BIODIVERSITY JOURNAL

2014,5 (I); 1-92

Quaternly scientific journal

edited by Edtzioni Danaus,

viaVDi Marco 41, 90143 Palermo, Italy

www.biodiversityjournal.com

biodiversityjournal@gmail.com

Official authorization no, 40 (28. 1 2.20 1 0)

ISSN 2039-0394 (Print Edition)

ISSN 2039-0408 (Online Edition)

The genus Ankylopteryx Brauer, 1864 (Neuroptera Chrysopidae). In 1864, Brauer

established the new genus Ankylopteryx for five species of green lace wings from

Mozambique, India, China, Sumatra and Ceylon (i.e. Sri Lanka), furthermore he

described three new ones from Nicobare Islands, Ambon Island (Moluccas), and Van

Diemens Land (i.e. Tasmania), already reflecting the currently known distribution of the

genus, which shows a continuous presence in the Palaeotropics from Africa (South of

Sahara). Madagascar, Arabian Peninsula, Islands of Indian Ocean, India, South China,

Ryukyu Islands, Indonesia, Australia, New Hebrides, About 50 species are known but

many others are surely waiting for description because this interesting, large, genus needs

to be revised. Brauer named the genus after the curved costa (the external vein of the

wings), deriving it from the Greek avtoAoq [ankylos] crooked, bent, curved, hooked and

jnepov, Jttepu£, [pteron, pteryx] wing. Manifest characters of the genus are the highly

setose wings, fore wings with very broad costal field, narrow hind wings, and, strangely,

tarsi with black lips. Alive specimens show an unusual resting position, with the wings

flattened and not folded in a roof-likc position. Tjedcr ( 1 966, The Lace- wings of Southern

Africa. 5. Family Chrysopidae, South African Animal Life. Vol. 12.) suggested that this

peculiarity is probably due to the broad costal area. Presumably, the resting position, in

connection with the broad and setose wings, allows to improve the adhesiveness to the

large and smooth leaves of the tropical plants, on which these species find shelter. As far as

is known, the adults arc not predaceous and the larvae arc trash-carrying, i.e. they cover

themselves with debris, resembling small packets of fragments thanks to the large setose

tubercles and long body hairs. Ankylopteryx species were cited as predators in crops and

orchards, indeed applied studies suggest their potential role as biological control agents.

Hock Ping Guek, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, e-mail: orionmystery@gmail.com

Roberto A. Pantaleoni, Istitutoperlo Studio degli Ecosistemi, ConsiglioNazionaledelle

Ricerche (ISECNR), Traversa la Crueca 3, Regione Baldinca, 107 100 Li Punti SS, Italy&

Sczionc di Entomolpgia c Patologia Vegctalc, Dipartimento di Agraria, Universita degli

Studi, via Enrico De Nicola, 107 1 00 Sassari SS, Italy, e-mail: r.pantaleoni@ise.cnr.it

pantaIco@uniss.it

Ankylopteryx sp. pl.\ Up: Ulu Yam, Selangor, Malaysia (forest); middle: Nilai, Negeri

Sembilan, Malaysia (open area); down: Bcntong, Pahang, Malaysia (montane Forest,

about 830 m as!)

Biodiversity Journal, 2014, 5 (1): 3-8

Diversity and distribution of Coccinellidae (Coleoptera) in

Lorestan Province, Iran

Amir Biranvand 1 , Reza Jafari 2 & Mehdi Zare Khormizi 1 *

'Department of Entomology, Fars Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Fars Province, Marvdasht , Iran.

2 Islamic Azad University, Bomjerd Branch, Bomjerd, Iran.

^Corresponding author: persian7002@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT The present study was conducted from April to September 2012 to assess biodiversity and

distribution of Coccinellids (Coleoptera Coccinellidae) in five regions of the west of Lorestan

Provine, Iran. Specimens of coccinellid beetles were collected by netting and hand picking

from Shorab, Veisian, Sarabdore, Teshkan and Kashkan. Identification of these beetles showed

twenty-two different species. Oenopia conglobata (Linnaeus, 1758) (n = 386, 24%) was

recorded as the most abundant species as well as widely distributed on all over the regions.

When distributions of all the areas were compared, it was concluded that Coccinellidae was

mostly distributed in the Shorab area. The maximum and minimum species diversity indices

were obtained in Shorab (Simpson’s diversity index = 0.90) and Kashkan (Simpson’s diversity

index = 0.67) regions, respectively. Maximum similarity index (0.89) was observed between

Sarabdore and Kashkan regions.

KEY WORDS Ladybirds; biodiversity; Coleoptera; Iran.

Received 10.10.2013; accepted 07.01.2014; printed 30.03.2014

INTRODUCTION

About 6000 species of Coccinellids, Ladybird

beetles, (Coleoptera Coccinellidae) are known world-

wide (Vandenberg, 2002). They are of great eco-

nomic importance as predators both in their larval

and adult stages on various important crop pests

such as aphids, coccids and other soft bodied insects

(Hippa et al., 1978; Kring et al., 1985). Coccinel-

lids undergo complete metamorphosis with distinct

egg, larval, pupal and adult stages. Their life cycle

is completed in one month depending upon prey, lo-

cation and temperature; two or three generations are

generally produced in a year. Adults overwinter in

sheltered locations such as tree holes and other nat-

ural hiding places (Majerus & Kearns, 1989). The

coccinellidae are an important group of beetles

from both an economic standpoint in their use as

biological control agent and in their diversity and

adaptation to a number of differing habitats. The

coccinellid beetles are considered to be of a great

economic importance in agro-ecosystems thanks to

their successful employment in biological control

of many injurious insects (Agarwala & Dixon,

1992). The observed degree of their adaptation as

well as their efficiency in controlling aphid popu-

lations varies with the species and the environmen-

tal conditions (Dixon, 2000). Indeed, Coccinellidae

are extremely diverse in their habits: they live in all

terrestrial ecosystems (Slcaife, 1979). They are also

regarded as bioindicators (Iperti, 1999) and provide

more general information about the ecosystem in

which they occur (Andersen, 1999). Iran is an eco-

logically diversified country which includes rich

Amir Biranvand et alii

agricultural areas, deserts, marshes, rivers and

mountain habitats. Because of these specialized

geographic and vegetative zones, Djavanishir (1976)

grouped the Iranian vegetation coverage into five

zones, including the Irano-Touranian floristic zone

that encompasses the most extensive area of Iran.

In the confluence of these different climatic and

geographic zones, a rich faunal assemblage is ex-

pected for the country. Unfortunately, there are veiy

few references in the literature about distribution

and diversity of ladybird beetles in Iran. The objec-

tives of the present study were to explore the pre-

datory ladybird fauna of Lorestan Province (Iran),

to estimate the species richness, species evenness

and species diversity of Coccinellids in agro-eco-

systems and to know about the role of Coccinellids

as bioindicators.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The Chegeni (west of Lorestan province) is lo-

cated between longitude 48°02' East, latitude 3 1°32'

North of Iran. It has moderate weather, with the

average temperature in summer reaching 35 °C and

average annual rainfall of about 350 mm, which is

sufficient to keep the soil veiy fertile. This area con-

sists of a lot of fruit orchards. The study area was

divided in five sampling regions, namely: Shorab,

Veisian, Sarabdore, Teshkan and Kashkan. Collec-

tion of beetles was done from different parts of

these regions during 2012, from early spring to the

autumn season. Each locality was frequently visited

weekly. All the available trees were selected for the

sampling and it continued for the total duration of

6 months. The adult ladybird specimens on the

trees, crops and weeds were collected randomly by

netting, hand picking and light trapping. The speci-

mens were collected daily and were preserved in

vials containing 75% ethanol, and then pinned and

placed in collection boxes. Each specimen was la-

beled noting the place of collection, date of collec-

tion, pray name and host plant species and brought

to the laboratory of Islamic Azad Borujerd Univer-

sity, Borujerd for biodiversity count. All specimens

were manually stored and identified to species level

with the help of available literature and already

identified specimens which are preserved in the in-

sect Museum of Islamic Azad Borujerd University.

Collected data were employed for stastistical ana-

lyses to calculate species diversity, abundance and

similarity in different places, crops and periods by

applying Simpson’s diversity index and Sorenson

index.

Simpson’s index (D) is a measure of diversity.

The formula for calculating D is presented as:

Yn,(n,-l)

n(n-i)

where n 7 - = the total number of organisms of each

individual species, N = the total number of organ-

isms of all species and 1-D= Simpson’s diversity

index, 1/D= Simpson’s reciprocal index.

The value of D ranges from 0 to 1 . With this

index, 0 represents infinite diversity and 1 no diver-

sity. That is, the bigger the value the lower the di-

versity. This does not seem intuitive or logical, so

some texts use derivations of the index, such as

the inverse (1/D) or the difference from 1 (1-D)

(Magurran, 1988).

Species similarity

Species similarity between two communities

was calculated by Sorenson’s index (SQ)

(a + b)

where J = number of similar species in both com-

munities; a = total number of species in community

A, b = total number of species in community B.

The value of SQ ranges from 0 to 1 . With this

index, 0 represents no similarity and 1 complete

similarity. That is, the bigger the value the higher

the similarity (Southwood & Henderson, 2000).

RESULTS

The present study was conducted from April to

September 2012. Table 1 shows the list of Coc-

cinellid species captured in the examined regions.

The maximum and minimum numbers of species

were found in subfamilies Coccinellinae and Chilo-

chorinae respectively. Among genera, Exochomus

Redtenbacher, 1843 and Scymnus Kugelann, 1794

were the most abundant. Oenopia conglobata, Coc-

cinella septempunctata, Adalia decimpunctata ,

Scymnus apetzi , Scymnus syriacus and Hippodamia

variegata were found in all places of sampling.

Diversity and distribution of Coccinellidae (Coleoptera) in Lorestan Province, Iran

Regions

Shorab

Veisian

Sarab-

Teshkan

Kashkan

Total

Species

doreh

number

Coccinella septempunctata Linnaeus, 1758

265

Hippodami a variegata (Goeze, 1777)

332

Adalia bipunctata (Linnaeus, 1758)

Adalia decimpunctata (Linnaeus, 1758)

Oenopia conglobata (Linnaeus, 1758)

386

Oenopia oncina (Olivier, 1808)

Psyllobora vigintidupnnctata (Linnaeus, 1758)

Propylea quatuordecimpunctata (Linnaeus, 1758)

Scymnus syriacus (Marseul, 1868)

Scymnus apetzi Mulsant, 1 846

Scymnus araraticus Iablokoff-Khnzorian, 1969

Scymnus pallipes Mulsant, 1 850

Scymnus nubilus Mulsant 1850

Stethorus punctillum Weise, 1891

Stethorus gilvifrons (Mulsant, 1850)

Exochomus melanocephalus (Zoubkoff, 1833)

Exochomns nigromaculatus (Goeze, 1777)

Exochomus quadripustulatus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Exochomus pubescens Kiister, 1 848

Exochomus undulatus Weise, 1878

Chilocorus bipustulatus Linnaeus, 1758

Tyttaspis sedecimpuntata (Linnaeus, 1758)

Table 1. Distribution and total number of Coccinellids species collected in sampling localities.

