JournalTOCs

Natural History Sciences
Number of Followers: 4

This is an Open Access Journal

Open Access journal
ISSN (Print) 2385-0442 - ISSN (Online) 2385-0922
Published by PAGEPress

[52 journals]

The butterflies and burnets (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidea, Lycaenidae,
Nymphalidae, Papilionidae, Pieridae, Zygaenidae) of the Nature Reserve
Bosco della Fontana (Lombardy, Italy)
- Authors: Sönke Hardersen
  Abstract: Insects are declining at an alarming rate in many parts of Europe and this also applies to butterflies, one of the most well-studied groups of insects. They are popular with the public and are considered good biodiversity indicators. Bosco Fontana, an isolated protected area, which contains one of the best preserved lowland forests of northern Italy, is surrounded by a highly modified landscape and is known to host some important butterfly populations. To investigate the butterflies and burnets, a total of 22 standard surveys, lasting 25 minutes each, were carried out in four different habitat types of Bosco Fontana in the years 2020 and 2021. The surveys confirmed the presence of 36 species of butterflies and 3 species of burnets for the reserve. Statistical analysis revealed that the butterfly and burnet assemblages of the grasslands, ecotones and forests were distinct, but similar in the two study years (datasets available as supplementary information). Many nemoral species were confirmed for Bosco Fontana, with relict populations of Favonius quercus and Argynnis paphia present only in a few residual forests in the Po Plain. Five species typical of grasslands and other open habitats and belonging to the local species pool of the Po Plain in the province of Mantua, were never detected at Bosco Fontana in the study years. The ecological significance of their absence is discussed.
  PubDate: Wed, 27 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +000
The Milan “mermaid”
- Authors: Nicolò Bagnasco; Giorgio Bardelli, Luigi Garlaschelli
  Abstract: An ancient false “mermaid” kept at the Natural History Museum of Milan has been examined through X-rays and microscopic observations. It was possible to understand how this artifact was made. The Milan “mermaid” is one of several similar examples known for at least two centuries.
  PubDate: Wed, 27 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +000
Archive reports and memories. The Brera Botanical Garden of Milan
(1982-2001)
- Authors: Enrico Banfi; Paola Caccia, Agnese Visconti
  Abstract: The article, based on printed material about Italian and foreign gardens and on unpublished documents preserved in different Milanese archives, aims at reconstructing the history of the Brera Botanical Garden in the period between 1982 and 2001. This is a period of particular interest in that it illustrates how the Lombard and State institutions, after leaving the Garden in a state of neglect for many decades, went on, while deciding to restore it, to fail to understand its value, risking with their plans to misrepresent its history. However, over the years, these plans were dropped and replaced with a restoration job carried out according to the most modern historical-scientific guidelines of The Florence Charter (1982). Thanks to this restoration, the Garden was enabled to redefine its role and vocation.
  PubDate: Wed, 27 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +000
Squaloraja Riley 1833 (Holocephala: Squalorajidae) from the Lower Jurassic
of Osteno Konservat-Lagerstätte (Como, NW Italy)
- Authors: Christopher J. Duffin; Alessandro Garassino, Giovanni Pasini
  Abstract: A remarkable, complete specimen of a squalorajid holocephalian is described for the first time from the Lower Jurassic (lower Sinemurian) rocks of Osteno (Como, NW Italy). It is the only such specimen known from the locality and belongs to a (possibly juvenile) female. The Italian specimen is assigned to Squaloraja sp., and has a large dorsoventrally flattened head, long rostrum, a single mandibular tooth plate on each lower jaw, a well-developed synarcual, thick notochordal sheath calcifications, and only slightly reduced squamation comprising distinctive placoid scales with stellate bases. There is no ethmoid canal, dorsal fin or fin spine. The Lower Jurassic succession (‘Lower Lias’) of Lyme Regis (Dorset, UK) has yielded only two incomplete purported female specimens of the type species of the genus, Squaloraja polyspondyla, thus restricting potential comparison with the Italian specimen. This new record of the genus expands the known palaeogeographical distribution of this rare holocephalian.
  PubDate: Fri, 19 May 2023 00:00:00 +000
Contribution to the vascular flora of Ventotene and Santo Stefano islands
(Pontine Islands, Lazio, Italy) with two taxa new to Lazio
