Gargano (, Gargano Apulian Italo-Romance arˈgæːnə is a historical and geographical sub-region in the

province of Foggia The Province of Foggia ( it, Provincia di Foggia ; Foggiano: ) is a province in the Apulia (Puglia) region of southern Italy. This province is also known as Daunia, after the Daunians, an Iapygian pre-Roman tribe living in Tavoliere plain, and ...

Apulia it, Pugliese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographic ...

, southeast

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, consisting of a wide isolated mountain massif made of highland and several peaks and forming the backbone of the

Gargano Promontory The Apulia Carbonate Platform in Apulia, Italy, was a major palaeogeographic element of the southern margin of the Mesozoic Tethys Ocean. It is one of the so-called peri- Adriatic platforms, which are comparable to the Bahama Banks in their carbon ...

projecting into the

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) to t ...

, the "spur" on the Italian "boot". The high point is Monte Calvo at . Most of the upland area, about , is part of the

Gargano National Park The Gargano National Park () is a national park in the province of Foggia in southern Italy. Aside from the Gargano promontory (encompassing the ancient woodlands of the Foresta Umbra) from which it takes its name, it includes also the Tremiti Is ...

, founded in 1991. In this region since 1978 a feud has been fought between the clans of the

Società foggiana The Società foggiana, also known as ''Mafia Foggiana'' (''Foggian mafia'') and the fifth mafia (in addition to Cosa Nostra in Sicily, the ’Ndrangheta in Calabria, the Camorra in Campania and the Sacra Corona Unita in greater Apulia, from whic ...

. The Gargano peninsula is partly covered by the remains of an ancient forest, ''Foresta Umbra'', the only remaining part in Italy of the ancient

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

and

beech Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...

forest that once covered much of Central Europe as well as the

Apennine deciduous montane forests The Apennine deciduous montane forests are a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion in the Apennine Mountains of Italy. The development of these forests is ensured by the high rainfall in the Apennines (from 1000 mm in the southern mount ...

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...

. The Latin poet

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ' ...

spoke of the oaks of ''Garganus'' in ''

Ode An ode (from grc, ᾠδή, ōdḗ) is a type of lyric poetry. Odes are elaborately structured poems praising or glorifying an event or individual, describing nature intellectually as well as emotionally. A classic ode is structured in three majo ...

'' II, ix.

Tourism

The coast of Gargano houses numerous beaches and tourist facilities, including resorts such as

Vieste Vieste (; nap, label= Viestano, Vìst) is a town, ''comune'' and former Catholic bishopric in the province of Foggia, in the Apulia region of southeast Italy. A marine resort in Gargano, Vieste has received Blue Flags for the purity of its wat ...

Peschici Peschici is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Foggia in the Apulia region of southeast Italy. Famous for its seaside resorts, its territory belongs to the Gargano National Park and to the Gargano Mountain Community. Geography Peschici ...

and

Mattinata Mattinata ( nap, label= Foggiano, Matenéte) is a seaside resort town and ''comune'' (municipality) in the province of Foggia, Apulia, southern Italy. Geography The only town in Apulia facing south the Adriatic sea, Mattinata is part of the ...

. The two major

salt lake A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of water that has a concentration of salts (typically sodium chloride) and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most lakes (often defined as at least three grams of salt per litre). ...

s of Lesina and Varano are located in the northern part of the peninsula. Gargano is the site of the oldest shrine in

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

dedicated to the

archangel Michael Michael (; he, מִיכָאֵל, lit=Who is like El od, translit=Mīḵāʾēl; el, Μιχαήλ, translit=Mikhaḗl; la, Michahel; ar, ميخائيل ، مِيكَالَ ، ميكائيل, translit=Mīkāʾīl, Mīkāl, Mīkhāʾīl), also ...

Monte Sant'Angelo sul Gargano The Sanctuary of Saint Michael the Archangel ( it, Santuario di San Michele Arcangelo) is a Roman Catholic shrine on Mount Gargano, Italy, part of the commune of Monte Sant'Angelo, in the province of Foggia, northern Apulia. It has the dignit ...

. Other tourist attractions include

San Giovanni Rotondo San Giovanni Rotondo is the name of a town and ''comune'' in the province of Foggia and region of Apulia, in southern Italy. San Giovanni Rotondo was the home of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina from 28 July 1916 until his death on 23 September 1968. T ...