Among them, Oenopia conglobata was eudominant

in all sites under study, as it numbered 386 speci-

mens, which made up 34% of all individuals. The

second most abundant species was H. variegata

(2 1 %) and the next C. septempunctata (17%); Shorab

showed the maximum species richness (21 species)

and Veisian was the second one (13 species). As far

as concerns the species abundance, C. septempunc-

tata had maximum abundance in Veisian region and

H. variegata in Sarabdoreh region. All percentages

are listed in Table 2. Diversity and reciprocal indices

in different places were calculated by Simpson’s

index. This index considers both the number of

species and the distribution of individuals among

species. Simpson diversity and reciprocal indices of

all examined places are reported in Table 3.

Amir Biranvand et alii

Regions

Species

Shorab

Veisian

Sarab-

doreh

Teshkan

Kashkan

Coccinella septempunctata Linnaeus, 1758

12.7

29.3

13.2

15.8

20.7

Hippodamia variegata (Goeze, 1777)

7.9

20.5

35.6

35.5

8.5

Adalia bipunctata (Linnaeus, 1758)

3.2

3.5

1.9

Adalia decimpunctata (Linnaeus, 1758)

1.5

2.1

5.4

3.8

6.4

Oenopia conglobata (Linnaeus, 1758)

24.7

21.9

15.9

53.5

Oenopia oncina (Olivier, 1808)

15.6

Psyllobora vigintidupanctata (Linnaeus, 1758)

0.38

0.36

Propylea quatuordecimpunctata (Linnaeus, 1758)

10.8

Scymnus syriacus (Marseul, 1868)

2.3

7.3

3.5

Scymnus apetzi Mulsant, 1 846

1.7

2.5

4.6

3.8

1.4

Scymnus araraticus Iablokoff-Khnzorian, 1969

1.5

—

Scymnus pallipes Mulsant, 1 850

1.5

Scymnus nubilus Mulsant 1850

0.77

Stethorus punctillum Weise, 1891

0.77

Stethorus gilvifrons (Mulsant, 1850)

2.7

2.5

3.5

3.8

1.4

Exochomus melanocephalus (Zoubkoff, 1833)

0.77

Exochomus nigromaculatus (Goeze, 1777)

1.3

Exochomus quadripustulatus (Linnaeus, 1758)

2.9

6.5

Exochomus pubescens Kiister, 1 848

0.96

1.6

Exochomus undulatus Weise, 1878

3.6

9.2

5.7

Chilocorus bipustulatus Linnaeus, 1758

1.7

1.09

Tyttaspis sedecimpuntata (Linnaeus, 1758)

0.73

Table 2. Abundance percentage of Coccinellids in sampling localities.

Regions of sampling

Index of diversity

Shorab

Veisian

Sarabdoreh

Teshkan

Kashkan

Simpsons diversity index ( 1-D)

0.90

0.81

0.77

0.67

Simpsons reciprocal index(l/D)

10.01

5.36

5.29

4.42

3.39

Table 3. Simpsons diversity indices of Coccinellids in examined regions.

Diversity and distribution of Coccinellidae (Coleoptera) in Lorestan Province, Iran

Regions of sampling

Shorab

Veisian

Sarabdoreh

Teshkan

Kashkan

Shorab

0.7

0.64

0.55

Veisian

0.69

0.6

0.76

Sarabdoreh

0.64

0.69

0.87

0.89

Teshkan

0.54

0.6

0.87

Kashkan

0.55

0.76

0.89

0.87

Table 4. Similarity indices of ladybird species in examined regions of sampling.

As shown, the highest and lowest values were

obtained in Shorab (0.90) and Kashkan (0.67) re-

gions, respectively (Table 3). The Minimum value

of similarity index (0.54) was found comparing

Teshkan and Shorab; and the maximum value

(0.89) was between Sarabdoreh and Kashkan

(Table 4).

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

A previous similar survey of predatory Cocci-

nellid beetles at Lorestan provinces (Iran) was con-

ducted by Jafari & Kamali (2007). Present results

(Table 1) confirm that Coccinellids are the most im-

portant group among crops and orchards predators

in Iran (Modarres-Awal, 1997). Farahbakhsh (1961)

reported the dominance of P. quatrodecimpunctata.

According to Hodek & Honek (1996) and Majerus

& Majerus (1996), C. septempunctata is the pronest

to a sudden population growth as its number largely

depends on the number of aphids. Generally, Coc-

cinellids are density-dependent predators, i.e. their

number rises as the prey number increases (Dixon,

2000). All species, belonging to the Scymnini, can

be potential predators of pseudococcids, at least in

the adult stage (Magro, 1992). Most of these species

were recorded in Iran on a variety of plants by Bo-

rumand (2000). Jafari (2011) reported that H. va-

riegata had rapidly established itself throughout the

west of Iran (Lorestan Provinces) thanks to a suc-

cessful feeding. The present work shows the ex-

treme richness of the Coccinellid fauna in Lorestan.

Dixon (2000) believes that the number of species

largely depends on the number of preys. For exam-

ple, in September most of pests yield great popula-

tions, thus the amount of feeding for Coccinellids

increases too. The predaceous role of Coccinellids

benefits from the maintenance of field diversity,

which supports the population of prey such as

aphids, thrips and mites (Iperti, 1999). Ladybird

beetles migrate between various crop fields throu-

ghout the season depending upon the availability of

prey and habitat disturbance (Maredia et al., 1992).

We hope that this inventory of Coccinellid species

in the Lorestan areas will contribue to improve In-

tegrated Pest Management in crops and orchards in

Iran by reducing or selecting pesticides for less im-

pact on animal and botanical species and, above all,

rearing and releasing those ladybird species which

are recognized to be effective in pest control.

REFERENCES

Beheim Agarwala B.K. & Dixon A.F.G., 1992. Labora-

tory study of cannibalism and interspecific predation

in ladybirds. Ecological Entomology, 17: 303-330.

Andersen A.N., 1999. My bioindicator or yours? Ma-

king the selection. Journal of Insect Conservation,

3: 61-64.

Borumand H., 2000. Insect of Iran: The List of Coleoptera

in the Insect Collection of Plant Pests & Disesases

Research Institute, Coleoptera: Cucujoidea: Coc-

cinellidae, 44 pp.

Djavanishir K., 1976. Atlas of woody plants of Iran.

National Society for the Conservation of Natural

Resources and Human Environment, 84 pp.

Dixon A.F.G., 2000. Insect predator-prey dynamics lady

birds beetles and biological control. University Press,

New York, 257 pp.

Farahbakhsh G., 1961. A Checklist of economically im-

portant insects and other enemies of plants and agri-

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cultural products in Iran. Department of Plant Pro-

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Hippa H., Kepeken S.D. & Laine T., 1978. On the

feeding biology of Coccinella hieroglyphica L.

(Coleoptera, Coccinellidae). Reports from the Kevo

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Kluwer Academic Publisher, Dordrecht, 464 pp.

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in relation to bioindication and economic importance.

Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 74: 323—

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Jafari R., 2011. Biology of Hippodamia variegata

(Goeze) (Coleopetra: Coccinellidae), on Aphis fabae

scopoli (Hemiptera: Aphididae). Journal of Plant

Protection Research, 51:190-194.

Jafari R. & Kamali K., 2007. Faunistic study of ladybird

in Lorestan province and report of new records in

Iran. New Finding in Agriculture, 1: 349-359.

Kring T.J., Gilstrap F.E. & G. J. Michels G.J. Jr.,

1985. Role of indigenous coccinellid in regulating

green bugs (Homoptera: Aphididae) on Texas grain

sorghum. Journal of Economic Entomology, 78: 269-

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Magro A., 1992. Os Coccinelideos na luta biologica con-

tra os Pseudococcideos associados a citrinos. Disser-

tagao de Mestrado em Protecgao Integrada, ISA-

UTL, Lisboa, 198 pp.

Magurran A.E., 1988. Ecological Diversity and its mea-

surement. Chapman and Hall, London, 179 pp.

Majerus M. & Kearns P., 1989. Ladybirds. Rechmond

Publishing, Slough, 101 pp.

Majerus M.E.N. & Majerus T.M. O., 1996. Ladybird pop-

ulation explosions. British Journal of Entomology

and Natural History, 9: 65-76.

Maredia K.M., Gage S.H., Landis D.A. & Scriber J.M.,

1992. Habitat use patterns by the seven spotted lady

beetle (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) in a diverse agri-

cultural landscape. Biological Control, 2: 159-65.

Modarres-Awal M., 1997. List of agricultural pests and

their natural enemies in Iran. Mashhad Ferdowsi Uni-

versity Press, 429 pp.

Skaife S.H., 1979. African Insect Life. Struik Publishers,

Cape Town, 279 pp.

Southwood T.R.E. & Henderson P.A., 2000. Ecological

Methods. Chapman & Hall, New York, 575 pp.

Vandenberg N.J., 2002. Coccinellidae Latreille 1807. In:

Arnett R.H. Jr., Thomas M.C., Skelley P.E. & Frank

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Boca Raton, pp. 371-389.

Biodiversity Journal, 2014, 5 (1): 9-18

The marine fossils malacofauna in a Plio-Pleistocene section

from Vallin Buio (Livorno, Italy)

Alessandro Ciampalini 1 , Maurizio Forli 2 *, Andrea Guerrini 1 , Franco Sammartino 1

1 G r u p p o Archeologico e Paleontologico Livornese, M useo di Storia Naturale del Mediterraneo, Via Roma, 234 - 57127 Livorno,

Italy; e-mail: fsammartino@ alice.it

"Societa Italian a di Malacologia, Via Galcianese, 20H - 59100 Prato, Italy; e-mail: info@ dodoline. eu

Corresponding author

ABSTRACT In the present paper the occurrence of marine fossil malacofauna in a Plio-Pleistocenic section

from Vallin Buio (surroundings of Livorno) is described. Three different mollusc associations

are present. The oldest one is typical of the Italian Lower Pliocene, the other two, are charac-

teristic of the Upper Pleistocene fauna. Specimens, sometime poorly preserved, are not nume-

rous for each section, but all the identified species are compatible with the respective fossil

associations. The fossil malacofauna in the calcarenitic level referred to the Upper Pleistocene

shows a remarkable affinity with the biotic component of the pOS idoilic tlllfl biocenosis.

KEY WORDS Pliocene; Upper Pleistocene; molluscs; posidonietum;Vallin Buio; Livorno.

Received 13.12.2013; accepted 19.01.2014; printed 30.03.2014

INTRODUCTION

In the present paper th e o c currenc e o f a m arin e

fossil malacofauna, detected in 1 999 by two of the

authors (AC and M F), in a Plio-Pleistocenic section

in Vallin Buio (C isternino), in the surroundings of

Livorno, is described.

