Palaeontological campaigns of Alberto Malatesta in the Mediterranean islands

A short account of the palaeontological campaigns organized and led by Alberto Malatesta in the Mediterranean islands, in search of Quaternary endemic vertebrates, is presented in this paper. The activity of Malatesta in such a field can be grouped in four periods. The first period (1964-1970) deals with his researches in Sardinia (Dragonara Cave, Nettuno Cave, Capo Figari); the second one (1970- 1972) includes the field campaigns in Crete (Simonelli cave and Katharo plateau); the third period (1972-1978) regards the researches in Sicily (Capo Tindari Cave); during the last period (1979-1984) the scientific interests of Malatesta returned back to Sardinia (Is Oreris quarry, Alghero neighbours). For each locality, a brief exposition of the principal results is presented together with a summary of the research and revision papers that Malatesta and his co-workers wrote on the material collected during the field seasons.