Amphibians and reptiles in Rome: is the urbanization of a metropoly compatible with the dispersion of a species-rich herpetofauna?

The aim of this study wa to assess the suitability of urban green spaces for amphibians and reptiles and to highlight the degree of habitat fragmentation in terms of structure, connectivity and faunistic composition. The study zone is the entire Municipality of Rome, Italy, with an area of 128.500 ha. The species richest zones fall in protected areas (regional and suburban parks) or urban artificial green spaces (i.e. Villa Doria Pamphilj, Villa Borghese)confirming the fundamental role of habitat protection especially in urbanized contests in maintaining a high level of environmental complexity that allowed the presence of high diversified herpetofaunistic assemblages. Most of species suffer the lack of connectivity because the high fragmentation level among the green areas.