The most interesting level in limestone, inf ring-

ing on the underlying Pliocenic one, includes a

poorly preserved malacofauna that, how ever, shows

a strong affinity with the mollusk community of the

current biocenosis of the marine ecosystem called

“Posidonieto”, Posidonietum oceanicae (Funk,

1 927) M olinier, 1 9 5 8.

The study in detail o f the malacofauna from Cis-

ternino (Livorno) was previously performed by

B o g i & Cauli (1997) and Cauli& Bogi (1997-98),

limited to an outcrop of Pliocene sediments, the

same as those occur ring in the lower part of the sec-

tion, outcropping about a kilometer south-east from

Vallin Buio. Additional data were taken from re-

ports of the IX meeting of the Italian Palaeonto-

logical Society including several contributions on

the eastward malacofauna occurring, on the so-

called "Sezione degli Archi", with layers from the

Upper Miocene to the Middle Pleistocene (Bossio

et al., 198 1).

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The la rg e s t molluscs were collected manually in

the various levels of the section, while, by sieving

approximately 5 dm 3 of the reddish sand inter-

spersed with and included within the limestone,

some species smaller in size have been identified;

the poor state of conservation of this finer fraction

allowed us to find only a few specimens.

Alessandro Ciampalini et alii

ABBREVIATIONS. AC = A. Ciampalini; d =

maximum diameter; exx = exem plares; h = height;

1 = width; m asl = meters above sea level; MF = M .

Forli. For cartography and acronyms used in the

textwe referred to the Geological Map of Tuscany,

Scale 1:1 0,000 (CARG project).

Geological setting

The peculiarity of the geological section under

study, outcropping over a cliff near Vallin Buio

(Livorno), is to have the Upper Pleistocene sedi-

ments resting in contact with those of the Pliocene

without any other intermediate Pleistocenic layer.

The section is located along the provincial road of

“Sorgenti” on the right of “Rio Valle Lunga”; this

section was highlighted as a result of an excava-

tion for the construction of the road, in the direc-

tion of the Ugione stream, 43°34'05'' N

10°2 1'0 6"E, 8 m asl (Fig. 1).

The section develops with a maximum thickness

of about 3 meters and a length of 20/30 meters de-

grading in both directions. Currently it is in a poor

state of preservation. Its appearance has been mod-

ified by some small landslides which prevented the

observation in minute detail of the reciprocal ar-

rangement between Pliocene limestone and clay,

even if it is still possible to roughly reconstruct the

original arrangement of the overlying strata.

The levels of interest, not mapped in the Geo-

logical Map of Tuscany 1:10,000 (CARG project)

because of their small thickness, present to the bed

a layer of about 1 m eter attrib u ted to th e form atio n

Figure 1. Study area from Geological Map of Tuscany,

Scale 1:1 0,000 (CARG Project).

of the Blue Clay (FA A = p of the geological map

1:25,000 of Livorno Province) of the marine envi-

ron m e n t, fro m neritic to upper bathyal and chrono-

logically attributed to the Pliocene (Barsotti et al.,

1 974), and to the roof a layer of about 1 00-1 30 cm

thick represented by the Red Sands of Donoratico

(QSD = former q 9 of the 1:2 5,0 0 0 map, cf. Sands

of Ardenza), that may be referred to a continental

environment (aeolian, colluvial and of alluvial

plain) attributable to the Upper Pleistocene.

In the sands of Donoratico, on the terrace of

Livorno and also nearby Vallin Buio, Ajaccia,

Lupinaio, and Campacci (Sam martin o, 1989;

Ciampalini & Sammartino, 2007) were found

some Middle-Paleolithic artifacts that confirm

the attribution of the summit sands of the section

to the Sands of Ardenza (Malatesta, 1940). The

middle layer, about 80-100 cm thick, which lies

in transgression on blue clay (FAA) and consists

of a calcarenite with many bioclasts, remnants of

marine gastropods and bivalves and few pebbles,

is attributable lithologically to the “Pan china”

layer (see Castiglion cello Calcarenites Formation

cartography 1:25,000) (QCP = q g ) .

Malatesta (1 942) described small outcrops of

the “Pan chin a” formation to the east of Livorno,

near the Cigna little bridge, at the “Fornaci

Anelli”, at Porca recce, in “Santo Stefano ai Lupi”

and also in the area of Cisternino. The outcrop was

previously studied by the stratigraphic standpoint

by one of the authors (Ciampalini, 2002) and, at

present, we refer to this work because now the

exposure is no longer visible with the initial defi-

nition. The succession showed above the subs tr ate

consisting of blue clay slightly altered and abun-

dant carbonate nodules, a level of marine cal-

carenites (maximum thickness of 100 cm) fol-

lowed by a layer of polygenic gravel in a reddish

matrix here and there with clastic rocks (maximum

diameter 2-3 cm) of 30/40 cm, and finally,in likely

continuity, a layer with a max thickness of 100-

130 cm formed by reddish sands, presumably from

an ancient dune (Fig. 2).

RESULTS

In the upper part of the layer with a calcar enitic

base only two species of gastropods and two of bi-

valves were found (Table 1), with well-preserved

The marine fossils malacofauna in a Plio-Pleistocene section from Vallin Buio (Livorno, Italy)

1 1

specimens (showing original colors). However, all

of them agree with a single depositional facies, re-

lating to a brackish environment with se d ini e n ta tio n

of fine sand. These specimens were taken just

below the polygenic gravels (see section of Vallin

Buio in figure 2). These molluscs are to be consid-

ered a little more recent than those present within

the calcarenite (Figs. 3 — 10).

Mostfossils come front the calcarenite and com-

pressed sands either included within or filling the

cavities (Table 2). The quality of preservation is very

poor because the shells are often eroded and frag-

mented. This is partly due to the softening of the

shell because of water percolating from the upper

layer and partly to the mode of fo s siliz atio n itself.

However, even if battered, the species can be

identified. There are three P o ly p lac o p h o r a , thirty-

five gastropods, thirty bivalves and two Scaphopoda;

among gastropods the most abundant are CcvituiWTl

vulgatum Bruguiere, 1792 , Tricolia speciosa

(M iihlfeld, 1 8 2 4 ), Bolma rUgOSCl (L in n ae u s, 1 7 5 8 )

with other species refer able to the same type of en -

vironment, i.e . Posidonia prairies (Peres & Picard,

1964; Barsotti et al., 1974).

Among B iv a lv ia , re m a in s of Glycymevis gfycy-

meris (Linnaeus, 1758) are the most abundant with

forty valves and a complete specimen, though

small in size, about 3 cm, followed by CHcilTlclCQ.

gallina (Linnaeus, 1758) with eighteen shells,

small compared to the average size of the species,

which suggests a selective post-mortem transport,

since all the bivalves examined are more or less of

the same siz e .

The only remains that seem to be in situ are

those of Spondylus gaederopus (Linnaeus, 1 7 5 8 ) in-

cluded within the limestone but not in the sands in-

side the cavities. The biggest one, although

incomplete, is over 7 cm tall, front the apex to the

opposite edge of the shell. In the absence of a com-

plete paleo-ecological study, due to the lack of sam -

ples and subsequent counts of specimens carried out

properly, it can reasonably be assumed that mol-

luscs occurring in this level lived in a m arine envi-

ronment of sandy bottom alternating to or near to

Posidonia prairies, the so-called “ p o s id o n ie ti”

(Figs. 11-42) typical of the in fr a litto r a 1, which is

also confirmed by the presence o f P o lip lac o p h o r a

that fo r the upper Pleistocene sediments of the s u r-

roun dings of Livorno, are known exclusively from

this location (Dell'Angelo et al., 200 1 ).

S. Stefa no ai Lupi section

1 m

ill

Currant ceil - carry-over

f ] |1 [ 1 1 1 f Profil of alteration

I - Blue days Formation

)| - Monttna Formation

HI - Cores Formation

, Marine molluscs

3 Brackish molluscs

Land molluscs

* Mouslenan industry

IV - Cssliglionoello Catcareniles

( panchina)

V - Oonoratlco Sands

(Ardenza Sands)

T r J 1 ' f r-ri-

a S G

Figure 2. Stratigraphic columns of the sections of “Vallin

Buio”, “Corea” (from Ciampalini et al., 2006), modified;

and of “Santo Stefano ai Lupi” (from Malatesta, 1940,

1 942), modified and updated.

Species

N. exx.

Level

GASTROPODA

Nassarius mutabilis

(L innaeus, 1 75 8 )

Cyclope neritea

(L innaeus, 1 75 8 )

B IV A LV IA

Cerastoderma glaucum

(Bruguiere, 1 7 89)

Donax trunculus

Linnaeus, 1758

Table 1. Listand amountof molluscs found in the upperpart

of the layer IV of the Vallin Buio section shown in figure 2.

In the lower part of the section, attributable to

the Lower Pliocene, eight species of Gastropoda,

three of Bivalvia and three of Scaphopoda were

recovered (Table 3). For a detailed discussion of the

Pliocene fauna see Bogi & Cauli (1 997) and Cauli

Alessandro Ciampalini et alii

1 2

Figures 3 , 4 . NciSSClriuS mUtabWs (Linnaeus, 1758) d = 1 4 m m h = 20 .5 mm. Figures 5,6. Cyclope neritea (Linnaeus, 1758)

d = 1 2 mm., h = 6 .3 mm.; Figures 7, 8. DonaX trUHCUluS (Linnaeus, 175 8) 1= 21 m m ., h = 1 3 mm. Figures 9, 10. Cerastoderma

glaUCUm (Bruguiere, 1798) 1=22.4 m m . , h = 2 1 mm.

& Bogi (1 997-98), who extensively described and

discussed the same malacofauna, coming from a

place at south-east of the small valley where the

outcrop described herein is lo c ated . A m o n g the species

found in Vallin Buio two not previously reported by

these authors are listed below (Figs. 43-59).

GASTROPODA Cuvier, 1795

PATELLOGASTROPODA L in d b erg , 1 9 8 6

LOTTIOIDEA Gray, 1840

LOTTIDAE Gray, 1840

Tectura Gray, 1847

Tectura virginea (O f. m uiier, 1 7 7 6 ) (Fig. 5 2 )

One specimen, of average siz e (3 mm . in le n g th ),

a little eroded with damaged margins. The species

is reported from the M iocene and currently lives on

muddy bo tto ms of th e in te rtid a 1 plan (C h irli, 2004).

CAENOGASTROPODA Cox, 1960

STROMBOIDEA Rafinesque, 1815

APORRHAIDAE Gray, 1850

Aporrhais da Costa, 1 7 7 8

Aporrhais peralata (Sacco, i 893 ) (Figs. 45-47)

One specimen of average size ( d = 8.5 m m . ; h =

17.3 mm.) with broken digit ends, but, overall, the

shell is definitely recognizable. The species is re-

ported for various locations of Central and Northen

Italy in deep Pliocenic clay sediments (Brunetti &

Forli, 20 13).

