New insights into the gut microbiome in loggerhead sea turtles Caretta caretta stranded on the Mediterranean coast
Caretta caretta is the most common sea turtle species in the Mediterranean Sea. The species is threatened by anthropomorphic activity that causes thousands of deaths and hundreds of strandings along the Mediterranean coast. Stranded turtles are often cared for in rehabilitation centres until they recover or die. The objective of this study was to characterize the gut microbiome of nine sea turtles stranded along the Sicilian coast of the Mediterranean Sea using high-throughput sequencing analysis targeting V3–V4 regions of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene. Stool samples were collected from eight specimens hosted in the recovery centre after a few days of hospitalization (under 7) and from one ho…
First data on the genetic structure of Trachemys scripta populations in Sicily (Testudines: Emydidae)
The pond slider Trachemys scripta is one of the most widespread alien turtle species in the world. Its unregulated trade and the consequent uncontrolled releases into the wild led to negative impacts on the native turtles of the invaded areas. In Italy, alien pond sliders are widely spread, and the occurrence of hatchlings and well-established populations is known in some areas. However, to date in Sicily, only a single female of Trachemys scripta laying eggs was reported. Besides that, nothing is known about the actual reproduction success and establishment of self-sustaining T. scripta populations in Sicily. Therefore, based on 14 previously characterised highly polymorphic microsatellite…
Extensive sampling sheds light on species-level diversity in Palearctic Placobdella (Annelida: Clitellata: Glossiphoniiformes)
The bloodfeeding leech genus Placobdella is dominated by North American diversity, with only a single nominal species known from Central America and one from the Palearctic region. This is likely due to considerable underestimation of Palearctic biodiversity, but investigations into potential hidden diversity are lacking. To shed light on this, the present study introduces new data for specimens initially identified as Placobdella costata from Ukraine (close to the type locality), Italy, Germany, Latvia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Tunisia, and Algeria, and uses both nuclear (Internal Transcribed Spacer [ITS] region) and mitochondrial (cytochrome c oxidase subunit I …
On the occurrence and distribution of Calanipeda aquaedulcis Kritschagin, 1873 (Copepoda, Calanoida, Pseudodiaptomidae) in Sicily, Italy, with some notes on coexistence and species replacement in calanoid copepods
The only population of the pseudodiaptomid copepod Calanipeda aquaedulcis Kritschagin, 1873 to date reported to occur in Sicily disappeared at the beginning of the XXI century due to deep environmental changes which affected the single site (Lake Biviere di Gela) known for this species on the island. In that site C. aquaedulcis is now replaced by Copidodiaptomus numidicus (Gurney, 1909), a diaptomid copepod whose distribution has been greatly increasing since the second half of the last century. In the present note, the occurrence of C. aquaedulcis in 12 novel water bodies spread throughout Sicily is reported, and some environmental data on the sites where the species was collected are prov…
On the Occurrence of the Invasive Freshwater Limpet Ferrissia californica (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Planorbidae) in Japan.
