Less

The Apennine yellow-bellied toad is a species of toad in the family Bombinatoridae endemic to Italy. Its natural habitats are temperate forests, temperate grassland, swamps, freshwater marshes, intermittent freshwater marshes, arable land, pastureland, ponds, open excavations, irrigated land, and seasonally flooded agricultural land. It is threatened by habitat loss. Less

The spectacled salamander is a species of salamander in the family Salamandridae. Less

The Italian tree frog is a species of frog in the family Hylidae, found in Italy, Slovenia, Switzerland, and possibly San Marino. Its natural habitats are temperate forests, rivers, intermittent rivers, freshwater marshes, intermittent freshwater marshes, arable land, and urban areas. It is threatened by habitat loss. Less

The Italian newt is a species of salamander in the family Salamandridae found only in Italy. Its natural habitats are temperate forests, temperate shrubland, Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation, freshwater lakes, intermittent freshwater lakes, freshwater marshes, intermittent freshwater marshes, arable land, pastureland, rural gardens, water storage areas, ponds, and canals and ditches. It is threatened by habitat loss. It was formerly known ...
as Triturus italicus, but was relocated to the genus Lissotriton after Triturus was split. Less

The Sardinian brook salamander or Sardinian mountain newt is a species of salamander in the family Salamandridae found only in Sardinia, Italy. Less

The Sicilian wall lizard is a species of lizard in the family Lacertidae. Endemic to Italy, it occurs in Sicily and the Aegadian Islands. Its natural habitats are temperate forests, temperate shrubland, Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation, temperate grassland, arable land, pastureland, and rural gardens. The IUCN does not consider it to be a threatened species. Three subspecies are recognized: P. w. antoninoi, P. w. marettimensis, and P. w. ...
waglerianus. Less

The Italian Aesculapian snake is a species of snake in the Colubridae family. Less

The Aeolian wall lizard, also known commonly as Raffone's wall lizard, is a species of lizard in the family Lacertidae. The species is endemic to Italy. Less

Common names: Southern Italian asp, South-Italian asp viper, more. Vipera aspis hugyi is a venomous viper subspecies endemic to southern Italy. Less

The Santo Stefano lizard lived on Santo Stefano Island, a small island near Ventotene in the Tyrrhenian sea off the west coast of Italy, and part of the Pontine Islands. It became extinct in 1965, probably caused by feral cats and a snake species. These animals destroyed almost the whole population and any survivors seem to have interbred with an introduced subspecies. An epidemic of an unknown pathogen that followed wiped out the majority of ...
the population and contributed to this subspecies' extinction. Less

Coronella austriaca fitzingeri is a subspecies of the snake Coronella austriaca . It lives in southern Italy and Sicily. Less

The Calabrian black squirrel is a species of tree squirrel in the genus Sciurus, endemic to the forests of the regions of Calabria and Basilicata, in the south of the Italian Peninsula. Less

The Sardinian lynx with the scientific name Lynx sardiniae was proposed by the Italian biologist Pasquale Mola in 1908 for two zoological specimens of a cat from Nuoro in Sardinia that were part of the zoological collection of the University of Sassari. These specimens were reassessed in 1911 by Alessandro Ghigi who identified them as Sardinian wildcats . Gighi's assessment was corroborated in 1981 by an Italian biologist who examined the still ...
available mounted specimen initially described by Mola. Less

The Sardinian long-eared bat is a species of bat endemic to Sardinia, Italy. This species was discovered in 2002 in the caves of central Sardinia, the type locality being a cave in Lanaitto's Valley in the Oliena District. It appears to be closely related to Plecotus auritus and Plecotus alpinus. It was identified as a new species by a study clearly showing divergence from other Plecotus species in its mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene. Less

The Roman mole is a species of mammal in the family Talpidae. It is found in southern Italy. It was last recorded on Sicily in 1885. There is also an unconfirmed report about an isolated subpopulation in the Var region of southern France. Less

The Maremman boar is a subspecies of wild boar native to Maremma in Central Italy. It is much smaller than the Central European boar and the two subspecies have been interbred on farms. Less

The Apennine shrew is a species of shrew in the family Soricidae. The mammal is endemic to Italy. Less

The Sicilian shrew is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is found in Sicily and Gozo . Its natural habitat is temperate shrubland. Less

The Calabria pine vole is a vole found in southern and central Italy initially described by Lehmann as a subspecies of M. savii. Genetic tests in the Calabrian region found, although similar, the X chromosome is larger than that of samples of M. savii found elsewhere in Italy and the Y chromosome is twice the size, leading Galleni in 1994 to designate M. brachycercus as a separate species. Less

Macaca majori, commonly known as the dwarf macaque, is a prehistoric macaque from the Early Pleistocene of Sardinia, Italy. Less

Globicephala etruriae is an extinct species of pilot whale from the Pliocene of Italy. The type specimen was found in the Piacenzian coastal claystone at Volterra. It was named in 1987 by G. Pilleri. Less

Chtenopteryx sicula, also known as the comb-finned squid or toothed-fin squid, is a species of squid native to at least the Mediterranean Sea. It is characterised by several distinct morphological features: ocular photophores are present but visceral photophores are absent, arm suckers are arranged in at least 4 series distally, and club suckers are borne in more than 8 series. Less

Granulina boucheti is a species of minute sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Granulinidae. Less

Bela plagisculpta is an extinct species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Mangeliidae. Less

Mangelia ossea is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Mangeliidae. Less

Trinchesia ilonae is a species of sea slug, an aeolid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Trinchesiidae. Less