Executive summary Handbooks for monitoring species and habitats of Community interest (Council Directive 92/43/EEC) in Italy: animal species The Habitats Directive requires Member States to implement surveillance of the conservation status of habitats and species of Community Interest. The aim of this handbook is to outline the methodological instruments for implementing a monitoring program of the Italian animal species, as required by art. 17, with particular reference to data collection at site level. The European guidelines require the assessments to be carried out by compiling information on specific parameters at biogeographical scale. For each animal species, four parameters have to be considered and combined to obtain an overall assessment of conservation status for each biogeographical region at national level: "Range" (based on actual distribution), "Population", “Habitat for the species” and "Future Prospects". Monitoring programs need to collect data dealing with the first three parameters at a local level. In this handbook, a monitoring form is presented for each animal taxon (species, subspecies or species group) of Community interest occurring in Italian terrestrial and inland water environments. Altogether, the volume contains 151 forms, referring to 215 terrestrial and inland water animal taxa. Further species, which will be reported in the IV National Report under a common name due to difficulties in recognizing them in the field or their doubtful status, are mentioned and discussed as well. Monitoring methods have been defined with the support of five national Scientific Societies, and reviewed by personnel of the Italian Regions and Autonomous Provinces. The monitoring forms thus report the most effective available techniques and provide an operational guidance for data collection and monitoring scheduling with the aim of standardizing data collection efforts across Italy. A standardized basis of information is indeed important for assembling data at national level and producing comparable assessments on the conservation status and future prospects of each animal taxon.