Two members of the genus Ferrissia Walker, 1903, namely Ferrissia nipponica (Kuroda, 1949) and F. japonica Habe and Burch, 1965, have been reported to occur in Japan, but due to a lack of molecular data, doubts have been expressed as to their validity. Furthermore, the possible presence of allochthonous Ferrissia taxa has been stated under a variety of names, so that even now there is no consensus on their presence and identity. Recently, freshwater limpets belonging to the planorbid genus Ferrissia were collected in an irrigation trough on the Izu island of Hachijōjima, Tokyo, Japan. Molecular identification of the collected specimens, based on a fragment of the large ribosomal subunit 16S…
The Inland Water Copepod Fauna of a Traditional Rural Landscape in a Mediterranean Island (Crustacea, Copepoda)
Although the Mediterranean area is a well-known hotspot of biological diversity, the crustacean assemblages inhabiting inland waters of the Mediterranean islands are to date unevenly known, and detailed information is missing for most taxa and areas. In the frame of this paper, we provide a checklist and a characterization of the copepod fauna of the lentic water bodies occurring in a traditional rural landscape of Sicily, where the co-existence of agriculture, woodlands, and pastoral activities lead to the presence of a wide range of different aquatic habitats. Overall, 22 copepod species belonging to the orders Calanoida, Cyclopoida, and Harpacticoida have been found in the 92 surveyed si…
Stand out from the Crowd: Small-Scale Genetic Structuring in the Endemic Sicilian Pond Turtle
The geographical pattern of genetic diversity was investigated in the endemic Sicilian pond turtle Emys trinacris across its entire distribution range, using 16 microsatellite loci. Overall, 245 specimens of E. trinacris were studied, showing high polymorphic microsatellite loci, with allele numbers ranging from 7 to 30. STRUCTURE and GENELAND analyses showed a noteworthy, geographically based structuring of the studied populations in five well-characterized clusters, supported by a moderate degree of genetic diversity (FST values between 0.075 and 0.160). Possible explanations for the genetic fragmentation observed are provided, where both natural and human-mediated habitat fragmentation o…
On the occurrence of the invasive Atlantic blue crab Callinectes sapidus Rathbun 1896 (Decapoda: Brachyura: Portunidae) in Sicilian inland waters
The Atlantic blue crab Callinectes sapidus Rathbun, 1896 is included among the worst invasive alien species in the Mediterranean Sea. Here, we report the finding of the species in two Sicilian rivers, the Irminio and the Imera Meridionale, where it was collected up to 6 km from the river mouths. Although several records of the species are already available from Italy, this is the first evidence of the occurrence of this invasive crab so far from the coastline in the whole country. In the light of the well-known impact of the Atlantic blue crab on the invaded water bodies, the monitoring of the species and appropriate mitigation strategies should be implemented in order to protect the threat…
Comparison of the intestinal microbiome of italian patients with multiple sclerosis and their household relatives
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic immune-mediated disease of the central nervous system, caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. In recent years, a role in MS pathogenesis was assigned to the gut microbiota. However, different signatures of gut dysbiosis have been shown to depend on environmental factors, like diet and lifestyle. In this study, we compared the gut microbiome in MS patients and their household healthy relatives sharing lifestyle and environmental factors. Faecal metagenomic DNA was extracted and the V3–V4 regions of the conserved bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA gene were amplified and sequenced. While overall bacterial communities were similar, specific …
On Caretta caretta’s shell: first spatial analysis of micro- and macro-epibionts on the Mediterranean loggerhead sea turtle carapace
The loggerhead sea turtle, Caretta caretta (Linnaeus, 1758), is the most common sea turtle species in the Mediterranean Sea, where it can experience severe anthropogenic impacts. Although C. caretta is known to host more than 200 epibiotic taxa (crustaceans, algae and cyanobacteria), no reports have included a detailed evaluation of the microbial community of its carapace scutes. Thus, this study aimed to determine the diversity and composition of the visible and invisible communities on the carapace scutes of wild loggerhead turtles from the Aeolian Archipelago (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy) by using a combined approach of morphological/spatial examination and molecular analyses. Altoget…
The DNA barcoding of Mediterranean combtooth blennies suggests the paraphyly of some taxa (Perciformes, Blenniidae)
A dataset including novel and publicly available mtDNA COI sequences of 14 Mediterranean combtooth blenny species belonging to nine genera was assembled in order to provide a reference dataset for DNA barcoding studies. Some inconsistencies in the current taxonomy of some genera were observed. In particular, the monophyly of the genera Parablennius and Salaria is not supported by the present dataset and the absence of reciprocal monophyly between the morphospecies Salaria basilisca and S. pavo questions their status and stresses the need of a revision of the genus Salaria.
The valid genus name of the European freshwater blennies, Ichthyocoris or Salariopsis (Teleostei: Blenniidae)?