, the Abbey of Santa Maria of Ripalta (Lesina) and the volcanic rocks, dating back to the

Triassic The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period ...

Period, known as "Black Stones" in Lesina, as well as the Sanctuary of San Nazario.

Annual events

* St Primiano and the saint sailing-race on 15 May * St Nazario and the pilgrimage to the Sanctuary with the same name on July 28 * St Rocco's Day on 15, 16 and 17 August in

Rignano Garganico Rignano Garganico is a town and ''comune'' of the province of Foggia in the Apulia region of southern Italy. Geography Apricena, Foggia, San Marco in Lamis, San Severo and San Giovanni Rotondo are neighbouring towns. In 2017, migrants were rem ...

*Procession of the
Fracchie
' on

Good Friday Good Friday is a Christian holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary. It is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum. It is also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Great and Holy Friday (also Hol ...

San Marco in Lamis San Marco in Lamis ( �sændə ˈmærkə is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Foggia in the Apulia region of southeast Italy. It is located in the Gargano massif area within the Parco Nazionale del Gargano and it belongs to the Comunità Mont ...

Saint Valentine Saint Valentine ( it, San Valentino; la, Valentinus) was a 3rd-century Roman saint, commemorated in Western Christianity on February 14 and in Eastern Orthodoxy on July 6. From the High Middle Ages, his Saints' Day has been associated with a ...

's day in

Vico del Gargano Vico del Gargano is a village and ''comune'' in the province of Foggia in the Apulia region of southeast Italy. Called the "Village of Love", it is part of the Gargano National Park and the Mountain Community of Gargano. The town is bordered by ...

*Pilgrimages (
cumpagnie
') to the shrine of San Michele Arcangelo in

Monte Sant'Angelo Monte Sant'Angelo ( Foggiano: ) is a town and ''comune'' of Apulia, southern Italy, in the province of Foggia, on the southern slopes of Monte Gargano. History Monte Sant'Angelo as a town appeared only in the 11th century. Between 1081 and 1103, ...

on May 8 and September 29 *Gargano Running Week is held in October, the first time in 2014 and includes

trail running Trail running is a sport-activity which combines running, and, where there are steep gradients, hiking, that is run "on any unpaved surface". It is similar to both mountain and fell running (also known as hill running). Mountain running may, h ...

skyrunning Skyrunning is a sport of mountain running up to or exceeding where the minimum average incline is 6% over the total distance and at least 5% has an incline of 30% or more. The climbing difficulty does not exceed II grade UIAA. Poles, crampons and ...

, jogging, ultra distance running and speed running. The 10 K and the

half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish or shortcu ...

are supervised by

FIDAL The Italian Athletics Federation (Italian: ''Federazione Italiana di Atletica Leggera'', FIDAL), is the governing body for athletics in Italy since 1906. The Italian Federation, founded on 21 October 1906, on initiative of '' La Gazzetta dello S ...

Gargano Peninsula fossils

Some 12 to 4 million years ago, during the

Late Miocene The Late Miocene (also known as Upper Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene epoch (geology), Epoch made up of two faunal stage, stages. The Tortonian and Messinian stages comprise the Late Miocene sub-epoch, which lasted from 11.63 Ma (million ye ...

Early Pliocene Early may refer to: History * The beginning or oldest part of a defined historical period, as opposed to middle or late periods, e.g.: ** Early Christianity ** Early modern Europe Places in the United States * Early, Iowa * Early, Texas * Early ...

, a highly

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

vertebrate Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () ( chordates with backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata, ...

fauna Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as '' biota''. Zoo ...

evolved Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation t ...

on what was then Gargano Island due to higher

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

s than today. Several of these animals were subject to

island gigantism Island gigantism, or insular gigantism, is a biological phenomenon in which the size of an animal species isolated on an island increases dramatically in comparison to its mainland relatives. Island gigantism is one aspect of the more general "i ...

The

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

s are found in partially infilled paleokarst

fissures A fissure is a long, narrow crack opening along the surface of Earth. The term is derived from the Latin word , which means 'cleft' or 'crack'. Fissures emerge in Earth's crust, on ice sheets and glaciers, and on volcanoes. Ground fissure ...

across Monte Gargano. The Gargano Island fauna is known as ''

Mikrotia ''Mikrotia'' is an extinct rodent belonging to the Muridae. It lived during the upper Miocene (about 11.63 - 5 million years ago) and its fossil remains have been found in Italy ( Gargano). The type species is ''M. magna'', although two other sp ...