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

The fossil molluscs of the Pliocenic sediments

are compatible with those listed and described by

The marine fossils malacofauna in a Plio-Pleistocene section from Vallin Buio (Livorno, Italy)

1 3

Species

exx.

Level

POLYPLACOPHORA

Lepidopleurus cajetanus (p o n, 1 1 9 1 )

1 0

Chiton olivaceUS Spengler, 1797

Acantliochitonafascicularis (Linnaeus, 1 767 )

GASTROPODA

Tectura virginea (0 .f. m uiier, 1 7 76)

Dioclora graeca { Linnaeus, 1 75 8 )

Gibbula ardens {\on Saiis, 1793 )

Jujubinus esasperatus Pennant, 1777

Clanculus cruciatus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Clanculus jussieui (Payraudeau, 1 826)

Calliostoma sp.

Bolma rugosa {Linnaeus, 1 75 8 )

Homalopoma sanguineum (Linnaeus, 1 75 8)

Tricolia pullus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Tricolia tenuis (Michaud, 1829)

Tricolia speciosa ( m u h 1 f e 1 d , 1824)

Smaragdia viridis (Linnaeus, 1 7 5 8 )

Bittium reticulatum (da Costa, 1778 )

Cerithium vulgatum Bruguiere, 1792

1 6

Monophorus sp.

Rissoa sp.

Alvania cimex (Linnaeus, 1758)

Alvania discors ( a lian , 1 8 1 8 )

Alvania geryonia { Nardo, 1 8 4 7 )

Alvania mamillata r is s 0 , 1 8 2 6

Crisilla semis triata (Montagu, 1 8 0 8 )

Caecum trachea (Montagu, 1 8 0 3 )

Vermetus triquetrus Bivona Ant., 1 8 3 2

Calyptraea chine nsis (Payraudeau, 1826)

Euspira guilleminii (Linnaeus, 1 75 8 )

Hexaplex trunculus (Linnaeus, 1 75 8 )

Columbella rustica (Linnaeus, 17 5 8)

Euthria cornea (Linnaeus, 1758)

Chauvetia brunnea (Donovan, 1804)

Cy elope pellucida r i s s o , 1 8 2 6

Conus ventricosus Gmeiin, 1791

Mange lia sp.

Turbonilla rufa (P h nip pi, 1 8 3 6 )

Species

exx.

Level

Turbonilla pusilla (Philippi, 1 844)

BIYALVIA

NllCula nucleus {Linnaeus, 1 75 8 )

Saccella commutata (Philippi, 1 8 44 )

Area noae (Linnaeus, 17 5 8)

Barbatia barbata (Linnaeus, 1 7 5 8 )

Barbatia clathrata (Defrance, 1 8 1 6 )

Striarca lactea (Linnaeus, 1758)

Glycymeris glycymeris (Linnaeus, 1758 )

Glycymeris insubrica (Brocchi, 1 8 1 4 )

1 1

Limopsis c f . aurita (Brocchi, 1814)

Cardita calyculata (Linnaeus, 1758 )

Goodallia triangularis (Montagu, 1 8 0 3 )

1 1

Flexopecten flexuosus (P 0 ii, 1795 )

Spondylus gaederopus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Lima lima (Linnaeus, 1 7 5 8 )

Anomia ephippium (Linnaeus, 1758)

Ostrea Stentina Payraudeau, 1826

Ctena decussata (Costa o .g ., 1 8 2 9 )

Myrtea spinifera (Montagu, 1 8 0 3 )

Lucinella divaricata (Linnaeus, 1758 )

1 5

Chama gryphoicles (Linnaeus, 1758)

1 1

Angulus tenuis (da costa, 1778 )

Moerella donacina (Linnaeus, 1758 )

Donax s p .

Laevicardium eras sum (Gmeiin, 1 7 9 1 )

Papillicardium papillosum (P 0 ii, 1 7 9 1 )

1 3

Dosinia exoleta (Linnaeus, 1 75 8 )

Chamelea gallina (Linnaeus, 1758 )

Venus verrucosa (Linnaeus, 1758)

1 2

Pitar rudis ( p 0 ii, 1795 )

Corbula gibba { oiivi, 1792 )

Rocellaria dubia (Pennant, 1777 )

SCAPHOPODA

Antalis vulgaris (da costa, 1 7 7 8 )

Cadulus gibbus J e ffrey e s , 1883

Table 2. List and amount of molluscs found in the lower

part of the layer IV of the Vallin Buio section shown in

fig ure 2 .

Alessandro Ciampalini et alii

Figures 11, 12. Roccllcivici dubia (Pennant, 1777)internal/externalmodell=32 m m h = 1 2 .5 mm. Figures 13, 14. ChttlTlclcCl

gallina (Linnaeus, 17 5 8) 1= 12. 4 mm. , h = 1 1 m m . Figures 15, 16. Dosillia exoleta (Linnaeus, 1 75 8 ) 1= 22 .4 m m „ h = 2 1 .7 mm.

Figure 17. FleXOpeCteU flexuosus (Poli, 1 795) 1= 1 4 m m ., h = 1 4 mm. Figure 18. Barbatia bcirbdta (Linnaeus, 1758) 1=26. 4

mm., h = 1 3 .5 mm. Figures 19,20. P ' OpUUcardium papillosum (Poli, 1791) 1= 1 1 .6 mm., h = 1 2 mm. Figures 21 , 22 . VenUS

verrucosa (Linnaeus, 1758) 1=24. 4 mm., h = 22.5 mm. Figures 23-25. Gfycymeris glycymeris (Linnaeus, 1758) 1= 33.3 mm.,

h = 3 3 .2 mm.; Figure 26. Lima lima (Linnaeus, 17 5 8) 1=27 mm., h = 20 mm. Figures 27, 28. Ostreola Stentina Payraudeau,

1826 1= 32.4 mm.,h=24.3 mm. Figure 29. SpondvluS gaederopUS (Linnaeus, 1758) 1=33 mm., h = 28.5 mm.

The marine fossils malacofauna in a Plio-Pleistocene section from Vallin Buio (Livorno, Italy)

Species

exx.

Level

GASTROPODA

Tectura virginea to .f.m uiier, 1776 )

Turrit ella spirata (Brocchi, 1 8 1 4 )

Aporrhais peralata (Sacco, 1 8 9 3 )

Euspira helicina (Brocchi. 1 8 1 4 )

Nassarius cabrierensis (Fontannes, 1 878)

NaSSariuS italicUS (Mayer, 1 8 7 6 )

Turricula dim idiata (Brocchi, 1 8 1 4 )

Stenodrillia allionii (B eiiardi in

Seguenza, 1875)

BIVALVIA

Nucula piacentina Lamarck, 1 8 1 9

Bothy area cf philippiana (N y st, 1 8 4 8 )

Limopsis aurita (Brocchi, 1814)

SCAPHOPODA

Dentalium sp.

Dentalium sexangulum Gmeiin, 1791

Gadilina triquetra (Brocchi, 1 8 1 4 )

Cauli & Bogi (1997-98) who consider the malaco-

logical paleo-comm unities as characteristic of

muddy bottoms, cor responding to a transition zone

separating the c ire alitto ral and bathyal planes, dated

between the end of Zanclean and the beginning of

Piacenziano. Marine Mollusca in the formation of

the “Sandy Calcarenites of Castiglion cello” (com-

monly called "Pan china") now reported as QCP

(1:10,0 00 map, CARG project) is known in detail

from a study carried out in the dry dock of the

“Torre del Fanale” (Livorno) (Barsotti et al., 1974).

Table 3. List and amount of molluscs found in the Pliocenic

clays, level I of the Vallin Buio section shown in figure 2.

Figures 30, 31. Bolma TUgOSa (Linnaeus, 1758). Figure 32.

Cerithium vulgatum b ruguiere, 1792 . Figure 33 . Bittium

reticulatum (da Costa, 1 7 7 8 ) d = 3 mm.,h=ll mm. Figure 34.

Clanculus cruciatus (Linnaeus, 1758). Figures 35, 36.

Tricolia speciosa (Muhlfeld, 1824)d = 4 mm.,h = 7.3 mm. Fig-

ures 37, 3 8. Hexaplex trunculus (Linnaeus, 1 7 5 8 ); Figure

3 9 . Homalopoma sanguineum (Linnaeus, 1758) x4; Figure

40. Columbella rustic a { Linnaeus, 1 7 5 8 ). Figure 41,42.

Euspira guilleminii (Payraudeau. 1 8 26) d = 9 mm.,h = 6 mm.

Alessandro Ciampalini et alii

Figures 43, 44. StrenodrillcL allionii (B ellardi in Seguenza, 1 8 75 ), d = 7 mm.,h = 22 mm. Figures 4 5-47. AporrllClis peraldtCl

(Sacco, 1893)d=8,5 m m ., h = 1 7 ,3 mm. Figures 48, 49. NdSSdfillS itdliciAS (Mayer, 1876) d = 9,2 mm ., h = 18 mm. Figures 50,

5 1 . Limopsis aurita (B roc chi, 1 8 1 4 ) 1=12 m m h= 1 3 m m . Figure 52 . Tectura virginea (O .F. M ttller, 1 776); F ig ure s 5 3, 54.

Batfiyarca cf. philippiana (N yst, 1 8 4 8 ) 1= 1 0.3 mm., h=7 mm. Figures 5 5, 5 6. Turricula dimidiata (Brocchi, 1814) d = 1 0

mm . , h = 3 0 . 5 mm.; Figures 57,5 8. Euspira helicina (Brocchi, 1814) d=12.4 m m ., h = 1 2 mm. Figure 59, Turritella Spiratd

(Brocchi, 1814). 60. Dentdlium SeXdHgulum Gmelin, 1791 d = 7 mm.,h=38.5mm.

The marine fossils malacofauna in a Plio-Pleistocene section from Vallin Buio (Livorno, Italy)

1 7

The level is devoid of "warm guests", particularly

of those for ms currently found along the Senegalese

coasts, so it is possible that the layer belongs to

more advanced stages of the Tyrrhenian transgres-

sion s.s. dating from 125 ka (MIS 5 e) .

Actually, even in the dry dock of Livorno

(Barsotti et al., 1974) with the exception of the first

30-40 cm in which there were, among other forms,

species typical of tropical seas warmer than the

Mediterranean, in the rest of the section these

species disappeared, being replaced by a "normal”

fauna just as that found in the present study.

Malatesta (1942) reported that in the area of

San to Stefano ai Lupi at the base of the escarpment

(Gronda dei Lupi ) that divided the plain of Pisa

from the "Terrace" of Livorno, emerged a bench in

thin slabs of limestone with some rests of marine

fauna. Towards the top there was an increase in

sand fraction, and at the same time the fauna be-

came more and more scarce until it consisted of a

few brackish forms, with above all layers reddish

dune-sand. Bacci et al. (1 939) taking into account

data from surveys and field observations, suggested

the following reconstruction of the series (see also

Barsotti et al., 1 9 74; Dall'Antonia & Mazzanti,

200 1; Ciampalini, 2002), from the roof to the bed:

slightly clayey sand ending with a soil, very fine

reddish aeolian sand with evidence of stratification;

coarser reddish dune-sand; small cross-bedding

gravel, reddish sand with brackish fauna; bench

irregularly cemented or sand with calcareous gran-

ules and beach fauna ever more clayey towards the

base; continental clay; grey sand; and pebbles.

