Weight and Condition Index seasonal variation of Testudo hermanni (Reptilia, Testudinidae) at the “Bosco della Mesola” reserve (Po River Delta, Northern Italy)

Testudo hermanni Gmelin, 1789, commonly known as Hermann’s tortoise, is present in Northern Italy, being the northernmost part of its areal. However, the original distribution of this species in Italy has been greatly fragmented, and a few disjunct populations are known. We present here a database comprised by more than 3,600 observations of weight, morphometry and behaviour, which were recorded in nearly 25 years of research (1992-2016) monitoring a T. hermanni population in a Mediterranean wooded biotope, the “Bosco della Mesola” reserve. The database was used to investigate the health status of the population: the good status of specimens from the focal population was confirmed and changes experienced during the year are described in detail, with special reference to female individuals. The use of Condition Index and the availability of data for such a large timespan allowed us to depict a fine-grained picture of life history traits and physiology of this poikilotherm species in this particular habitat; the importance of large, curated database like the one that is presented here should not be underestimated when trying to characterize and predict ecological changes in warming environments.