Vecchioni, Luca, Arculeo, Marco, Hundt, Peter J., Marrone, Federico (2022): The valid genus name of the European freshwater blennies, Ichthyocoris or Salariopsis (Teleostei: Blenniidae)? Zootaxa 5162 (1): 99-100, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5162.1.8
Are there autochthonous Ferrissia (Mollusca: Planorbidae) in the Palaearctic? Molecular evidence of a widespread North American invasion of the Old World
In the last few decades, findings of freshwater limpets belonging to the genus Ferrissia have been frequent and widely distributed throughout the Palaearctic and beyond. The widespread presence of a Nearctic alien taxon was proved, but no consensus was achieved about the possible existence of autochthonous Ferrissia taxa in the area, an occurrence which would be supported by the presence of gastropod fossils attributed to the genus throughout Eurasia and North Africa. In order to test the hypothesis of a possible persistence of autochthonous Ferrissia taxa in the Palaearctic to the present day, all the published data on the genetic diversity of Ferrissia populations occurring in the area we…
Morphological and molecular characterization of three new parastenocarididae (Copepoda: Harpacticoida) from caves in Southern Italy
We describe three new parastenocaridid: Cottarellicaris sanctiangeli Bruno & Cottarelli sp. nov., Stammericaris vincentimariae Bruno & Cottarelli sp. nov. and Proserpinicars specincola Bruno & Cottarelli sp. nov., collected in the pools of five different caves located in Calabria (Southern Italy). We conducted a phylogenetic analysis based on the mitochondrial COI and ribosomal 18S sequences of C. sanctiangeli sp. nov. and S. vincentimariae sp. nov., and of four more species of Stammericaris and one Proserpinicaris available from literature. Based on the molecular study, the specimens of C. sanctiangeli sp. nov. are clearly separated from the species belonging to the closely-rel…
The late Pleistocene origin of the Italian and Maltese populations of Potamon fluviatile (Malacostraca: Decapoda): insights from an expanded sampling of molecular data
Evidence available for most inland water and terrestrial organisms highlights the significant role played by southern Italy, Sicily and the Maltese islands as refuges during Pleistocene climatic fluctuations. However, to date, the hypothesis that these areas may have acted as Pleistocene refugia for the freshwater crab Potamon fluviatile has not been explicitly tested, and a recent origin of local P. fluviatile populations was proposed on the basis of a small set of analysed molecular data. We have thus expanded the currently available data set on the population genetic structure of P. fluviatile through dedicated samplings in Sicily (Italy, 18 specimens), the Maltese Islands (Malta, 15 spe…
New distributional data on <em>Haemogregarina stepanowi</em> (Apicomplexa) and <em>Placobdella costata</em> (Hirudinea) parasitising the Sicilian pond turtle <em>Emys trinacris</em> (Testudines)
The host-parasite system “Emys trinacris – Placobdella costata – Haemogregarina stepanowi” is known for Sicily, but scarce information is available to date about the distribution of the two parasites on the island. Therefore, an extensive sampling effort through visual census and collection and analysis of blood smears of the endemic Sicilian pond turtle E. trinacris was carried out in 46 water bodies scattered throughout mainland Sicily. Our findings revealed that the distribution of both parasites is limited to the Nebrodi area, where the infection of H. stepanowi has shown a high incidence on the local turtle populations. Our data suggest no correlation between the current distribution o…
Morphological and molecular diversity patterns of the genus Tropodiaptomus Kiefer, 1932 (Copepoda, Calanoida, Diaptomidae) in Thailand
AbstractTropodiaptomus is one of the most specious genera in the family Diaptomidae, but it is often rare in terms of distribution and abundance. Moreover, Tropodiaptomus species show a noteworthy variability in some of the morphological characters considered of prime importance in diaptomid taxonomy, and the presence of cryptic or pseudocryptic species is likely. Thus, through a geographically-wide sampling in Thailand, we aimed to investigate the local diversity of the genus and to compare the morphological and molecular diversity pattern based on mitochondrial and nuclear genes sequences. DNA taxonomy was also implemented in order to check whether the Tropodiaptomus lineages were indepen…
Diversity and Distribution of the Inland Water Decapods of Sicily (Crustacea, Malacostraca)
The current knowledge of Sicilian inland water decapod malacostracans is scarce and an updated synopsis on species distribution is lacking. Therefore, we reviewed the checklist and recent distribution of Sicilian inland water decapods based on published and unpublished records and novel observations with the aim of providing an exhaustive repository, also to be used as a sound baseline for future surveys. Overall, five native decapod species occur in the study area, i.e., the atyid shrimp Atyaephyra desmarestii, the palaemonid shrimps Palaemon adspersus, P. antennarius, and P. elegans, and the freshwater crab Potamon fluviatile, and their current local distributions are described. In additi…
First record of <em>Arctodiaptomus wierzejskii</em> (Richard, 1888) (Copepoda Calanoida Diaptomidae) from Malta
Diaptomid copepods belonging to the genus Arctodiaptomus Kiefer, 1932 were collected in two temporary water bodies in Malta. The morphological identification of the collected specimens proved that they belong to Arctodiaptomus wierzejskii (Richard, 1888) even if a morphological peculiarity pertaining to the morphology of the male right antennule of the Maltese populations was observed and here briefly discussed. This finding constitutes the first record of a calanoid copepod from the inland waters of the Maltese Islands.