- Authors: Fabio Conti; Valeria Giacanelli
  Abstract: In this paper, based on field, herbarium and bibliographic research, new distributional data for 16 species and subspecies (13 natives and 3 aliens) are reported for Ventotene and Santo Stefano islands. Particularly, 6 are new or confirmed to Ventotene and 8 to Santo Stefano. One species is excluded from the flora of Ventotene and one is to be considered locally extinct. One native and one alien are new to Lazio administrative region.
  PubDate: Wed, 26 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +000
New floristic data of vascular plants from central Italy
- Authors: Fabio Conti; Francesco Falcinelli, Valeria Giacanelli, Bruno Santucci, Marinella Miglio, Aurelio Manzi, Fabrizio Bartolucci
  Abstract: Based on field, herbarium and bibliographic research, we report distributional data for 21 species and subspecies (11 natives included 1 regional alien and 1 cryptogenic, 10 aliens) whose presence has been ascertained for some administrative regions of central Italy. In particular, 10 taxa are new or confirmed to Abruzzo, 7 to Umbria, 2 to Lazio, and 1 to Marche. Some taxa are particularly interesting from a phytogeographical or conservational point of view. Specifically, Astragalus exscapus and Salix pentandra are very rare in Italy. The new findings of Erythronium dens-canis and Thesium alpinum, in Umbria and Lazio respectively, represent the southernmost limits of their Italian distribution.
  PubDate: Wed, 26 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +000
Evidence of mysid swarm behaviour (Crustacea: Malacostraca) from the
Cenomanian (Late Cretaceous) of Hakel, Lebanon
- Authors: Giovanni Pasini; Alessandro Garassino
  Abstract: A mass mortality assemblage of mysid crustaceans is herein reported from the Cenomanian (Late Cretaceous) sublithographic limestone of Hakel (Lebanon). The studied specimens documented a mass mortality event attesting mysid swarm behaviour, herein briefly described and discussed. Though their poor preservation does not allow a specific assignment, this new record is remarkable, resulting the first formal report of Mysida Boas 1883 (Crustacea, Malacostraca) from the rich crustacean fossil fauna from the Late Cretaceous of Lebanon and from the worldwide Cretaceous record.
  PubDate: Wed, 26 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +000
No longer so common: findings of Calliopaea bellula d’Orbigny 1837
(Gastropoda: Sacoglossa) and Tayuva lilacina (A. Gould 1852) (Gastropoda:
Nudibranchia) along the central-eastern coast of Sicily (Ionian Sea)
- Authors: Andrea Lombardo; Giuliana Marletta
  Abstract: The present note documents the finding of two species of marine heterobranch seaslugs along the central-eastern coast of Sicily (Italy, central Mediterranean): the sacoglossan Calliopaea bellula and the nudibranch Tayuva lilacina. These two species show a wide geographical range (C. bellula is present from Norway to the Black Sea, while T. lilacina is a cosmopolitan species) and in the literature were considered common species. However, in the last years, the number of findings of these species is decreasing, at least in the Western Ionian Sea, an area where these species seem to be currently rare. As documented for other Mediterranean areas, the reason for this decline in the number of marine heterobranch species might be attributable to a change in the current regime or to an increase in anthropogenic impacts around the coastal areas.
  PubDate: Fri, 21 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +000
Arboreal behaviour of the wood mouse Apodemus sylvaticus (Rodentia:
Muridae): a study in the Venetian plain
- Authors: Alessandro Nardotto
  Abstract: The arboreal activity of the wood mouse is known, but mostly based on anecdotal evidence or single records. This study reports on field observations carried out systematically during an indirect survey conducted in the Venetian plain using hair tubes positioned at different heights in the shrub layer. The research confirmed that in the study area the wood mouse moves not only at ground level, but at also a few meters above the ground reaching heights up to 2.30 m (1.54 m on average).
  PubDate: Thu, 20 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +000
Report 2021 on plant biodiversity in Italy: native and alien vascular
flora
- Authors: Fabrizio Bartolucci; Gabriele Galasso, Lorenzo Peruzzi, Fabio Conti
  Abstract: This paper provides an updated overview, based on nomenclatural, taxonomical and distribution data published in 2021, on the native and alien vascular flora of Italy. The details on the occurrence at national and regional level and the lists of taxa occurring in Italy described in 2021 are provided.
  PubDate: Fri, 16 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +000