Canis lupus Linnaeus , 1758 ( Mammalia Canidae ) : recolonization is still ongoing in Southern Italy : a breeding pack documented through camera traps in the Salento Peninsula

Received 11.09.2017; accepted 22.09.2017; printed 30.09.2017 The authors report the presence of the wolf in the Salento Peninsula (southern Apulia) after more than a century of the absence of sightings. New data for this area resulted from the analysis of video-photographic material provided by various collaborators (referring to the threeyear period 2014-2017), as well as from camera trapping activities carried out by the authors in 2017 which revealed the presence of a breeding pack. These data help to update our knowledge of the presence of the wolf in Apulia and they extend the distribution range of the species ca. 100 km southward, making this area the extreme eastern limit of the Italian populations. The investigations were also part of a project commissioned to the authors by the “Costa Otranto Leuca e Bosco di Tricase” Regional Natural Park in March 2016, whose subject was “A preliminary study of wildlife or stray animals potentially harmful to crops and breeding stocks in the Protected Area”.