A Comparative Analysis of Aquatic and Polyethylene-Associated Antibiotic-Resistant Microbiota in the Mediterranean Sea
Simple Summary In recent years, a growing interest has been devoted to the bacterial characterization of marine plastic debris. So far, a few publications have explored the composition of microbial communities on polyethylene (PE) waste items and the occurrence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB). The occurrence of ARB in natural matrices can contribute to the spread of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) among environmental bacteria. In this study, we compared the microbial composition and the presence of ARGs in water and PE fragments collected from a stream and the seawater in a coastal area of Northwestern Sicily. Our findings showed more ARGs on PE fragments than the corresponding wa…
Conservation state of two paintings in the Santa Margherita cliff cave: role of the environment and of the microbial community
Abstract The conservation of ancient paintings sited in humid environments is an actual challenge for restorers, because it needs the knowledge of the materials the paintings are made up and of their interaction with a peculiar surrounding environment; thus, tailored procedures and strategies aimed at restoring and preserving paintings are necessary. The Santa Margherita’s cave in Castellammare del Golfo (Trapani, Italy) is a natural cave, containing the remains of paintings, in a poor state of conservation, belonging to an ancient church dated back to the Middle Age. The present manuscript reports the monitoring of environmental conditions (i.e., temperature and humidity) in a full year as…
Molecular data attest to the occurrence of autochthonous Daphnia pulex (Crustacea, Branchiopoda) populations in Sicily, Italy
Biological invasions are known to be among the most important threats to the long-term conservation of native biota, and their effects might be even more difficult to contrast when they are cryptic, i.e., when the non-native invaders cannot be easily recognised based on morphology, and can thus be confused with native taxa. Such cryptic invasions are known to widely occur in the cladoceran genus Daphnia O.F. Müller, 1785, so that the actual distribution and status of most species and lineages need to be checked with a genetic approach. In the frame of this work, we investigated if the Sicilian populations of D. (Daphnia) pulex Leydig, 1860 belonged to the allochthonous North American lineag…
On the occurrence of Eudiaptomus gracilis (G.O. Sars, 1863) (Copepoda: Diaptomidae) in Madeira (Portugal)
Calanoid copepods belonging to the diaptomid genus Eudiaptomus Kiefer, 1932 were collected in an artificial water body on the island of Madeira, Portugal. The morphological and molecular identification of the collected specimens unequivocally proved that they belong to the allochthonous species Eudiaptomus gracilis (G. O. Sars, 1863), possibly unwarily introduced along with fish stockings or ornamental aquatic plants. In the sampled site, the species co-occurred with the non-native cyclopoid copepod Acanthocyclops americanus (Marsh, 1893) and some anomopod species. This is the first record of the species for Portugal and the whole Macaronesia, whereas the possible presence of E. gracilis in…
DNA taxonomy of the potamid freshwater crabs from Northern Africa (Decapoda, Potamidae)
The Mediterranean area, from southern Balkans to western Maghreb, is inhabited by the Potamon subgenus Euthelphusa, with three currently recognised species. The Maghrebian species P. (E.) algeriense is isolated from other Potamon species by the Mediterranean Sea and the Sahara Desert, and nearly no molecular data are currently available for this taxon. Present study investigated the mtDNA and nuDNA diversity in Potamon algeriense s.l. with the aims of exploring its molecular diversity pattern throughout its known distribution range, and testing the possible presence of cryptic taxa currently lumped under this binomen. The phylogenetic and DNA taxonomy analyses showed the presence of two wel…
Molecular Cytogenetic Characterization of the Sicilian Endemic Pond Turtle Emys trinacris and the Yellow-Bellied Slider Trachemys scripta scripta (Testudines, Emydidae)