'' fauna after an endemic

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are na ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of the area. Initially named ''Microtia'', this had to be corrected, because the genus name ''

Microtia Microtia is a congenital deformity where the auricle (external ear) is underdeveloped. A completely undeveloped pinna is referred to as anotia. Because microtia and anotia have the same origin, it can be referred to as microtia-anotia. Microtia ...

'' was already used for

butterflies Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

. The surface features of the ancient

karst Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...

developed in

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceo ...

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

. In these,

sediment Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice or by the force of gravity acting on the particles. For example, sand an ...

accumulated together with the remains of the local fauna, forming thick layers of reddish, massive or crudely stratified

silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension with water. Silt usually has a floury feel when ...

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class of s ...

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

s, known as ''terrae rossae'' ("red

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Some scientific definitions distinguish ''dirt'' from ''soil'' by restricting the former te ...

s"). Through the mid-

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58tectonic Tectonics (; ) are the processes that control the structure and properties of the Earth's crust and its evolution through time. These include the processes of mountain building, the growth and behavior of the strong, old cores of continents k ...

movement of the

Apulian Plate The Adriatic or Apulian Plate is a small tectonic plate carrying primarily continental crust that broke away from the African Plate along a large transform fault in the Cretaceous period. The name Adriatic Plate is usually used when referring ...

. Others were overlaid by other sediments of

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on or near the ground, as opposed to ...

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...

origin. In this way a buried, partially reworked paleokarst originated. Later, as the

ice ages An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...

cycle got underway, sea levels sank and the former island was continentalized. In the cool and

semiarid A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...

conditions of the

Early Pleistocene The Early Pleistocene is an unofficial sub-epoch in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, being the earliest division of the Pleistocene Epoch within the ongoing Quaternary Period. It is currently estimated to span the time ...

(some 1.8–0.8 mya) a second karstic cycle occurred, producing the neokarst which removed part of the paleokarst fill.

Fauna

The Gargano Island endemic

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

s included: * '' Deinogalerix'' - 5 species of

gymnure Gymnures, also called hairy hedgehogs or moonrats, are mammals belonging to the subfamily Galericinae, in the family Erinaceidae and the order Eulipotyphla. Gymnures resemble rats but are not closely related as they are not rodents; they are ...

s ("hairy hedgehogs"), among them the giant ''D. koenigswaldi'' with a skull of c.20 cm length. (Freudenthal, 1972; Butler, 1980) * '' Hoplitomeryx'' - some 5 species of "prongdeer" with five horns and sabre-like upper

canine teeth In mammalian oral anatomy, the canine teeth, also called cuspids, dog teeth, or (in the context of the upper jaw) fangs, eye teeth, vampire teeth, or vampire fangs, are the relatively long, pointed teeth. They can appear more flattened howeve ...

. They ranged from tiny to the size of a

red deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of wes ...

, and large and small ones apparently occurred at the same time rather than one evolving from the other. (Leinders 1984, van der Geer 2005, van der Geer 2008) * ''Mikrotia'' - 3 or more species of

murine The Old World rats and mice, part of the subfamily Murinae in the family Muridae, comprise at least 519 species. Members of this subfamily are called murines. In terms of species richness, this subfamily is larger than all mammal families excep ...

rodent. The largest species, ''M. magna'', had a skull 10 cm long. (Freudenthal, 1976, Parra ''et al.'', 1999) * ''Paralutra garganensis'' - an endemic species of

otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine, with diets based on fish and invertebrates. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which also includes wea ...

. (Willemsen, 1983) * ''

Prolagus ''Prolagus'' is an extinct genus of pika within the order Lagomorpha. Over 20 species of ''Prolagus'' have been named, beginning in the Early Miocene in Europe 20 million years ago, where it ranged widely for most of the epoch; by the end of the ...

imperialis'' and ''P. apricenicus'' - huge endemic

pika A pika ( or ; archaically spelled pica) is a small, mountain-dwelling mammal found in Asia and North America. With short limbs, very round body, an even coat of fur, and no external tail, they resemble their close relative, the rabbit, but wi ...

species- ''P. imperialis'' was larger than any other known ''Prolagus''.(Mazza, 1987) * ''Stertomys'' - 5 species of

dormouse A dormouse is a rodent of the family Gliridae (this family is also variously called Myoxidae or Muscardinidae by different taxonomists). Dormice are nocturnal animals found in Africa, Asia, and Europe. They are named for their long, dormant hibe ...

