Riviste Online SApienza - R.O.SA - 2 (Sapienza University of Rome)
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Habitat selection and morphology of Saga pedo (Pallas, 1771) in Alps (Susa Valley, Piedmont, NW Italy) (Insecta: Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae, Saginae)
Get PDFThis paper is a contribution to the knowledge of Saga pedo (Pallas, 1771), summarizing the results of a field study carried out on a population of the Italian W Alps. The peculiar eco-ethological traits of this species make its observation difficult in nature and overall also its biology is little known, especially in Italy. The habitat selection is outlined from 34 unpublished presence data, collected between 2016 and 2018. Moreover, some biometric traits are compared between adult individuals observed in two different and disjointed survey areas. The results show that the environments in which this species lives in Susa Valley should not be referred exclusively to xerothermic oases in strict sense. This species appears to be also associated, in fact, with xeric environments of agricultural origin, mostly abandoned vineyards. These land uses (especially viticulture) could have guaranteed the survival of S. pedo over time. The closure of these open areas by shrub and tree vegetation, constitutes an important threat factor. Phenology and morphology of this species in Susa Valley, seem do not differ from those reported for other European populations. However, from the biometric analysis some significant differences emerge (p<0.05) among the individuals sampled in the two areas, that are difficult to interpret. The observation of imagoes, always combined with high densities of potential prey and sometimes grouped, suggests some hypotheses that it would be interesting to test, to learn more about the ethology and ecology of this enigmatic protected species
Araneae.it: the online Catalog of Italian spiders, with addenda on other Arachnid Orders occurring in Italy (Arachnida: Araneae, Opiliones, Palpigradi, Pseudoscorpionida, Scorpiones, Solifugae)
Get PDFIn this contribution we present the Catalog of Italian spiders, produced on the base of the available scientific information regarding spider species distribution in Italy. We analysed an amount of 1124 references, resulting in a list of 1670 species and subspecies, grouped in 434 genera and 53 families. Information on spider biodiversity in Italy has increased rapidly in the last years, going from 404 species at the end of XIX century, to 1400 in the 1990s, to the current 1670. However, the knowledge on the distribution of the Italian species is far from being complete and it seems likely that there are still new species to be found or described. The Italian spider fauna is characterized by the presence of a relevant number of endemic species (342). Concerning families, Linyphiidae show the highest number of species (477) and the highest number of endemics (114). Gnaphosidae (166) and Salticidae (144) follows in terms of species richness, while Dysderidae (72) and Agelenidae (38) follows as total number of endemics. Information regarding the regional distribution revealed great unbalance between Northern and Southern Italy, with very scarce records for some regions in the South. This work is accompanied by an online version freely available online at www.araneae.it, where all information is thoroughly detailed and regularly updated by the authors. Besides spiders, we also provide, the species lists of other Arachnid orders occurring in Italy (Opiliones, Palpigradi, Pseudoscorpionida, Scorpiones, Solifugae). The lists and the associated details are available in a dedicated section of the online version of the Catalog
Records of seven species of native and exotic bark beetles new to Pu’u Wa’awa’a Dry Forest Unit, Hawai‘i Island (Coleoptera: Curculionidae, Scolytinae)
Get PDFAs part of ongoing surveys for native bark beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) across the Hawaiian Islands, we undertook targeted sampling at Pu’u Wa’awa’a Experimental Forest Unit, North Kona, on the northwestern part of Hawai‘i Island during February to April of 2018 and 2019. This is one of the few areas containing remaining native dry forest on the leeward, dry side of the island. Our sampling revealed the presence of seven species of bark beetles not previously recorded from Pu’u Wa’awa’a. These included two native and endemic Hawaiian species belonging to the genus Xyleborus Eichhoff (tribe Xyleborini). The other five species are the exotic Hypothenemus hampei (Ferrari, 1867), or the coffee berry borer, belonging to the tribe Cryphalini, which is a serious pest of coffee in the Hawaiian Islands, and four widespread adventive species belonging to the tribe Xyleborini, including Xyleborus ferrugineus (Fabricius, 1801), whose frass has been demonstrated to be able to contain a fungus that is a causative agent of the plant disease Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death which currently poses a threat to native ʻōhiʻa lehua trees. These records are presented and discussed in detail, and the newly recorded species are illustrated in colour photographs
Preliminary results from multitemporal infrared thermography surveys at the Wied-Il-Mielah Arch (Island of Gozo)
Get PDFThe Mediterranean region is climatically characterized by considerable daily and seasonal temperature fluctuations due to both direct solar radiation and local weather conditions. The long-term mechanical behavior of jointed rock masses can be actively influenced by the superposition of continuous thermal excursions, especially if exceeding the tens of degrees, and thus rock mass systems could be slowly led toward prone-to-failure conditions. With a view to evaluating the entity of thermal forcings acting on a jointed rock arch, consequently characterizing its thermal behavior, two daily InfraRed Thermography (IRT) monitoring surveys were performed in different seasons (Autumn and Winter) at the Wied-Il-Mielah case study (Island of Gozo in the Maltese archipelago). The obtained preliminary results highlight that the rock mass thermal attitude is strictly related to both the magnitude of the incoming and outcoming heat flux (resulting from the heat-exchange with atmospheric thermal conditions and direct solar radiation) and to the exposure of rock mass surfaces with respect to the incident solar radiation. IRT proved to be a valid remote surveying technique for the definition of the surficial temperature distribution of rock masses, being able to provide useful information in supporting more traditional approaches for the study of thermomechanical effects on rock masses