Turtles, a speciose group consisting of more than 300 species, demonstrate karyotypes with diploid chromosome numbers ranging from 2n = 26 to 2n = 68. However, cytogenetic analyses have been conducted only to 1/3rd of the turtle species, often limited to conventional staining methods. In order to expand our knowledge of the karyotype evolution in turtles, we examined the topology of the (TTAGGG)n telomeric repeats and the rDNA loci by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) on the karyotypes of two emydids: the Sicilian pond turtle, Emys trinacris, and the yellow-bellied slider, Trachemys scripta scripta (family Emydidae). Furthermore, AT-rich and GC-rich chromosome regions were detected …
New molecular data attest to the absence of cospeciation patterns between Placobdella costata (Fr. Müller, 1846) (Hirudinea) and freshwater turtles (Emys spp.) in Italy
The only Palearctic representative of the leech genus Placobdella Blanchard, 1893 is P. costata, an ectoparasite of freshwater turtles. To date, no conclusive evidence about the possible presence of coevolutionary patterns between this leech and its turtle hosts is available due to the paucity of DNA sequence data available for P. costata; moreover, comparative host data is also mostly lacking, making any inferences more difficult. The discovery of new populations of the species in northern Italy and Sicily allowed us to generate novel mitochondrial DNA sequences and to compare the topology of the resulting phylogenetic trees with the phylogeny of the turtle hosts occurring in the study are…
Can phthalates move into the eggs of the loggerhead sea turtle Caretta caretta? The case of the nests on the Linosa Island in the Mediterranean Sea
During the monitoring of Caretta caretta nests on the island of Linosa, 30 unhatched eggs from four nests were collected to study the presence of phthalates in their three components (shell, yolk, and albumen). Four phthalates, namely diethyl (DEP), dibutyl (DBP), di-(2-ethylhexyl) (DEHP), and dioctyl (DOTP) phthalic acid esters (PAE), which are widely used as additives in plastics, were detected in all egg components. The most frequently found phthalate was DBP, followed by DEHP in eggshell and yolk. Dimethyl- (DMP) and butylbenzyl-phthalate (BBP) were below the limits of detection for all samples. The high total phthalate recorded in the yolk suggests that contamination could arise by vit…
Current Status of and Threats to Sicilian Turtles
Based on the critical review of the literature published in the last 22 years, an attempt was made to evaluate the current knowledge gap on the distribution and status of the native Testudines taxa occurring in Sicily (namely Caretta caretta, Emys trinacris, and Testudo hermanni hermanni), as well as the available knowledge of the only non-native species with putative viable populations occurring on the island, i.e., Trachemys scripta. Summarizing the current information, all of the Testudines species occurring in Sicily showed a fragmented and incompletely-known distribution, and only scarce data are available about their phenology. Moreover, despite their inclusion of international and na…
Unveiling the egg microbiota of the loggerhead sea turtle Caretta caretta in nesting beaches of the Mediterranean Sea
Microbes have central roles in the development and health of animals, being the introduction of specific microbial species a potential conservation strategy to protect animals from emerging diseases. Thus, insight into the microbiota of the species and their habitats is essential. In this manuscript, we report for the first time the bacterial composition of all the components (eggshells of hatched and unhatched eggs, internal content of unhatched eggs, intestinal content of hatchling and pipping sea turtles, and sand) of three nesting beaches of Caretta caretta along the Italian coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. The analysis of 26 amplicon samples was carried out using next-generation sequen…
DNA Taxonomy Confirms the Identity of the Widely-Disjunct Mediterranean and Atlantic Populations of the Tufted Ghost Crab Ocypode cursor (Crustacea: Decapoda: Ocypodidae)
The distribution area of the tufted ghost crab Ocypode cursor includes two widely separate sub-areas, i.e. the tropical and subtropical Atlantic coasts of Africa and Macaronesia, and the central-eastern Mediterranean basin. The current disjunct distribution of the species is possibly the remnant of a previous wider and continuous distribution area that was fragmented during the Pleistocene, with the disappearance of the species from the temperate Atlantic Ocean and the western Mediterranean basin, and its survival in the warmer areas of the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea. Such disjunction is thus compatible with an ancient isolation between the Mediterranean and Atlantic populat…