, among them the giant ''S. laticrestatus'' (Daams and Freudenthal, 1985) and four smaller species (Freudenthal and Martín-Suárez, 2006) * ''Hattomys'' - 3 species of giant hamsters, among them the giant ''H. gargantua''. (Freudenthal, 1985) Non-endemic mammals found on the island included: * ''

Apodemus ''Apodemus'' is a genus of Muridae (true mice and rats). The name is unrelated to that of the '' Mus'' genus, instead being derived from the Greek ἀπό-δημος (literally ''away from home''). Taxonomy Related to the Ryūkyū spiny rat ...

gorafensis'' - a field mouse * A prehistoric species of ''

Cricetus The European hamster (''Cricetus cricetus''), also known as the Eurasian hamster, black-bellied hamster or common hamster, is the only species of hamster in the genus ''Cricetus''. It is native to grassland and similar habitats in a large part ...

hamster Hamsters are rodents (order Rodentia) belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae, which contains 19 species classified in seven genera.Fox, Sue. 2006. ''Hamsters''. T.F.H. Publications Inc. They have become established as popular small pets. The b ...

(Freudenthal, 1985) * ''Megacricetodon'' - another hamster (Freudenthal, 1985) Bird species occurring at Gargano included (studied by Ballmann, 1973, 1976): * ''

Apus Apus is a small constellation in the Southern Celestial Hemisphere, southern sky. It represents a bird-of-paradise, and its name means "without feet" in Greek language, Greek because the bird-of-paradise was once wrongly believed to lack feet. ...

wetmorei'', a

swift Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to: * SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks ** SWIFT code * Swift (programming language) * Swift (bird), a family of birds It may also refer to: Organizations * SWIFT, ...

. * ''

Columba Columba or Colmcille; gd, Calum Cille; gv, Colum Keeilley; non, Kolban or at least partly reinterpreted as (7 December 521 – 9 June 597 AD) was an Irish abbot and missionary evangelist credited with spreading Christianity in what is toda ...

omnisanctorum'' - one of the oldest

pigeon Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...

fossils known. It probably was more widespread and if so, the older name ''C. pisana'' would likely apply to it. * ''Garganoaetus freudenthali'' and ''Garganoaetus murivorus'' - two species of falconid, the former larger than a

golden eagle The golden eagle (''Aquila chrysaetos'') is a bird of prey living in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. They are one of the best-known bird of p ...

, the latter well-sized; endemic. The smaller species, which likely is the stratigraphically oldest, is closely related to ''Aquila delphinensis'' from La Grive-Saint-Alban, France, according to Peter Ballmann in 1973. Its closest living relatives are the small eagles (''

Hieraaetus The genus ''Hieraaetus'', sometimes known as small eagles or hawk-eagles, denotes a group of smallish eagles usually placed in the accipitrid subfamilies Buteoninae or Aquilinae. They are medium-sized birds of prey inhabiting Europe, Asia, ...

'', ''

Spizaetus ''Spizaetus'' is the typical hawk-eagle birds of prey genus found in the tropics of the Americas. It was however used to indicate a group of tropical eagles that included species occurring in southern and southeastern Asia and one representative ...

'', ''

Lophaetus The long-crested eagle (''Lophaetus occipitalis'') is an African bird of prey Birds of prey or predatory birds, also known as raptors, are hypercarnivorous bird species that actively hunt and feed on other vertebrates (mainly mammals, r ...

''). * '' Garganornis ballmanni'', an extinct flightless giant goose-like waterfowl * ''"Strix" perpasta'' - a

true owl The true owls or typical owls (family Strigidae) are one of the two generally accepted families of owls, the other being the barn owls (Tytonidae). This large family comprises 230 living or recently extinct species in 24 genera. The typical owl ...