Emplacement kinematics of the Seymareh Rock-Avalanche Debris (Iran) inferred by field and remote surveying
Get PDFUnderstanding the kinematics of landslides helps us to better constrain failure mechanisms and it is useful to define hazard and consequent risk scenarios for mitigation strategies. According to the literature, between 10 and 11 ka, a huge landslide (up to 44 Gm3) occurred close to the Pol-e-Dokhtar city in the Lorestan region (west of Iran). As this landslide blocked the Seymareh River, it is known as Seymareh landslide. Seymareh giant landslide is the largest landslide documented on the Earth surface and is of great interest for earth scientists. We deepened the analysis of the emplacement kinematics of this enormous landslide, using remote and field surveying. The boundary of landslide debris, the ridges, gullies and clusters of blocks inside the debris area were recognized and then ridges curvature and direction and major block dimensions were measured also using GIS tools. Ridges directions inside the landslide debris preliminarily suggest the kinematics of the mass mobility. Furtheremore, soil samples were took from matrix of landslide debris at different places inside the rock avalanche debris area for their classification according to the USCS standard. The results of grain size analysis on the matrix of the soil samples in combination with Atterberg limits in different regions of the debris show that the most of the matrix is represented by ML while a more reduced part is represented by GC and GM soils. GC and GM soils were mainly distributed closer to the detachment zone of the Seymareh landslide, while ML soils are mainly distributed in middle and distal positions. The preliminary results of block distribution and some outcrops of Gachsaran Formation observed during field surveys led to recognition of the landslide debris basal contact that helped us to speculate on the paleo-valley hidden morphology
Entomological knowledge in Madagascar by GBIF datasets: estimates on the coverage and possible biases (Insecta)
Get PDFAlthough Madagascar is one of the world’s most important biodiversity hotspots, the knowledge of its faunistic diversity is still incomplete, notwithstanding many field campaigns were organized since the 17th century until nowadays, leading to a huge number of vertebrate and invertebrate records. In this contribution, taking into consideration the geographic distribution by a GBIF dataset including 286,764 records referred to nine insect orders (Coleoptera, Diptera, Hemiptera, Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, Neuroptera, Odonata, Orthoptera, Trichoptera), we tried to supply some observations on the spatial distribution and to point out some possible biases in the entomological knowledge of Madagascar. Hymenoptera, Coleoptera and Diptera were the most represented orders in the dataset, respectively. Some orders show many “coupled” sampling, with peaks of shared sampled localities between Diptera with Hymenoptera (98.07%) and Hemiptera with Coleoptera (64.21%). Considering the geographic location and the extension of the vegetation macrogroups in Madagascar, the entomological data result unevenly distributed. Current Protected Areas’ (PAs) network covers about the 70% of the total of the collecting localities for the nine insect orders considered, even though some, such as Trichoptera, Odonata, and Neuroptera seem significantly less protected than others. However, the possible new PAs planned for Madagascar could greatly increase in the future the protection level for all 9 insect orders analyzed, especially for Neuroptera, Odonata and Lepidoptera. A percentage of 82.3% of the whole sampling localities falls inside the PAs themselves or within 1000 m from their borders. A similar pattern is observed for the road network: the 62.9% of the localities fall at least at 1000 m from a road, with no sampling localities observed further than 10 km from a road; statistically significant clusters were observed in evaluating these biases, coinciding with major towns or PAs
Brachyta (Fasciobrachyta) petriccionei, a new Longhorn beetle species from Central Italy (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae)
Get PDFIn this paper we describe a new species of Cerambycidae of the Genus Brachyta, Subgenus Fasciobrachyta, close to Brachyta balcanica (Hampe, 1870). The new species, very likely associated as larvae with roots of Paeonia officinalis, was collected in the Majella National Park (Abruzzo, Italy) and its phylogenetic position clearly reveals a Transadriatic origin
\u27Awareness\u27 in metamorphosing pupae (Lepidoptera: Pieridae)
No full textNeurobiological studies of model insect species have established that the nervous system retains some larval innervations, remodels others, and develops other new adult innervations during metamorphosis. Using a simple behavioral response – the ability to ‘kick’ by pupae of the pierid, Catopsilia pomona (Fabricius, 1775) - it was possible to assay for the retention of environmental awareness during ontogenetic reorganization. All pupae kicked 24h after ecdysis, 48% of pupae kicked at the pharate adult stage, and 28% of pupae kicked every day of their development (6.52 d ± 0.10). Both the mode and temporal expression of the response indicate that this retained awareness has larval origins. Variability in the response supports the inference that this response is mediated, to some extent, by prior experience rather than purely ‘reflex’. This is consistent with a Darwinian explanation of the behavior (and retained environmental awareness itself) as serving a protective function in pupae
In memory of Augusto Vigna Taglianti (1943-2019)
Get PDFOn the evening of June 7th, 2019, Augusto Vigna Taglianti died in Rome at the age of almost 76 years, after a long illness, tenderly assisted by his wife Giuliana. Formerly a Professor of Entomology at the Sapienza University of Rome, he was a Full Member of the Italian National Academy of Entomology and of the National Academy of Sciences (the “Accademia dei XL”) [...