Systematics and phylogeography of the genus Tigriopus (Copepoda, Harpacticoida, Harpacticidae) in the basin of the Mediterranean Sea
[ES] El género de copépodos Tigriopus Norman, 1869 se distribuye en todo el mundo en piscinas costeras de rocas y actualmente se considera que incluye 15 especies válidas. Tigriopus fulvus (Fischer, 1860), con su subespecie Tigriopus fulvus adriaticus Van Douwe 1913 y Tigriopus fulvus algiricus Monard 1935, actualmente se informa que ocurren en el área mediterránea, pero actualmente se desconoce la diversidad real del género. Nuestro objetivo fue evaluar la identidad real de las poblaciones mediterráneas de Tigriopus y dilucidar su taxonomía y patrón de diversidad genética. Para alcanzar estos objetivos, utilizamos dos enfoques diferentes. El primero, basado en la morfología, donde las posi…
Assessing multiple sources of data to detect illegal fishing, trade and mislabelling of elasmobranchs in Greek markets
Abstract Elasmobranchs, extremely charismatic and threatened animals, still are an important economic source for fishers in many parts of the world, providing significant income through trade. Even though Greek seas host at least 67 elasmobranch species, our knowledge about their biology and ecology is to a large extent unknown. In the present study the integration of conventional (legislation, official data from fisheries landings and fish market value and import/export data) and unconventional (social media) sources of data, accompanied with the use of genetics, aim at outlining the elasmobranch fisheries and trade in Greece and identifying “weak spots” that sabotage their conservation. R…
The European Pine Marten Martes martes (Linnaeus, 1758) Is Autochthonous in Sicily and Constitutes a Well-Characterised Major Phylogroup within the Species (Carnivora, Mustelidae)
No molecular data are currently available for the Sicilian populations of the European pine marten Martes martes, thus preventing any sound inference about its native or non-native status on the island, as well as the local phylogeography of the species. In order to investigate these issues, we sequenced two mtDNA markers in road-killed specimens collected in Sicily. Both markers consistently demonstrated the existence of a well-characterised Sicilian clade of the species, which is endemic to the island and constitutes the sister group of a clade including the Mediterranean and Central–North European major phylogroups of the European pine marten. Such evidence supports the autochthony of Ma…
Multi-Locus Phylogenetic Analyses of the Almadablennius Clade Reveals Inconsistencies with the Present Taxonomy of Blenniid Fishes
We used a multi-locus phylogenetic approach (i.e., combining both mitochondrial and nuclear DNA fragments) to address some long-standing taxonomic inconsistencies within the diverse fish clade of Combtooth Blennies (Blenniidae—unranked clade Almadablennius). The obtained phylogenetic trees revealed some major inconsistencies in the current taxonomy of Parablennini, such as the paraphyletic status of the Salaria and Parablennius genera, casting some doubt regarding their actual phylogenetic relationship. Furthermore, a scarce-to-absent genetic differentiation was observed among the three species belonging to the genus Chasmodes. This study provides an updated taxonomy and phylogeny of the fo…
On the occurrence and distribution of Calanipeda aquaedulcis Kritschagin, 1873 (Copepoda, Calanoida, Pseudodiaptomidae) in Sicily, Italy, with some notes on coexistence and species replacement in calanoid copepods
The only population of the pseudodiaptomid copepod Calanipeda aquaedulcis Kritschagin, 1873 to date reported to occur in Sicily disappeared at the beginning of the XXI century due to deep environmental changes which affected the single site (Lake Biviere di Gela) known for this species on the island. In that site C. aquaedulcis is now replaced by Copidodiaptomus numidicus (Gurney, 1909), a diaptomid copepod whose distribution has been greatly increasing since the second half of the last century. In the present note, the occurrence of C. aquaedulcis in 12 novel water bodies spread throughout Sicily is reported, and some environmental data on the sites where the species was collected are prov…
