Riviste Online SApienza - R.O.SA - 2 (Sapienza University of Rome)
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New and interesting records of jewel and longhorn beetles from Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park, Italy (Coleoptera: Buprestidae and Cerambycidae)
Get PDFThe present article lists distributional data about 19 taxa, which are new records for the Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park, respectively – 16 jewel and 3 longhorn beetles. Data about 4 Italian endemics (2 buprestids and 2 cerambycids) are listed, and the category of risk according to the Italian IUCN Red Lists is also indicated for each species (when available); among the listed species, 1 is Endangered, 1 is Near threatened and 27 are Least concern
Serendipity versus proactive search of elusive species - the Encounter Predictability Scorecard (EPS), a new customizable tool for field researchers
Get PDFSince field research requires a lot of effort, time, economic and resource investment, it necessitates fact-based tools for a sound preliminary evaluation of the actual possibility to achieve its objective. Such a tool, the Encounter Predictability Scorecard (EPS), is here described for the first time. The rediscovery of the endemic Orthopteran Uromenus annae proved that field research is performed under strong biases including blind faith in previous scientific literature, and expectations about the biology and ecology of the target species. U. annae escaped field researches in the documented localities, and was rediscovered serendipitously in two new unrelated locations. This casts doubt on the capacity of field researchers to assess, even in general terms, the possibility of success of field expeditions. We conceived a method inspired by the performance management tools from the world of corporate strategy: scorecards. The most famous among closed-choice, qualitative-quantitative checklists, is the Balanced Scorecard, based on original work from the late 1980’s. We adapted those methods to the constraints of field research, and field-tested in a retrospective way for the search of U. annae. The EPS is freely available as a digital spreadsheet, and can be tested and customised at any time. Although in its infancy, the EPS looks like a promising operational tool to help saving time and money, and to identify which objectives and organizational setups are more promising. Besides providing a clearer, more rational basis for operational decisions, the straightforward compilation of an EPS may also mitigate the impact of cognitive biases
First records of Brachycrotaphus tryxalicerus (Fischer, 1854) in the Italian Peninsula (Orthoptera: Acrididae)
Get PDFThe authors report the first data of an Afrotropical and Mediterranean grasshopper, Brachycrotaphus tryxalicerus, for the Italian peninsula. In the Mediterranean area this species had been previously found only in Spain, Sicily and Egypt. A basic habitat description with details on the dominant vegetation is given for each locality of the Italian peninsula. Both these sites are subject to hot dry summers and rainy winters. Further investigations should be carried out in other Italian regions and in the Maghreb to search this species where it was never observed
History and heritage of coastal protection in the southern tyrrhenian area
Get PDFThe development of the sea economy (Blue Growth) represents an opportunity for worldwide coastal communities, which are increasing threatened by urban pressure, sea pollution, erosion processes and flooding events due to enhancing rate of relative sea level rise and storminess driven by climate change. These hazards pose several planning and management challenges to the stakeholders, often constrained in finding a compromise between flooding protection of the urban settlements, economic needs of the land and the health of the environment. Since historical and cultural stratification affected the landscape and the development of coastal urban areas, the Blue Growth involves the analysis of the history and heritage of the land, based on a scientific research capable to promote a sustainable economic development of the area. This manuscript focuses on the southern Tyrrhenian coast (Italy), first describing the historical and environmental features of the area and then focalizing on the impact of the anthropic interventions, with particular reference to the shoreline of Belvedere Marittimo (CS), where it is located the Marine Experimental Station of Capo Tirone, a strategic scientific hub that serves multiple research activities related to the marine environment, as the study of the hazards threating the environmental and cultural heritage, the development of new nautical and subsea technologies, and the dissemination of citizen-science into the Blue Growth framework
Re-examination of the genus-level taxonomy of the pollen beetle subfamily Meligethinae – Part 1. Sagittogethes Audisio and Cline 2009 and allied genera; with description of a new genus (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae)
Get PDFRecent molecular and morphological data derived from members of the pollen-beetle subfamily Meligethinae suggest the need to separate the genus Sagittogethes Audisio and Cline, 2009, including species mostly distributed in Western Palaearctic areas, into two distinct (although related) genera, Sagittogethes and Teucriogethes gen. n. This new genus, comprising the Western European Meligethes obscurus Erichson, 1845 as its type species, includes less than ten species distributed between the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa westward, and China and Japan eastward. All inclusive species utilize members of the genus Teucrium L. (Lamiacaeae: Ajugoideae) as larval host-plants. Morphological and bionomical information, and molecular data clearly demonstrate the necessity for updating the taxonomic position of the two clades. Based on molecular evidence, the new genus represents the sister-group of Thymogethes Audisio and Cline, 2009, while the sister-group relationships of the remaining Sagittogethes taxa with other Lamiaceae-associated genera of Meligethinae remain uncertain. Within the new genus, the relictual and rare Western Mediterranean species T. minutus (C.N.F. Brisout de Barneville, 1863) seems to occupy an isolated position