M alate s ta (in Bacci e t al., 1 939) c o n sid ered th e

layers at the base of the section as part of the

Tyrrhenian transgression with a continental level in-

tercalated, as confirmed by Barsotti et al. (1974) on

the basis of the excavation of the dry dock of the

“Torre del Fanale”, with sections showing the two

benches separated by a continental layer. However,

according to most recent studies, the layers below

the “Pan china” (Panchina I Auct.) might belong to

an intercalated cycle of the middle terminal Pleis-

tocene, da ting up to about 180 Ka (MIS 6 ), w ith flu -

vial gravel base separated by a surface of erosion

from the silty clays of the Lower Pleistocene

(Zanchetta et al., 2006; Ciampalini et al., in press).

In the Vallin Buio section the calcarenites with

molluscs rely on the underlying Pliocenic clay

sediments, showing sedimens at first of the

"Panchina" type and then sandy, first with coarse-

grained sedimentation and then thiner. Molluscs

shown in figures 3-10 are from the upper part of

this layer, immediately below the gravel and are

most likely to be referred to a cooling phase, with

more temperate climatic characteristics, dating to

approximately 100-80 ka (MIS 5 d-5 b ) .

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors are grateful to Dr. Marco M orelli,

Director of the Museum of Planetary Sciences

(Prato, Italy), for comments on the manuscript.

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Biodiversity Journal, 2014, 5 (1): 19-24

Notes on the genus Carabus Linnaeus, 1758 (Coleoptera

Carabidae) of Mount Bing-La-Shan, Xifeng County, Liaoning

Province, Northeast China

Lin Lin 1 , Ivan Rapuzzi 2 *, Li Jingke 3 , Zhang Xueping 1 & Gao Meixiang 1

'Key Laboratory of remote sensing monitoring of geographic environment, College ofHeilongjiang Province. Harbin Normal Uni-

versity, Harbin, 1 50025, P.R . China.

2 Via Cialla 47, 33040 Prepotto (Udine), Italy; entail: info@ronchidicialla.it

3 P. O. Box 22, Vientiane, Laos; Harbin Normal University, Harbin. 150025, P.R. China

* C o rre sp o n d in g author

ABSTRACT The present work provides some preliminary data on the genus CcirClbllS Linnaeus, 1758 col-

lected from Mount Bing-La-Shan, Xifeng County, Liaoning Province, Northeast China. Thanks

to these studies, some species show a greater distribution than previously known. In these lo-

cations is reported a new population of CciVClbllS (CaVClbllS) xiliyCMensis D e uve et Li, 1 998.

KEY WORDS carabid beetles; CciVClbllS ; faunistic; China.

Received 30.1 2.20 1 4; accepted 21.01.2014; printed 30.03.20 14

INTRODUCTION

The CavabuS Linnaeus, 1 75 8 (Coleoptera Cara-

bidae) fauna in Northeastern China consists of two

main faunal elements, the E u ro -S ib erian and Ko-

rean. The majority of the species are of large dis-

tribution with many very local subspecies (Kratz,

1881; Breuning, 1932-1936; Beheim & Breuning,

1 943).

Only few endemic species, the endemics sub-

genera TeVQ,tOCQ.Va,bllS Semenov et Znojko, 1932

and Fulgenticavabus Deuve et Li, 1998 contribute

to the specificity of the fauna. M any taxa were de-

scribed in the last years (Deuve Th. & Mourzine,

1998; Imura, 1991; Deuve, 1994; Deuve & Li,

2000a, 2000b; Rapuzzi, 2007).

Two of the authors (Lin Lin and Li Jingke) had

the opportunity to investigate the Xifeng County in

the northeastern part of Liaoning Province, China,

bordering Jilin Province to the North and East.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The investigated area is a Mountain area

named Bing-La-Shan at the altitude between 700-

750 m, it is on the first mountain spurs East from

Dongbei Plains. CavabuS were collected using pit-

fall traps in a forest area during the period 15/18

July 2012. Pull data: M t.B in g -L a -S h an , alt. 700-

750 m, Liangquan Zhen, Xifeng County, Tieling

City, Liaoning Province, July 15-18, 2012.

The studied specimens are preserved in the col-

lection of one of the authors (I. Rapuzzi).

The adopted systematic order for the listed

species of the genus CavabuS is in accord with

Deuve (2012).

Lin Lin etalii

Figure 1. Study

area: Mount Bing-

La-Shan, Xifeng

County, Liaoning

Province, Northeast

China.

RESULTS

List of the species

Carabus ( Aulonocarabus ) rufinus rufinus

Beheim et B reuning, 1943 (Fig. 2)

This subspecies is widespread in a large part of

Liaoning Province and adjacent area of Jilin Prov-

ince till Changbai Shan (Li, 2000; Deuve & Li,

2000a; Deuve et al., 2011; Zhang et al., 2013).

Carabus ( Scambocarabus) kruberi c ft. laobeiensis

Deuve etLi, 2000 (Fig. 3)

Only two females collected. The identification

of the specimens will be confirmed after examina-

tion of males.

Carabus ( Tomocarabus ) fraterculus neochinensis

Deuve etLi, 1998 (Fig. 4)

The subspecies is widespread from Liaoning to

Heilongjiang Provinces.

Carabus (Morpho carabus) wulffiusi dekraatzi

K raatz , 18 8 1 (Fig . 5 )

By the small size the collected specimens be-

long to the subspecies dekraatzi, this form is com-

mon and widespread in the N orth east C h in a (Deuve

et al., 2011).

Carabus ( Carabus ) manifestus guanmenshuanus

Imura, 1 9 9 1 (F ig . 6 )

The subspecies is known from many localities

from Liaoning Province and two from Jilin Prov-

ince (Deuve et al., 2011; Zhang et al., 2013), the

new locality is inside the range of the subspecies.

The aedeagus in frontal and lateral views is figured

(Figs. 7, 8).

Carabus ( Carabus ) xiuyanensis c fr. xiuyanensis

Deuve etLi, 1998 (Fig. 9)

This species is very close to C. TYlClTlifeStUS

K raatz, 188 1 and C. Stemebergi Roeschke, 189 8

species group by the imago morphology but it has

a different shape of male aedeagus (Figs. 10, 11).

The typical form was described from Xiuyan Xian

and up to now is known only by the holotype male,

a second female specimen very probably belonging

to C. xiuyanensis is preserved in the collection of

one of the autors (I. Rapuzzi). The C. (C.) xiuya-

nensis kuandianicus Rapuzzi, 2007 is very well

separate by the uncinate apex of aedeagus.

Notes on the genus Carabus of Mount Bing-La-Shan, Xifeng County, Liaoning Province, Northeast China

2 1

Figure 2 . Carabus (Aulonocarabus) rufinus (28.5 mm). Figure 3. C. (Scambocarabus) kruberi cfr. laobeiensis ( 24.3 mm).

Figure 4. C. (Tomocarabus) fraterculus neochinensis ( 1 8 .7 mm). Figure 5 . C. (Morpho carabus) wulffiusi dekraatzi ( 20.1

mm). Figure 6. C. ( Carabus ) manifestus guanme ns huanus (2 2 mm). Figures 7, 8: idem, aedeagus in lateral (Fig. 7) and

frontal views (Fig. 8).

Lin Lin etalii

Figure 9. Cardbus ( Carabus ) xiuyanensis cfr. xiuyanensis ( 2 1 .8 mm); Figures 10, 11. Idem, aedeagus in frontal (Fig. 10)

and lateral views (Fig. 11). Figure 12. C. ( Acoptolabrus ) constricticollis frumiello ides (24.2 mm). Figure 13. C. ( Copto -

labrus) jankowskii pseudosobaekensis (3 5 .6 mm). Figure 14. C. ( Coptolabrus ) smaragdinus cfr. furumiellus (32 .7 mm). Fi-

gure is. C. ( Terato carabus) azrael mizunumaianus (2 1 mm).

Notes on the genus Carabus of Mount Bing-La-Shan, Xifeng County, Liaoning Province, Northeast China

It was described on a single male specimen from

Kuandian Xian area and up to now is known only

by the holotype. The species seems to be very rare

and endemic from Liaoning Province. The new data

are very interesting and after the examination of the

collected specimen we identify it as a form very

close to the typical one.

Carabus ( Acoptolabrus ) constricticollis frumiel-

loides Deuve, 1 9 97 (Fig. 12)

The collected specimens of C. (A.) COYlStvicticol-

lis Kraatz, 1886 are with blue elytra and green

pronotum , by this very particular coloration they

belong to the subspecies furumielloides described

from Bexi Xian (Deuve, 1997) and known from

several localities in the Southeast Liaoning:

Fengcheng Xian, Kuandian Xian, Xinbin Xian and

Huaiyin Xian (Deuve & Li, 2000b), the new local-

ity seems to be the northernmost one. A population

with light blue shades elytra lives in Xiaoduling in

Jilin Province (Deuve et al., 2011).

Carabus ( Coptolabrus ) jankowskii pseu-

dosobaekensis Deuve et Li, 1 998 (Fig. 13)

The new locality is just in the middle between

the typical locality (Benxi Xian, Mount Guanmen

Shan, Liaoning) and the population from Jilin,

Tonghua Xian, Xiaoduling (Deuve et al., 2011).

Carabus ( Coptolabrus ) smaragdinus c f r. furumiel-

lus Deuve, 1 9 94 (Fig. 14)

The specimens are with very deep blu-violet

elytra and dark blue-green pronotum. They very

probably belong to a transition form between C.

smaragdinus furumiellus and C. smaragdinus

CyanelytrOU Deuve et Li, 2003 described and

known from Sou th west Jilin Province but are closer

to the first one by more elongate body and more

green pronotum .

Carabus ( Teratocarabus ) azrael mizunumaianus

Imura, 19 9 1 (F ig . 15)

The new locality is situated more to the North

West than the known localities in Liaoning Prov-

ince (Benxi Xian and Xinbin Xian) (Deuve & Li,

2000b).

CONCLUSIONS

The Carabus fauna from M t. Bing-La-Shan,

Xifeng County, Tieling City, Liaoning Province is

closely related to the Carabus fauna from Central

South Liaoning (Benxi, Xinbin and Fengcheng).

The distribution of several species, namely:

C. ( Teratocarabus ) azrael mizunumaianus, C.

i Acoptolabrus ) constricticollis frumielloides, and

C. ( Coptolabrus ) smaragdinus cfr. furumiellus

was enlarged to the North thanks to the present

investigation. The presence of a new population of

C. ( Carabus) xiuyanensis is the most interesting re-

sult of the present study.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work was supported by a grant from the

National Science Foundation of China (No.

