Corti, Claudia and Lo Cascio, Pietro (2004) Fifth International Symposium on the Lacertids of the Mediterranean Basin. Fifth International Symposium on the Lacertids of the Mediterranean Basin, Lipari, Aeolian Islands, Sicily, Italy.

Abstract

In September 1989, at the First World Congress of Herpetology in Canterbury, a group of herpetologists decided to organise a periodical scientific meeting focused on the Mediterranean lacertid lizards. This idea was concretised about three years later in Mytilini, by the “First International Symposium on the lacertids of the Mediterranean Basin”. During the following editions the Symposium got more and more successful, becoming a meeting point for a number of specialists devoted to the study of the biology, ecology, zoogeography, genetics, taxonomy, systematics and phylogeny of this group of reptiles. After Greece (1992), Portugal (1995), Croatia (1998) and Spain (2001), this Symposium will now take place in Italy for the first time. The choice of Lipari Island as the meeting venue is not casual: the Aeolian Archipelago is inhabited by an endemic, and one of the most threatened, Mediterranean lacertid lizard. The study of the Mediterranean lacertid lizards represents a key point for understanding the mechanisms regulating the evolution of the Mediterranean’s ecosystems and in particular those ones related to islands. Conservation of biodiversity is the main target that such a knowledge significantly contributes to fulfil. We are very pleased for having organised this Symposium, and we are sincerely grateful to all the participants who contributed to achieve such an remarkable scientific standard through their contributions.