0000000000162114
AUTHOR
Marco Ferrante
showing 4 related works from this author
Newly discovered orichalcum ingots from Mediterranean sea: Further investigation
2021
Abstract In February 2016, 47 ingots were found in the seabed of Contrada Bulala (Gela, CL, Italy) near the site where 40 ingots had previously been recovered. The ingots composition was determined to be a Cu - Zn alloy, dated by the archaeologist to the VI century B.C. This specific alloy was then known as Orichalcum. From an archaeological point of view, the first question raised about the new discovery was whether the ingots of the first and the second excavations belonged to the same shipwreck. Following the previous study, an elemental analysis was performed on the ingots from the second finding by using ICP-OS and ICP-MS techniques. The chemometric treatment of the analytical results …
Ground-level predation on artificial caterpillars indicates no enemy-free time for lepidopteran larvae
2017
Lepidoptera is one of the most diverse orders of insects, their larvae are very abundant in many habitats, and frequent prey of various predators. To decrease predation risk, caterpillars developed several means of defence, among them timing their activity to avoid predators (seeking enemy-free time). Although the enemy-free time hypothesis is often invoked to explain caterpillar behaviour, empirical evidence for it is scarce. We tested whether such enemy-free time exists in a temperate forest by comparing predation pressure on artificial caterpillars during day and night on the ground in forest fragments in Denmark. We found a high predation rate, 23.9% d(-1), and higher predation rate at …
The carabid Pterostichus melanarius uses chemical cues for opportunistic predation and saprophagy but not for finding healthy prey
2017
The sentinel prey method can quantify predation pressure in various habitats. Real prey is assumed to more realistically mimic the predator experience but the predator can rarely be identified. Artificial prey made of plasticine may lack real chemical cues, but provides information about predator identity. However, the relationship between predation pressure registered by artificial versus real prey is not clear. We tested the relative attractiveness of artificial caterpillars, and intact, wounded, or dead larvae of the cabbage moth (Mamestra brassicae) for the carabid predator Pterostichus melanarius Illiger (Coleoptera: Carabidae). P. melanarius adults were attracted to dead caterpillars …
The underwater site of Las Amoladeras, Cabo de Palos (Cartagena). New archaeometric approaches
2020
The aim of this article is to reinterpret a well-known underwater archaeological site located at Las Amoladeras, in La Manga del Mar Menor, near Cabo de Palos. For this purpose, after a historiographical review, we have studied, contextualized and undertaken isotopic analyses of some of the most interesting material from this archaeological site, as well as a plomo monetiforme (coin-like lead token) of the same type as those recovered at Las Amoladeras and the ones that circulated in the Balearic Islands. The lead isotope analyses carried out on the afore-mentioned artefacts allow us to determine the source of the lead used in the first two objects as Cartagena-Mazarrón and the Sierra Moren…