41371072; No. 4110 1049).

REFERENCES

Beheim D. & Breuning S., 1943. Neubeschreib ungen von

Caraboidea u. Revisionen an den v. Breuning'schen

Monograph ien von CcirClbuS , CciloSOmCl und

CeWgloSSUS (Kol.). Mitteilungen der MUnchner

entom ologischen Gesellschaft, 33: 1-25.

Breuning S., 1932-1936. Monographie der Gattung

Carabus L. Bestimmungs-Tabellen der europaischen

Coleopteren. Troppau, 1610 pp.

Deuve T., 1994. Noveaux taxons des genres CarabllS L .

et CychrilS F. de Chine (Coleoptera, Carabidae).

L am b illionea, 94: 456-468.

Deuve T., 1 997. Catalogue des Carabini et Cychrini de

Chine. Memoires de la Societe entom ologique de

France, 1: 1-236.

Deuve T., 2012. Une nouvelle classification du genre

Carabus L., 1 75 8. Liste Blumenthal 20 1 1 -20 1 2.

Assocation Magellanes,Andresy, 55 pp.

Deuve T. & Li J.K., 2000a. Diagnoses des trois nouveaux

CarabllS L. de la Chine, de la Coree et du Pakistan

(Coleoptera, Carabidae). Coleopteres, 6: 55-76.

Deuve T. & Li J.K., 2000b. Esquisse pour la connais-

sance du genre Carabus L. en Chine du Nord-Est

(Carabidae). L am b illion ea , 1 00: 502-530.

Deuve T., Li J.K. & Zhang X. P., 2011. Sur quelques

Carabinae du Nord-East de la Chine (Coleoptera,

Carabidae). Les C oleopteriste, 14: 55-61.

Deuve T. & Mourzine S., 1998. Noveaux CarabllS L . e t

CychrUS F. de la Chine, de la Siberie, du Vietnam et

Lin Lin etalii

de la Coree septentrionale (Coleoptera, Carabidae).

Coleopteres, 4: 1 49-1 68.

Kraatz G., 1881. Fiinf neue chinesische CcirubllS.

Deutsche entom ologische Z eitschrift, 25: 265-269.

Imura Y., 1991. Notes on carabid beetles (Coleoptera,

Carabidae) from East Liaoning, Northeast China.

Elytra, 1 9: 273-283.

Li J.K., 2000. La distribution de CdrClbuS COnaliculatUS

en Chine (Col. Carabidae). Le C oleopteriste, 3 8: 30.

Rapuzzi I., 2007. Descrizione di due nuovi taxa di

CarabllS L. del Nord Est della Cina (Coleoptera Ca-

rabidae). L am billionea, 107: 362-364

Zhang Xueping, Rapuzzi I., Gao M ., Li J. K., Vongkham-

pha M ., Lin L. & Huang L., 2013. The Carabini from

different altitudes of Changbai mountain, Jilin Prov-

ince, North-Eastern China (Coleoptera Carabidae

Carabinae). Biodiversity Journal, 4: 209-2 1 8.

Shilenkov V.G., 1996. Zhuzhelitsy roda CciTClbllS L.

Yuzhnoy Sibiri. Izdatel’stvo Irkutskogo Universiteta.

Irkutsk, 75 pp.

Biodiversity Journal, 2014, 5 (1): 25-3 8

Ultrasound recordings of some Orthoptera from Sardinia

(Italy)

Cesare Brizio & Filippo Maria Buzzetti

World Biodiversity Association, Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Verona, Lungadige Porta Vittoria, 9 - 37129 Verona. Italy

Corresponding author: cebrizi@tin.it

ABSTRACT During August 2013, Ultramic 250 by Dodotronic was field-tested for application in O r-

thopteran acoustic biodiversity studies. The songs of four species were recorded: UfOincnUS

brevicollis insularis Chopard, 1924 , Rhacocleis baccettii Gaivagni, 1976, Svercus palmeto-

rum palmetorum (Krauss, 1902) and OecanthllS dulcisonans Gorochov, 1993. The recording

campaign proved the viability of Ultramic 250 for field use and provided the opportunity to

assess the presence in South-Western Sardinia oftwo less documented species, SVCTCUS pcil-

metorum palmetorum (Krauss, 1902) and OecanthllS dulcisonans Gorochov, 1 993.

KEY WORDS Orthoptera; ultrasound; ecology; taxonomy.

Received 08.01.2014; accepted 12.02.2014; printed 30.03.20 14

INTRODUCTION

The Orthoptera fauna of Sardinia is relatively

well studied (A. Costa, 1 8 82, 1 8 83, 1 884, 1 8 85,

1 8 86; Nadig & Nadig, 1 9 3 4 ; G alvag ni, 197 6, 1978,

1 990; Gaivagni & Massa, 1 980; Ingrisch, 1 983;

Schmidt & Hermann, 2000; Gaivagni et al., 2007;

Massa, 2010; Fontana et al., 2011) and summarized

in Massa et al. (2012), with information on acoustic

emission to date limited to audible frequencies

(Massa et al., 2012).

A recent field expedition of the first author to

SW Sardinia, Flum inim aggiore (C arbonia-Iglesias

Province), resulted in the ultrasound recordings of

four species herein reported to improve bioacous-

tics knowledge on local Orthoptera.

Study of Orthoptera acoustic emission is impor-

tant for many reasons. The first and maybe most

commonly pursued purpose is taxonomy, being

songs useful in taxa discrimination. Biodiversity in-

ventories can also benefit from bioacoustics studies,

since many taxa that would be very elusive for di-

rect search, are more easily tracked and identified

by their song. Other aim is to investigate or better

understand behavioral implications in intraspecific

communication (reproductive behavior and rivalry

behavior), interspecific communication and preda-

tor avoidance. We therefore focus here on ultra-

sound emissions of the surveyed species.

Species identification from the ultrasound record-

ings, a paramount requirement in biodiversity as-

sessments, was achieved also with the support of

the above mentioned audio data from Massa et al.

(2012): the dissimilarity between acoustic and ul-

trasound recording technologies required special

cautions summarized in the following section.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

All the species reported were recorded within a

15 km range from Flum inim aggiore (Carbonia-

Iglesias Province, Sardinia, Italy) (Fig. 1). All the

audio and ultrasound m ate rial was obtained by field

recording during August 2013. Captured specimens

were not recorded in constrained conditions.

Cesare Brizio & Filippo Maria Buzzetti

O Genna Bogai, 549m asl (Rfiacocfeis baccettii, Uromemis b , in&ularis Q Portixeddu-Golfo del Leone Hotel. 30m asl {Srercus p. palmetorum)

O Huminlmaggiore. 30m asl (Oecamftus du/c/sonans)

Figure 1. Recording localities: Flum inirn aggiore, C arbonia-Iglesias Province, Sardinia, Italy.

Oscillograms, spectrograms and frequency anal-

ysis diagrams were produced from 250 kHz record-

ings by Adobe Audition 1.0 software or by the

equivalent Syntrillium Cool Edit Pro version.

Subsidiary stereo, 16 bit, 96kHz sampling fre-

quency recordings, needed to confirm species iden-

tification, were obtained by a self-built, stick

mounted, stereo microphone using Panasonic W M -

64 capsules (obtained from an Edirol R-09 digital

recorder), connected to a Zoom H 1 handheld digital

Micro-SD recorder, using its built-in software.

Monophonic, 16 bit, 250kHz sampling fre-

quency ultrasound recordings where obtained by a

Dodotronic Ultramic 250 microphone, connected to

an Asus Eee 1225B netbook PC, using SeaWave

software by CIBRA (Pavan, 1 998-20 1 1). Ultramic

is supported also by some tablet PC's (including

A n dro id -b a se d models): the use of a Windows-

based netbook was preferred for the authors' pre-

vious experience with the Windows audio analysis

software, installed on the same computer used for

recording. The Ultramic was set to medium gain via

its special internal set of two dip switches: in about

one year of field experience with this device, the

authors observed that the sensitivity of the alterna-

tive settings (low gain and high gain) is respectively

too low and too high to allow a correct representa-

tion of the spectral structure of Orthoptera song.

Optimal USB cable length, following several

previous tests summarized in figure 2, was found to

be under lm. The shortreach of the 45cm cable used

for the recordings didn’t allow stick-mounting, that

would otherwise be ideal to take the Ultramic as

near as possible to the recorded specimen, but in turn

eliminated the inherent noise that may be generated

by U ltram ic .W h en coupled with Asus 1 225B Net-

book, inherent noise displays a 1kHz fundamental

and unitary harm onics up to 12 - 15 kHz, w ith m a in

audible frequency at 2kHz and secondary audible

frequencies at 1kHz, 4 kHz and 7 kHz. From per-

sonal communications, the noise spectral pattern is

unaltered when Ultramic is coupled with different

recording platforms. The 1kHz fundamental was

found to be inherent to the Ultramic, and caused by

the USB polling/packet transmission on which the

communications between microphone and PC (or

tablet) are based, at 1000 cycles per second.

As long as the original scope of Ultramic is

recording inaudible Chiropteran sounds, noise in

the range of the unaided ear was deemed irrelevant.

Ultrasound recordings of some Orthoptera from Sardinia (Italy)

Figure 2. Effect of cable length in the mitigation ofU ltram ic

250 inherent noise. Vertical axis: sound pressure (dB), hori-

zontal axis: USB cable length (m), dashed line: typical U 1-

trarnic 250 noise floor under ideal field recording conditions

(-68 dB ref full scale level).

But when recording in the audible range, the whis-

tle at 2kHz becomes definitely undesirable, and the

authors investigated how the USB cable length af-

fects inherent noise, testing whether ferrite cores

along the cable can mitigate it. The tests allowed

to c o n c lu d e th at :

1 . Ferrite cores do not m itigate the noise, that orig-

inates in the very same device used for recording.

2. USB cable length ofless than lm eliminates

the noise bringing it below the level of the back-

ground noise present in any field recording.

It should be noted that the recordings obtained

by using the Ultramic 250, a device specifically de-

signed to collect ultrasonic frequencies, may not be

suitable for specific song pattern recognition by

memory and unaided ear, and thus may require

sonogram and spectrogram comparisons with ex-

isting audio-only recordings, a necessity observed

for example in the case of RJlClCOCleis bdCCettU G al-

vagni, 1976. Two potential problems, lack of pub-

lished ultrasound recordings and lack of audible

components in the Ultramic recording, may com-

plicate such a comparison. Indeed, the greatest ma-

jority of current scientific and popularization works

about bioacoustics investigated only the acoustic

range: available sonograms, spectrograms, fre-

quency analyses and descriptions aim ost in variably

refer to the audible frequency components.

When field-recording with Ultramic, it’s there-

fore advisable to adopt one or more of the following

c au tio n s :

• Visually / photographically identify the singing

specim en .

• Collect and identify a specimen.

