Search results for "Animalia"
showing 10 items of 189 documents
New records of amphipod crustaceans along the Israeli Mediterranean coast, including a rare Mediterranean endemic species, Maera schieckei Karaman & …
2020
A survey has been carried out at four Israeli rocky sites to evaluate the diversity of the amphipod fauna on various hard substrates, still scarcely monitored, as potential pabulum for amphipod crustacean species. A survey of shallow rocky reefs along the Mediterranean coast of Israel recovered 28 species and integrated the Amphipoda checklist for the country ofIsrael with 12 newly-recorded species. Such renewed national list includes Maera schieckei Karaman & Ruffo, 1971, a rare species endemic to the Mediterranean Sea, recorded here for the first time from the southern Levant Basin. The species, described from specimens collected in the Tyrrhenian Sea in 1970, has been only record…
Aspilota-group (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Alysiinae) diversity in Mediterranean Natural Parks of Spain
2014
This work analyses the biodiversity of the Aspilota-group (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Alysiinae) in three Mediterranean Natural parks: Natural Park of La Font Roja, Natural Park of Las Lagunas de la Mata-Torrevieja and Natural Park of La Tinença de Benifassà. Samples were carried out from April 2004 to December 2007. In total, 822 specimens, belonging to 52 species, were collected. Alpha, beta and gamma diversities were analysed, and the Tinença Park was proven to have higher diversity than the Font Roja and Torrevieja. Also, the structure of the Aspilota-group community was analysed.
Description of Dryocosmus destefanii new species (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini) from Quercus suber L. in Italy
2018
A new species, Dryocosmus destefanii Cerasa & Melika n. sp. associated with a Cerris section oak, Quercus suber L., is described from Italy. Description, diagnosis, host associations and biology for the new species and an illustrated identification key to the Western Palaearctic Dryocosmus species are given. The description is supported by morphological and molecular data.
A taxonomic revision of the Palaearctic genus Roeseliana (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Tettigoniinae: Platycleidini): a case of ongoing Mediterranean s…
2023
The genus Roeseliana presently includes 10 specific or subspecific taxa, but following different authors some of them are considered synonyms. However, the authors who have treated these taxa often did not agree with the synonymies, in particular, concerning some taxa, such as R. fedtschenkoi (Saussure, 1874) and R. roeselii (Hagenbach, 1822). The present authors examined hundreds of specimens of different taxa, for the first time were able to obtain the translation from the Russian of the description of R. fedtschenkoi, compared the main morphological characters used to discriminate different taxa, biometrics, bioacoustics and genetics of some taxa. This allowed them to conclude that it is…
Hypsodont Myomiminae (Gliridae, Rodentia) from five new localities in the Lower Miocene Tudela Formation (Bardenas Reales, Ebro Basin, Spain) and the…
2012
The hypsodont Myomiminae Daams, 1981 (Gliridae) from the lower part of the Tudela Formation (Ebro Basin) are described. Five localities (CH1, CA2, CA3, CA4 and CC1) of this formation contain remains of the hypsodont genus Armantomy de Bruijn, 1966 and CC1 has also yielded Praearmantomys de Bruijn, 1966. Despite the poor material, we can identify the taxa A. cf. bijmai, A. daamsi (de Visser in Álvarez-Sierra, Daams, Lacomba, López Martínez, Van Der Meulen, Sesé & De Visser, 1991), A. cf. parsani, A. cf. jasperi and cf. P.crusafonti, which are characteristic of the Agenian and Ramblian continental stages. These data allow identification of the Agenian-Ramblian boundary in the Tudela Formation…
Two new species of the genus emNemaspela/em Šilhavý from caves in Georgia (Opiliones: Nemastomatidae).
2021
Two highly specialized endemic troglobiotic harvestman species of the genus Nemaspela Šilhavý, 1966 are described. N. melouri sp. nov. from Melouri Cave and N. prometheus sp. nov. from Prometheus Cave (Sataplia-Tskaltubo karst massif, Imereti region, western Georgia), respectively. Despite the fact that the entrances of the caves are positioned only 2.5 km apart, the new taxa differ from each other distinctly by presence vs. absence of male cheliceral apophysis, which is lacking in the second species. A key to the Caucasian species of the genus is provided. Relationships of Nemaspela species within the genus and with hypothetical epigean ancestors are discussed.
The Centetostoma scabriculum complex—a group of three cryptic species (Arachnida: Opiliones: Nemastomatidae)
2011
Nemastoma scabriculum Simon, 1879 turned out to be a group of three closely related species of the Pyrenees in SW Europe (France and Spain). Though the species are similar in general habit they can easily be recognized by external morphology (structure of the apophysis of male chelicerae) and male genital morphology (penial structure). For Nemastoma scabriculum Simon, 1879 sensu stricto a lectotype is designated. The synonymous Nemastoma ventalloi Mello-Leitao, 1936 is considered to be a distinct species and is re-described. The third species of the group is described as new, Centetostoma juberthiei sp. n. Though partly sympatric in their restricted Pyrenean area, the individual species are…
Seawater carbonate chemistry and nest guarding behaviour of a temperate wrasse
2021
Organisms may respond to changing environmental conditions by adjusting their behaviour (i.e., behavioural plasticity). Ocean acidification (OA), resulting from anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), is predicted to impair sensory function and behaviour of fish. However, reproductive behaviours, and parental care in particular, and their role in mediating responses to OA are presently overlooked. Here, we assessed whether the nesting male ocellated wrasse Symphodus ocellatus from sites with different CO2 concentrations showed different behaviours during their breeding season. We also investigated potential re-allocation of the time-budget towards different behavioural activities b…
Seawater carbonate chemistry and shell mineralogy, microstructure, and mechanical strength of four Mediterranean gastropod species near a CO2 seep
2017
Marine CO2 seeps allow the study of the long-term effects of elevated pCO2 (ocean acidification) on marine invertebrate biomineralization. We investigated the effects of ocean acidification on shell composition and structure in four ecologically important species of Mediterranean gastropods (two limpets, a top-shell snail, and a whelk). Individuals were sampled from three sites near a volcanic CO2 seep off Vulcano Island, Italy. The three sites represented ambient (8.15 pH), moderate (8.03 pH) and low (7.73 pH) seawater mean pH. Shell mineralogy, microstructure, and mechanical strength were examined in all four species. We found that the calcite/aragonite ratio could vary and increased sign…
Physiological advantages of dwarfing in surviving extinctions in high-CO2 oceans
2015
Excessive CO2 in the present-day ocean-atmosphere system is causing ocean acidification, and is likely to cause a severe biodiversity decline in the future, mirroring effects in many past mass extinctions. Fossil records demonstrate that organisms surviving such events were often smaller than those before, a phenomenon called the Lilliput effect. Here, we show that two gastropod species adapted to acidified seawater at shallow-water CO2 seeps were smaller than those found in normal pH conditions and had higher mass-specific energy consumption but significantly lower whole-animal metabolic energy demand. These physiological changes allowed the animals to maintain calcification and to partial…