, perhaps the same as the widespread ''Bubo zeylonensis lamarmorae'', a

paleosubspecies A chronospecies is a species derived from a sequential development pattern that involves continual and uniform changes from an extinct ancestral form on an evolutionary scale. The sequence of alterations eventually produces a population that is p ...

of the brown fish-owl (Mlíkovský 2002) but this

taxon In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular nam ...

was usually known from later times. * ''

Tyto ''Tyto'' is a genus of birds consisting of true barn owls, grass owls and masked owls that collectively make up all the species within the subfamily Tytoninae of the barn owl family, Tytonidae. Taxonomy The genus ''Tyto'' was introduced in 1828 ...

'' - 2 or 3 species of barn-owls. The largest, '' T. gigantea'', was up to twice as massive as the living eagle-owl ''

Bubo bubo The Eurasian eagle-owl (''Bubo bubo'') is a species of eagle-owl that resides in much of Eurasia. It is also called the Uhu and it is occasionally abbreviated to just the eagle-owl in Europe. It is one of the largest species of owl, and female ...

''. '' T. robusta'' was also large; this species and the former were endemic but actually seem to have been chronosubspecies. The supposed remains of the smaller ''T. sanctialbani'' found at Gargano are now placed in the widespread ''Tyto balearica''. * an indeterminate

woodpecker Woodpeckers are part of the bird family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks, and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar, and the extreme polar regions. ...

Languages

According to Pellegrini, Gargano is home t
area IIIb
of Southern Italo-Romance varieties. Each town, in turn, speaks its own sub-variety. Th
Candeloro (or ''Candelaro'' in Italian)
river defines the boundaries of the promontory as well as the borders with area IIb (that of Foggiano varieties).

References

Sources

* Butler, M., 1980. The giant erinaceid insectivore, Deinogalerix Freudenthal, from the upper Miocene of Gargano, Italy.

Scripta Geologica ''Scripta Geologica'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that publishes on vertebrate and invertebrate palaeontology, palaeobotany/palynology, stratigraphy, petrology, and mineralogy, including gemmology with a focus on systematics. It is publis ...

57, 1-72. * Daams, R., Freudenthal, M. (1985): "''Stertomys laticrestatus'', a new glirid (dormice, Rodentia) from the insular fauna of Gargano (Prov. of Foggia, Italy)." ''

'' 77: 21–27

(includes full text PDF) * Freudenthal, M. (1972): "''Deinogalerix koenigswaldi'' nov. gen., nov. spec., a giant insectivore from the Neogene of Italy." ''

'' 14: 1-1

includes full text PDF) * Freudenthal, M. (1976): "Rodent stratigraphy of some Miocene fissure fillings in Gargano (prov. Foggia, Italy)". ''

'' 37: 1-2

(includes full text PDF) * Freudenthal, M. (1985) "Cricetidae (Rodentia) from the Neogene of Gargano (Prov. of Foggia, Italy)". ''

'' 77: 29-76

(includes full text PDF) * Freudenthal, M., Martín-Suárez, E. (2006): "Gliridae (Rodentia, Mammalia) from the Late Miocene Fissure Filling Biancone 1 (Gargano, Province of Foggia, Italy)." ''Palaeontologia Electronica'' 9.2.6A: 1-23. * Leinders, J.J.M. (1984): "Hoplitomerycidae fam. nov. (Ruminantia, Mammalia) from Neogene fissure fillings in Gargano (Italy); part 1: The cranial osteology of Hoplitomeryx gen. nov. and a discussion on the classification of pecoran families". ''

'' 70: 1-51, 9 plates. * * Mlíkovský, Jirí (2002): ''Cenozoic Birds of the World, Part 1: Europe'': 215. Ninox Press, Prague. PDF fulltext
!-- This should be treated with extreme caution as regards merging of species. Splits are usually good though. See also critical review in Auk121:623-627 here http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3793/is_200404/ai_n9396879 --> * Parra, V.; Loreau, M. & Jaeger, J.-J. (1999): "Incisor size and community structure in rodents: two tests of the role of competition". ''Acta Oecologica'' 20(2): 93-101. (HTML abstract) * * * (includes full text PDF)

External links

Official Tourism InformationPictures from the Gargano and Vieste
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gargano Peninsulas of Italy Geographical, historical and cultural regions of Italy Mountains of Apulia Former islands of Italy Peaks dedicated to Michael (archangel) Michael (archangel)