• Record the same specimen both by Ultramic

and by audio microphones, capable of generating

audio files whose sonograms, spectrograms, fre-

quency analyses are easily comparable with existing

literature.

Subsidiary audio recordings should possibly be

taken at 96kHz sampling frequency, so that (depend-

ing on the dynamic response of the audio microphone

capsules) low ultrasonic frequency may get recorded,

allowing an easier bridging of the gap between audio

and ultrasound recordings. The first author perform ed

successful simultaneous recordings from the USB

and the audio ports of a portable computer, with audio

microphone and Ultramic coaxially mounted on the

same self-built stick and handle assembly, the draw-

back of this set being the impossibility to have both

microphones at optimal range from the subject

without saturating one of the recordings, and the noise

induced by the length of the USB cable required for

stick mounting. So, in the case of simultaneous

recordings, although the handling of two micro-

phones may prove feasible for a single operator, the

authors advise to operate in pairs by using two sepa-

rate portable digital recorders (one of them , obviously,

should be compatible with Ultramic, such as a porta-

ble PC or one of the supported tablet PC’s).

Whetherornotthe song is audible to the unaided

ear, audible components may not be reproduced in

the U ltram ic recording, depending on hardw are gain

settings, distance from the subject, song structure.

In particular, it’s quite commonplace for the O r-

thopterans with the sm allest stridulatory apparatus,

or the highest repetition frequencies, to reach well

into the ultrasonic domain, so that it’s a routine

practice to locate them with the aid of a bat detector,

as reported for example by Fontana et al. (2002).

For those species, sound pressure at ultrasonic fre-

quencies may be way higher than in the audible

range, with the practical consequence th at U ltram ic

250 may get saturated by the ultrasounds well be-

fore reaching the distance at which the audible com-

ponents may get recorded. Thus, the resulting

recording may be both inaudible and unfamiliar, up

to the point ofbeing useless without supporting ma-

terials such as visual identification, specimen col-

lection or simultaneous audio recording.

A nother distinction between audio and ultrasonic

recordings stems from the higher sampling frequen-

cies of the latter, that (even for the very same sound

Cesare Brizio & Filippo Maria Buzzetti

source) may result in a different shape of the sono-

gram, especially when the emission of the louder,

dominating ultrasonic elements is not perfectly syn-

chronous with the emission of the potentially audible

components. As a consequence, species recognition

by listening of an Ultramic recording may prove dif-

ficult even in the case of well-known, common

species’ songs. All these problems were present in

the case of R. baccettii , a low-Q species delivering

a high-pitched call dominated by ultrasounds,

whose sp ec tro gram doesn’t pro vide relevantdistinc-

tive features and whose Ultramic recording, barely

audible, didn’t bear any immediate resemblance to

the audio recording available for comparison.

To overcome the problem, some saturated

(above zero dB) Ultramic recordings were made on

purpose, to ease recognition by ear and comparison

with available reference material: although counter-

intuitive, this practice is in fact very useful. In all the

cases where ultrasonic pressure outweighs audible

frequencies’ pressure, after taking unsaturated

recordings one may decide to get as close to the sub-

ject as needed for grasping the audible components,

even though itmeans making the recording unusable

for analytical purposes. Just for the sake of ease of

recognition, saturation may be disregarded as long

as it occurs in the inaudible range. Obviously, only

regular, unsaturated recordings may be used for

analyses, while the saturated recording may even-

tually being low-pass filtered at 21 kHz, and ampli-

fied as needed. The preceding practical suggestions

outline the protocol illustrated in figure 3.

Figure 3. Suggested protocol to allow species identification form Ultramic recordings (flow chart).

Ultrasound recordings of some Orthoptera from Sardinia (Italy)

DISCUSSION

Terminology on Orthoptera song description may

not a lw ays be able to convey the sometimes comp lex

structure of sound emission. The song of all the taxa

here presented is described in Massa et al. (2012) for

their audible range. The authors therefore focused on

ultrasounds, frequency analysis and their description.

A useful distinction can be made between “high-Q”

and “low-Q” spectrum type (Eisner & Popov, 1978;

Montealegre & Morris, 1999). High-Q sound results

in one or more (e.g. Gryllidae) isolated peaks of fre-

quency, clearly distinguishable from the rest of the

frequency emission. On the other hand, “band” or

“low-Q ” of frequency sound gives a wide bandwidth

spectrogram, in which sometimes is possible to dis-

tinguish spectral subpeaks (see Table 1).

For what concerns audible sound description we

use terminology from Buzzetti & Barrientos (2011),

Moore (1989) and Ragge & Reynolds (1 998):

• Chirp (or phonatome, syllable): a short, clearly

definable sound, produced by a complete opening

and closing movements of the tegmina (or upward

and downward movements of hind legs).

• Zip: a series of pulses resulting in a short buzz,

usually shorter than a chirp.

• Trill: a long series of pulses, in which chirps

cannot be recognized.

• Echeme: most basic and simple assemble of

syllables.

List of the recorded species

Uromenus brevicollis insularis Chopard, 1923

Examined material. Italy, Sardinia, Genna

Bogai (C arbonia-Iglesias Province), N 39° 22'

2 5.4 2 8", E 8° 29’ 50.3 5 2", 54 9 m asl, 2 9 . V III.2 0 1 3 ,

1 m ale .

d ist rib ut ion. Uromenus brevicollis insularis is

distributed and locally common in Sardinia and

Corsica (its type locality).

Remarks. This calling song was recorded with

air temperatures in the range of 18°C, around mid-

night, at the Genna Bogai pass. The song could be

just faintly perceived by the unaided ear, but proved

very easy to locate by the earphones connected to

the digital audio recorder. Ultrasound recording

didn’t meet any particular difficulty, apart the usual

tendency to saturate when approaching to the spec-

imen. The male calling song (Fig. 4) consists of a

sequence of chirps that are indeed closing hemisyl-

lables. Each hemisyllable (Fig. 5) lasts for about

250-350ms and is composed of about 75-80 tooth-

impacts (Fig. 6) (Massa et al., 2012). Comparison

between frequency spectrum analysis (Fig. 7) and

time-frequency spectrogram (Fig. 8), shows that

most energy is emitted from 10 to 40 kHz, with

weaker ex te ns ion to less than 60 kHz. From 10 kHz,

the energy rapidly increases to the first maximum

peak at 13. 45 kHz. A min or energy area,with lower

peaks at 16.17, 18.52 and 19.37 kHz, is p re sen t b e-

tween 15 and 21.35 kHz. Then the energy increases

to the power peak at a frequency of 26.7 kHz. From

here, the energy emitted decreases to 41.25 kHz,

with peaks at 29.26, 31.86, 32.83, 33.87 and 35

kHz. A second band oflow energy emission is from

41.25 to 58.68 kHz, with a peak at 43.7 kHz

U. brevicollis insularis emits a very wide energy

band, reaching ultrasonic frequency, that results in

a mostly ultrasonic bandwidth with a ultrasonic

range (26.7 kHz) peak.

The song of U. brevicollis insularis recorded

and here presented, was emitted simultaneously

Species

Principal carrier

frequency in kHz

Spectrum type

Most relevant

energy emission

Singing rate

Sound unit

Uromenus brevicollis

insularis

1 2 to 4 1

Low-Q

Sonic

1 /sec

C hirp (closing

hem isy liable)

Rhacocleis baccettii

2 8 to 7 7

Low-Q

U itrasonic

3-4/sec

Z ip

Svercus palmetorum

palmetorum

6-12-18 -2 5-(3 2)

High-Q

Sonic

7-12/sec

Echeme

Oecanthus dulcisonans

3.5-7-10.5

High-Q

Sonic

40/sec

Syllable

Table 1. Main distinctive parameters in the song of the recorded species.

Cesare Brizio & Filippo Maria Buzzetti

Figures 4-7. Song of U VOTYWVIUS brevicolUs insularis. Figure 4: calling song. Figure 5: syllable (closing hem isyllable).

Figure 6: tooth-strokes. Figure 7: frequency analysis, FFT size 8192 bytes.

Ultrasound recordings of some Orthoptera from Sardinia (Italy)

3 1

Figure 8 . Tim e-frequency spectrogram of the simultaneous songs of UromenUS brevicollis insularis and Rhacocleis bdCCettU.

(Fig. 8) with another calling song by Rhacocleis

baccettii Galvagni, 1976. A very careful analysis of

both the graphs about frequency analysis and tem-

poral frequency spectrum was necessary to discrim-

inate the energy emission of the two taxa.

Nevertheless it has become clear (see R. baccettii

discussion) that these two species share the same

sound landscape, with little interference.

Rhacocleis baccettii g aivagni, 197 6

Exam in ed material. Italy, Sardinia, Genna Bogai

(C arbonia-Iglesias Province), N 39° 22' 25.42 8",

E 8° 29' 50.352", 549m asl., 29.VIII.20 1 3, 1 male.

Distribution. Endemic of Sardinia (type local-

ity: Monte Ferru, Oristano), is known for whole

Sardinia and is the commonest species of the genus

in this region .

Remarks. The song of this species varies

among populations from different localities (Massa

et al., 2012). The song here presented is very simi-

lar to what is presented in Massa etal. (2012) to be

the typical song of R. bdCCettU. The calling song of

R. baccettii (Fig. 9) is made of short zip repeated

in sequence at a rate of 3-4/sec. Each zip (Fig. 10)

consists of 30-40, up to 50 syllables of different in-

tensity. Frequency spectrum analysis (Fig. 11)

shows a low-Q band of energy emission between

28 and 77 kHz, with highest frequency at 50-51

kHz. The song of this species is therefore mostly

ultrasonic .

Figure 8 presents the two simultaneous songs of

U. brevicollis insularis and R. baccettii, clearly show-

ing striking differences between the sound emitted by

the tw o species. W hile UromenUS em its a long chirp

mostly sonic with main peak at 26 kHz, Rhacocleis

sings w ith very short buzz that are mostly ultrasonic.

The sound space is therefore shared, with no interfer-

ence since the sound structure, i.e. temporal parame-

ters and frequency em itted, is com pletely different in

the two species. Such differences are known to be

useful in specific mate recognition for sympatric or

syntopic species (Zefa et al., 2012), even in “cocktail

party” conditions (Siegert et al., 2013).

Svercus palmetorum palmetorum (Krauss, 1902)

Examined material. Italy, Sardinia, Flumin-

imaggiore (C arbonia-Iglesias Province), N 39° 26'

53.232" E 8° 25’30.18",30m asl, 8August2013, 1

m ale .

Distribution. Svercus palmetorum is distrib-

uted in North Africa and South West Asia, plus

Italy, Spain, Canary Is., Baleares Is., Corsica, Malta

and Cyprus. In Italy is known for few localities in

Sardinia, Sicily and Calabria.

Remarks. The song (Fig. 12) is composed by

sharp trills that can be continuous or interrupted by

a very short pause. Echemes (Figs. 13-14) consist

of groups of 7 to 9 syllables lasting on average 0.05

s in which the starting syllables are, each syllable

lasting on average 5 ms.