New distributional data for the Mediterranean medicinal leech Hirudo verbana Carena, 1820 (Hirudinea, Hirudinidae) in Italy, with a note on its feeding on amphibians
Author(s): Marrone, Federico; Alfonso, Giuseppe; Barbagallo, Rosario; Brandmayr, Pietro; Bruni, Giacomo; Costa, Simone; Farina, Giovanni; Gerecke, Reinhard; Iannarelli, Angelina; Mazza, Giuseppe; Mazzei, Antonio; Menchetti, Mattia; Moretti, Valerio; Mori, Emiliano; Novaga, Riccardo; Pecoraro, Marco; Schifani, Enrico; Stoch, Fabio; Vecchioni, Luca | Abstract: Scarce data are currently available about the distribution of the Mediterranean medicinal leech Hirudo verbana in Italy, and most of the known occurrence localities are based on records collected in the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century, which were not confirmed in the last decades, mostly due to a lack of surveys. …
Range-wide phylogeography and taxonomy of the marine rock pools dweller Tigriopus fulvus (Fischer, 1860) (Copepoda, Harpacticoida)
In the light of the wide distribution and ecological importance of the genus Tigriopus in coastal rock pool habitats, and of its frequent use in aquaculture and as a model organism, we investigated the identity of the Atlantic–Mediterranean Tigriopus populations and elucidated their taxonomy and patterns of morphological and genetic diversity. In order to reach these goals, an “integrative taxonomy” multisource approach was implemented. First, we investigated the constancy and taxonomical value of the morphological characters currently used to distinguish among the Tigriopus species occurring in the Mediterranean and in Eastern Atlantic area north of the Tropic of Cancer, and checked the ac…
An account on the taxonomy and molecular diversity of a marine rock-pool dweller, Tigriopus fulvus (Copepoda, Harpacticoida)
[ES] El género de copépodos Tigriopus Norman, 1869 se distribuye en todo el mundo en charcas de rocas costeras y se considera que actualmente incluye 14 especies válidas. Tigriopus fulvus (Fischer 1860), con sus subespecies Tigriopus fulvus adriaticus Van Douwe 1913 y Tigriopus fulvus algiricus Monard 1935, y Tigriopus minutus Bozic 1960 han sido descritos para el área del Mediterráneo, pero la diversidad real del género es desconocida actualmente. El objetivo de este estudio fue evaluar la identidad real de las poblaciones mediterráneas de Tigriopus y dilucidar su taxonomía y patrón de diversidad genética. Con este fin, se secuenció un fragmento del gen de ADN mitocondrial (citocromo c oxi…
First records of the brahminy blindsnake, indotyphlops braminus (Daudin, 1803), in Italy (squamata: Typhlopidae)
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An exhaustive phylogeny of the combtooth blenny genus Salaria (Pisces, Blenniidae) shows introgressive hybridization and lack of reciprocal mtDNA monophyly between the marine species Salaria basilisca and Salaria pavo.
A comprehensive phylogeny of the genus Salaria based on mitochondrial and nuclear markers grouped the extant species of the genus in well-characterised marine and freshwater clades, thus rejecting the hypothesis of a polytypic origin of the freshwater Salaria populations and supporting the occurrence of a single invasion event of the inland waters by the genus. Based on both mitochondrial and nuclear DNA datasets, the Salaria species of the freshwater clade proved to be vicariant taxa originating from a common ancestor which could possibly spread throughout the circum-Mediterranean inland waters during the late Miocene Messinian salinity crisis, then experiencing a process of allopatric dif…
First record of Temnosewellia minor (Platyhelminthes, Temnocephalidae) in Sicily, with a plea for a re-examination of the identity of the publicly available molecular sequences of the genus
Author(s): Vecchioni, Luca; Chirco, Pietro; Bazan, Giuseppe; Marrone, Federico; Arizza, Vincenzo; Arculeo, Marco | Abstract: Ectosymbiotic temnocephalan flatworms belonging to the genus Temnosewellia Damborenea and Cannon, 2001 were collected on Cherax destructor Clark, 1936 in an aquaculture farm in Sicily, Italy. This represents the first record of a temnocephalan species for the fauna of the island. Morphological and molecular identification of the collected specimens proved that they belong to the allochthonous species Temnosewellia minor Haswell, 1888, which was introduced along with crayfishes bred in aquaculture farms. The phylogenetic analyses carried out for the molecular identific…