Early Pleistocene herpetofauna from Cava Dell'Erba and Cava Pirro (Apulia,Southern Italy)

The Early Pleistocene fissure fillings of Cava Dell'Erba and Cava Pirro (Ap ricena, Apulia, Southern Italy) have yielded abundant fossil vertebrate rem ains. The study of more than 14 000 amphibian and reptile remains revealed the presence of the following 18 taxa (6 amphibians and 12 Reptiles): Tritu rus cf. T. alpestris, T. vulgaris group, Bufo bufo, Bufo viridis, Hyla arbo rea group, Rana cf. R. ridibunda vel Rana kl. R. esculenta, Testudo hermann i group, Emys orbicularis, Mauremys sp., Pseudopus sp., Podarcis sp., Lacer ta sp., Blanus sp., Hierophis viridiflavus, Elaphe longissima, Coronella cf . C. austriaca, Natrix natrix, Vipera aspis group. Some of the materials re ferred to "Colubrines" indet. could represent taxa different from those lis ted above. The high taxonomic diversity, good preservation and abundance of the material place this herpetofauna amongst the most informative ever rec overed in the European Quaternary. Some of the identified taxa are reported for the first time in Italy. Others are of particular interest as they hel p to fill present or past gaps in E-W disjunct ranges. The ecological requi rements of the amphibians and reptiles suggest the presence of a typical Me diterranean landscape: a relatively dry environment with water bodies of te mporary nature (at least those closer to the sites) surrounded by scattered trees or/and bushes.