Does lake age affect zooplankton diversity in Mediterranean lakes and reservoirs? A case study from southern Italy
Zooplankton assemblages of 51 lacustrine environments located in the middle of the Mediterranean Region were analysed to evaluate the existence of an ‘age effect’ in determining their structure. The analysed datasets refer to two different geographic areas, one comprising 30 natural and artificial lakes in Sicily and the other an arrangement of 21 analogous aquatic ecosystems located at the bottom of the Italian Peninsula, a more pristine area called Southern Apennine region. Most of the natural lakes are of post-glacial origin. The artificial lakes in both datasets were built in the last century and offer the opportunity to evaluate the possible short-term effects of ageing on the structur…
Mitochondrial DNA Regionalism and Historical Demography in the Extant Populations of Chirocephalus kerkyrensis (Branchiopoda: Anostraca)
BackgroundMediterranean temporary water bodies are important reservoirs of biodiversity and host a unique assemblage of diapausing aquatic invertebrates. These environments are currently vanishing because of increasing human pressure. Chirocephalus kerkyrensis is a fairy shrimp typical of temporary water bodies in Mediterranean plain forests and has undergone a substantial decline in number of populations in recent years due to habitat loss. We assessed patterns of genetic connectivity and phylogeographic history in the seven extant populations of the species from Albania, Corfu Is. (Greece), Southern and Central Italy.Methodology/principal findingsWe analyzed sequence variation at two mito…
An account on the non-malacostracan crustacean fauna from the inland waters of Crete, Greece, with the synonymization of Arctodiaptomus piliger Brehm, 1955 with Arctodiaptomus alpinus (Imhof, 1885) (Copepoda: Calanoida)
The Mediterranean bioregion is widely recognised as a biodiversity hotspot and its inland waters are among the species richest ecosystems of the northern hemisphere. However, the extent of such biodiversity has not been totally unravelled, especially in the Mediterranean islands. Here we present a first account of the crustaceans inhabiting 21 permanent and temporary ponds in Crete, the largest of the Greek islands and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The ponds, sampled between 2009 and 2018, cover all the island surface even though their number cannot be considered exhaustive to represent the entire non-malacostracan fauna of the island. Nevertheless, 46 taxa were identif…
First record of Hemidiaptomus (Gigantodiaptomus) superbus (Schmeil, 1895) in Italy, with notes on distribution and conservation status (Copepoda, Calanoida, Diaptomidae)
Hemidiaptomus (Gigantodiaptomus) superbus (Schmeil, 1895) was found in a temporary pool in the Pineta di Classe coastal pine-wood (Ravenna, northern Italy). This is the first official record of a species belonging to the subgenus Gigantodiaptomus of Italian fauna, and it widens the known distribution of this rare diaptomid to the Mediterranean basin. In order to supply data on this rare and poorly known species, original drawings for the Italian population have been provided, and some overlooked morphological features have been highlighted. In light of the growing evidence of the existence of a number of cryptic species in the Diaptomidae family, and considering the variability observed in …
First record of the alien leech Myzobdella lugubris Leidy, 1851 (Hirudinea, Piscicolidae) in the Palearctic
espanolEn este estudio reportamos la aparicion de la sanguijuela Neartica Myzobdella lugubris en un cuerpo de agua salobre de la reserva natural Riserva Naturale dello Stato “Le Cesine” (Apulia, Italy). Dos especimenes de la especie fueren recolectados en el cuello y las extremidades anteriores de una tortuga de estanque europea Emys orbicularis hellenica en Octubre del 2016. La identificacion de los dos especimenes fue basada en datos morfologicos y de secuenciacion molecular. En su distribucion natural, M. lugubris es conocida por ser huesped y vector de bacterias y virus, de los cuales algunos son patogenos de gravedad en peces. En vista de los posibles efectos nocivos, que ejercen sobre…
Diversity patterns and biogeography of Diaptomidae (Copepoda, Calanoida) in the Western Palearctic
Diaptomid copepods are an important component of biodiversity in inland aquatic ecosystems worldwide but to date little is known about the historical and ecological factors that determined their current distribution. In the present paper, a critical review of the available literature on diaptomid species distribution in the Western Palearctic was performed, and a biogeographical analysis was carried out on the roles that spatial, current environmental, and historical (paleoclimatic) factors played on their actual distribution in this large area. The results show a clear pattern of colonization which is only partially overlapping what has been recently proposed for other terrestrial and aqua…
Molecular and morphological data suggest weak phylogeographic structure in the fairy shrimp Streptocephalus torvicornis (Branchiopoda, Anostraca)
Inland aquatic organisms almost ubiquitously display a pattern of marked provincialism characterized by substantial population differentiation and genealogical discontinuities. This is the result of strong priority effects and local adaptation following dispersal and colonization of new habitats. We present a case that defies this biogeographic paradigm. We have investigated the phylogeography of the fairy shrimp Streptocephalus torvicornis across its circum-Mediterranean and Eurasian distribution. Based on three independent datasets, namely sequence variation at 12S and 16S rRNA, cyst morphology and male second antenna characters, we discern a pattern of extensive genetic and morphological…
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. …
The diaptomid fauna of Israel (Copepoda, Calanoida, Diaptomidae), with notes on the systematics of Arctodiaptomus similis (Baird, 1859) and Arctodiaptomus irregularis Dimentman & Por, 1985 stat. rev
Background: To date, only scarce information is available about the diaptomid copepods of the Middle East despite the ecological and biogeographical importance of the family Diaptomidae in the inland waters of the Holarctic region. Moreover, the taxonomic status of some of the taxa occurring in the area is in need of revision. We studied crustaceans collected from temporary and permanent lentic water bodies in Israel with the aim of providing an updated census of the diaptomid copepods occurring in the country. Furthermore, we morphologically and genetically analysed samples of Arctodiaptomus similis s.l. to shed light on its taxonomy. Results: Five diaptomid taxa were collected during this…
An updated checklist and biogeography of the Sardinian large branchiopods, with a focus on Spinicaudata (Crustacea, Branchiopoda)
Author(s): Marrone, Federico; Alfonso, Giuseppe; Cottarelli, Vezio; Botta, Marco Massimo; Koepp, Christian; Stoch, Fabio | Abstract: The large branchiopod fauna of Sardinia is reviewed based both on literature and newly collected data. Based on the available evidence, 13 taxa are present on the island (8 Anostraca, 2 Notostraca, and 3 Spinicaudata). Among them, the finding of the spinicaudatan Leptestheria dahalacensis is new for Sardinia, while the spinicaudatans Cyzicus bucheti and Eulimnadia sp. were overlooked in the most recent synopses on the fauna of the island due to misidentifications. Conversely, Cyzicus tetracerus and Limnadia lenticularis, previously erroneously reported based o…