First description of calling song of Arcyptera alzonai and possible taxonomic implications (Insecta: Orthoptera, Acrididae, Gomphocerinae)
Get PDFThe aim of this study was to contribute to the knowledge of Arcyptera alzonai, considered an endemic Italian species, whose biology is little known and which has an uncertain taxonomic status. Some individuals were found on a small site within its historical presence area in Susa Valley (Piedmont, NW Italy). Some recordings of the song, until today unknown, were made and analyzed. From the oscillograms obtained, no significant differences emerged with the congener species Arcyptera microptera. Also according to various authors these two species are at the moment indistinguishable from a morphological point of view. Therefore, a possible synonymy among these two taxa can be assumed which, however, must be investigated and confirmed by further research based on genetic analysis
Challenges for understanding lacewings: how to deal with the incomplete data from extant and fossil larvae of Nevrorthidae? (Neuroptera)
Get PDFWithin Neuroptera, the group of lacewings, the ingroup Nevrorthidae is special in several aspects: 1) the group may represent the sister group to all other neuropterans; 2) the group is quite species-poor with only 19 extant species known so far; 3) its representatives show a disjunct relict distribution; 4) it has very unusual appearing larvae. These larvae are very elongate, almost worm-shaped. Our overall knowledge of these larval forms is still very limited. We here review all known occurrences of extant larvae, amended by fossil larvae, all preserved in amber. So far there have been only 17 extant larval specimens of Nevrorthidae depicted in the literature. We also present new fossil larvae, with this reaching a total number of 16 known fossil larvae of Nevrorthidae. When plotting measured lengths, larvae cluster into more than three clusters. Also reconstructed size gains between these clusters indicate that Nevrorthidae might in fact develop through more than three larval stages, unlike other lacewings. A special subdivision of the trunk segments observed in many larvae indicates a specialisation for moving in confined spaces. Comparison of syn-inclusions and literature data make it likely that not all larvae lived in running waters, as previously assumed. Overall our knowledge remains rather limited, yet the data allow to draw some new conclusions about the life and evolution of these larval forms
Spiders from Molise (Italy): state of knowledge, new faunistic data and taxonomic notes (Arachnida: Araneae)
Get PDFThe spiderfauna of Molise includes 98 species belonging to 64 genera and 21 families; 48 species are firstly reported for this region, 19 are earlier record confirmed and 31 are earlier record to be confirmed. The following new combination and new synonymies are proposed: Zelotes caprearum (Pavesi, 1875) = Zelotes caporiaccoi Denis, 1953 (not Zelotes caporiaccoi Roewer, 1951) syn. n. = Zelotes denapes Platnick, 1993 syn. n.; Cozyptila nigristernum (Dalmas, 1922) comb. n. = Cozyptila thaleri Marusik and Kovblyuk, 2005 syn. n
Revision of the Calotheca nigrotessellata species group from southern Africa, with description of two new species (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae, Galerucinae, Alticini)
Get PDFCalotheca Heyden is a mostly sub-Saharan flea beetle genus, comprising twenty-seven species previously included in Blepharida Chevrolat. The examination of new material is revealing a high species richness, as there is high intraspecific variability. Calotheca luteomaculata sp. nov. from Zimbabwe and the Republic of South Africa, and C. luteotessellata sp. nov. from the Republic of South Africa are here described and attributed to the C. nigrotessellata (Baly) species group, mainly based on genitalic characters. Photographs of the main diagnostic characters are supplied, including the median lobe of the aedeagus and spermatheca. A forward stepwise discriminant function analysis, using morphometric variables, has been performed. It supports the attribution of the examined specimens to the three species here considered, thus adding characters useful for their identification. Information on geographical distribution and host plants are also provided
A new weevil genus from the highlands of China casts doubts on monophyly of Cotasteromimina (Coleoptera: Curculionidae, Molytinae)
Get PDFWe describe Zembrus perseus gen. et sp. nov., a new weevil from Yunnan, China. A single flightless male was sifted from under Rhododendron bush in the alpine zone of the Cangshan Mountain Range. The specimen’s appearance suggests affinities to the molytine subtribe Cotasteromimina, which currently comprises six named species in four genera distributed between Japan, the Andaman Islands, Borneo and the Philippines. To test the species’ phylogenetic affinities, we analysed 73 morphological characters of adult specimens of 23 molytine and one rooting species. Besides Z. perseus, the ingroup includes four named species, each representing a named genus of Cotasteromimina, and two other, likely closely related unnamed species. Phylogenetic analysis using the parsimony criterion and four character-weighting and/or ordering strategies consistently failed to detect a clade of Cotasteromimina, either with or without Z. perseus. The most parsimonious trees are inconsistent, the bootstrap consensus trees are almost entirely unresolved, and previously published DNA data are phylogenetically indecisive. We conclude that either adult morphological characters constitute an inadequate data source to test monophyly of Cotasteromimina or that the subtribe is not monophyletic or both. We illustrate the relevant adult structures of Z. perseus and most of the in- and out-group taxa used in the analysis