125 Ann. Mus. civ. St. nat. Ferrara Vol. 5 2002 pp. 125-128 ISSN 1127-4476 First record of reproduction of Trachemys scripta in the Po Delta Gentile Francesco Ficetola 1 Alessandro Monti 1 & Emilio Padoa-Schioppa 2 1 Departement of Biology, section Ecology, University of Milano. V. Celoria 26, 20133 Milano. e-mail: francesco.ficetola@unimi.it. fax: 02/50314713 2 Department of Landscape and Environmental Sciences – University of Milano – Bicocca. Piazza della Scienza 1 – 20126 Milano. e-mail: emilio.padoaschioppa@unimib.it FICETOLA G.F., MONTI A. & P ADOA-SCHIOPPA E., 2003 - First record of reproduction of Trachemys scripta in the Po Delta. Ann. Mus. civ. St. nat. Ferrara, 5 (2002): 125-128. We record the first reproduction case of Trachemys scripta elegans on the Po Delta, on sympatric condition with an Emys orbicularis population. E. orbicularis vulnerability and the presence of this competitor now present in most European countries impose urgent man- agement activities. Key words: Trachemys scripta elegans, Emys orbicularis, reproduction, competition, exot- ic specie introduction, Po delta. FICETOLA G.F., MONTI A. & P ADOA-SCHIOPPA E., 2003 - Prima segnalazione di riproduzione di Trachemys scripta nel Delta del Po. Ann. Mus. civ. St. nat. Ferrara, 5 (2002): 125-128. Si segnala il primo caso di riproduzione di Trachemys scripta all’interno del Delta del Po, in simpatria con una popolazione di Emys orbicularis. La vulnerabilità di E. orbicularis associata alla presenza di questo nuovo competitore ormai diffuso in buona parte dell’Europa impone misure di gestione attiva urgenti. Introduction The read eared slider turtle Trachemys scripta elegans (Wield, 1838), native of ori- ental U.S.A. (LAPINI et al., 1999), during the last years were massively imported in Europe as pet (BALLASINA, 1995; ARVY & SERVAN, 1998), until the import ban stated by European Union. These animals were bought when were only few months, and only few centimetres long: because of the fast growing, great numbers of slider turtles were released in natural and semi-natural environ- ments. T. scripta individuals are present in wetlands in Italy (BALLASINA, 1995) and in several European countries as French (ARVY & SERVAN, 1998), Spain (MASCORT , 1998) and Germany (HANKA & JOGER, 1998). In a few