Cesare Brizio & Filippo Maria Buzzetti

Figures 9-11. Song of RhdCOcleis baccettii. Figure 9: calling song. Figure 10: sound unit. Fig u re 11: frequency analysis,

FFT size 8192 bytes.

Average silent time between echemes is 0.02 s.

Each trill may include bouts of 8-20 echemes,

or may be continuous (>100 echemes without in-

terruption). Song bouts are separated by intervals

that may last 0.10 s-0.30 s once the song is initi-

ated, or up to several seconds in the initial or final

phases of the song. 250 kHz ultrasound recordings,

besides displaying the same pattern described

above, allowed a deeper high frequency analysis

showing a very elaborated spectral pattern. The

strong harmonic structure of the song is revealed by

a close up of the spectral analysis in a window be-

tween -12 db and -90 db, and for frequencies up to

85 kHz. The pattern of regularly spaced harmonic

frequencies can be made out quite clearly. Opening

hemisyllable is weaker than closing one, emitting

very few energy at a frequency of about 25 kHz.

Frequency analysis of closing hemisyllable (Fig.

15) reveals the fundamental at 6.317 kHz, and three

harmonics at 12.2 kHz, the weakest at 18.82 kHz

and the last at 25.69 kHz. In the first part of each

closing hemisyllable an upper harmonic is present

at about 32.5 kHz, lasting for 1 msec.

Given the peculiarity of this species, we present

here some morphological characters (Figs. 17-19)

and the originaldescription (Fig. 18). In the figures

are clearly evident the diagnostic characters of this

Ultrasound recordings of some Orthoptera from Sardinia (Italy)

3 3

Figures 12-15. Song of SverCUS palmetOVUm palmetorum. Figures 12-13: calling song. Figure 14: sound unit. Figure 15:

frequency analysis, FFT size 8192 bytes. Figure 1 6 . S pectrogram of the 250kHz audio sample from S. paln'ietOfUH'1 palme -

to rum, “G olfo del Leone”, P ortix ed d u, 8 August 2013, 23°C.

Cesare Brizio & Filippo Maria Buzzetti

Figures 17-19. SverCUS palmetonim pcilinetoniin. Figure 1 7 : living male from Flum inim aggiore. Figure 18: male hind

tibia, scale 1 mm. Figure 19: male tegmina, scale 1 mm.

Ultrasound recordings of some Orthoptera from Sardinia (Italy)

■in. G. p&luetorum mu-, i*|ief.

Stnlura pur eu. Citium fatco-mgto. opaeu. Caput jntrvum, Hujtrrimmm,

uitidwiinmm, tinea iuttrotuinri flam, nrcutrta, nniju.*ltt el hntols* flaeit longi-

hulitmlibui iuirrditm uUntttreKtii/HS in ocripxie omnium, palpi n fluraceulibu*.

Ffmiultnn uif/rtim, fnlen-piihen em. 4mr<nfiq-pcc prntcspiie m mtV'ffimbns jiiliis nu;ris

hirlum. /".Vi tiro fHSca-uiifru, in Mlrtn/nr wjm uIhI tnnine juirunl iirrtiom, poiliee

mtnmtatn, sMtupti itpimli et elnsirpitti, Is rrrjni q*- rcml/ii unrlHhth* dutibun in-

Sfi’iiclit. »vw« ruiliuli uni- i it Jiiniwmnn. mutfrti htlrntli ptllucido renin aWMUiiJ

inter sc rnltle distant ihu* ioxtfHCtO. fne flbortime ret abdominis dimidimi

aefputnle* Fain fuleo-pvbacmle*, itutrn-pHo.u, anteriore* interdnm wrrhde

oehmtw-niarmfirnti. Frmorn ptixlieu oblitpie /iprti-.o/j^fifu, 7 ibitte

pastime is j ulrntptr mn mine x) i r >i in .11 it apier f ii/m'siTif f i tut* rrrjjin far ,

{nlcnrilwi thiabo* iuterut* netpir lentjir OripMitor rectus, frworAu* 1 i'V-

pot&iti* lovgfar

v'.'

I.ttnijihidn eorpori* - .

1! —Vintm.

12 —lit IHJw,

Fif. II.

ffjyiwr

fill t a*Hm

„ praneiii

33 3 Ti

ta-3 „

„ elylrnrtttn ,

7 -r,- ft ,

t ft r-

n ifi.. V.

„ frtnm'itm port, .

7 •> *

* -&5 *

Ignite KUlr*

. ariportlori* , .

■

S Hi .

i wrreT 3.

In ilen, Fjilimcm'rrildmi non N(;»im» (*V A|tril), ToiLROurt >J, Mai).

Mr.aTer (Jl Mai*. lUMSMiitlinb .nwrli ill don nidi Ufjiilrviilea, vmi ilrn

IkwIi utli-len fiarlfnbrelm, fr*i hum ill wli wolfrni uod wi*f?pn whirr B»hnndij{kril

Ofonuix »rhwor *n fangeu. Dax o' *ir|'1 NachrrtitUg* mid AiienHs. Her Zirplon

ill miiraHtnd but uml rmuli flax riiurluc »grrri“ 1st iteatlich obgexMit, wil'd

nbrr oho* WnUrbrecHnng mcli wMrrholt mnl winiiprt lebhnft .in dm Ton wnw

(.'tends.

(! frontalis mid f;, ahjeiiw) Siui*"! in rtrSwc urn! Kirtmng wlir

ilnlldi, mm Will'll dnrrh die rti'IAngartKi Klj'trea. dvnn SjiitW'iiMil b-iifl q’

volLslindig entiii'lii'li ht, ilwrch die grgm das distnle Kndc »■ I'criktelto Wiia

nidi*] it, ion fl. frontalis iioch in»Vxciiid« , n? dnrrb die ntxrk«r Id it mid hir jjj-Ihj -

geni'ii JIarjwAlerii drs o', wrwir dir wi-il mn riiimnirr mtfrrutm Adrm d«-s

Aktflitllend vcrddumtcn. glasailig durrhwrlirlnrndcii SfilrnMilia »l«r Kill mi vmr-

mdiirdrsi Mil dirwr Bearhaffinhril Him lehskrrft diirfn> lirflrii-lil dir Irilfudlnl.

dfa Zirptonx in ZuxaininmliaDg -t-hm, dri* fill" die firS*sc diner Grille Kami

iiHsnelinumd laut i*t.

Figure 20. SverCUS pClhnetOHAin original description from

Krauss (1902).

taxon, i.e. hind tibia spinulation, wing venation pat-

tern and transverse line on the head.

Oecanthus dulcisonans Gorochov, 1993

Examined material. Italy, Sardinia, Flumin-

imaggiore (C arbonia-Iglesias Province), N 39°26’

53.2 32 " E 8° 25’ 3 0.18", 30m asl, 29 A ugust 20 1 3 ,

1 m ale .

d ist rib ut ion. Oecanthus dulcisonans is known

for Canary Is., Spain, Italy and Middle East. Very

few localities are known forSardinia.The presence

of this species in Sardinia was ascertained by

Schmidt & Herrmann (2000). It is still unreported

in the online version of the Fauna d ’Italia checklist,

but is reported in Massa et al. (2012) with the com-

ment “a few records from Sardinia, central Italy and

Sicily, the status in Italy is unclear”.

In fact, until Gorochov (1 993) description, O.

dulcisonans w asn’t separated from O. pellucens pel-

lucens (Scopoli, 1 763), so particular care was put

in the unequivocal identification of a specimen

from the locality where audio recording (both at 96

kHz and at 250 kHz) took place, namely the town

o f F lu m in im ag g io re (C arb o n ia -Ig le s ias province)

under the bridge of Riu Billittu, at an elevation of

80m. Temperature at the moment of recording was

2 2.1 °C. For a quick identification of O. dulclso-

nans, the acoustic and morphological guidelines by

Cordero et al. (2009) where applied to the audio

sample and to the collected specimen (Figs. 21, 22).

The morphological identification didn't pose any

doubt, even though the Sardinian specimen, with a

tegminal length of 13 mm and a femural length of

8 mm, although obviously larg er th an O. pellucens

pellucens, fell slightly below the measurements pro-

vided by Cordero et al. (2009) for tegmen length

(dulcisonans = 14.01 ± 0.26; pellucens = 10. 80 ±

0.14) ( 1 1 5 = 12.05; P < 0.000 1) and femur length

(dulcisonans = 8.60 ± 0.14; pellucens = i .60 ± 0.17)

( 1 1 4 = 4.06; P < 0.001) for specimens from Spain

and Tunisia.

Remarks. The calling song (Fig. 23) of O. dul-

ClSOnans consists of a melodious trill emitted al-

most continuously. Trills (Fig. 24) consist of

syllables emitted at average rate of 40/sec.

Frequency analysis (Fig. 25) shows high-Q

pitched emission of energy. Dominant frequency is

at 3.295 kHz, with harmonics at 6.286, 9.216 and

12.39 kHz, being therefore strictly in the audio

range. Enhanced contrast in tim e -freq u en c y spec-

trogram (Fig. 26) show very weak harmonics

above 13 kH z.

The song, although somehow different from the

data in Cordero et al. (2009) and in Massa et al.

(2012), remains clearly discernible from the repet-

itive but less continuous echemes in concurrent

songs by O. pellucens pellucens, also living in the

same area although not in the same environment.

Direct observation of the first author confirmed

that O. pellucens pellucens sings preferentially

from trees while O. dulcisonans seems to prefer

high grass such as the vegetation growing along

small stream s .

CONCLUSIONS

Ultrasound songs of four Orthoptera Ensifera

from Sardinia have been recorded. Microphones

with ultrasonic threshold, such as Ultramic 250 by

Dodotronic, proved to be an invaluable device to

investigate the ultrasonic components of Orthopteran

songs. Some limitations addressed herein do not af-

Cesare Brizio & Filippo Maria Buzzetti

Figure 21. Comparison between the OeCCinthuS duldsonans from F lu m in im a g g io re (left) and the guideline illustrations

from Cordero et al., 2009 (right), p = O. p. pelluCCHS, d = O. dultisonCUlS. Figure 22. Living male from Flum inim aggiore.

feet its high potential as a scientific tool for field re-

search in Orthopteran bioacoustics, in particular if

the protocol outlined in the introduction is adopted.

Ultramic peculiar features may require specimen

collection or subsidiary audio recordings to make it

an useful tool for species identification on acoustic

evidence. Of the taxa recorded, the only with domi-

nant ultrasonic emission is R. baccettii. U. brevicollis

insularis and S. palmetorum palmetorum emit both

in audio and ultrasound range, while O. dultisOVLCinS

appears to emit almost only in the audio range.

The presence of S. palmetorum palmetorum, of

which to date very few data were available, is con-

firmed in Sardinia by audio recordings and speci-

mens. O. duldsonans is also confirmed in Sardinia

for new localities. W ithin the limits of a clearly rec-

ognizable, more or less continuous stridulation , the

song appears more variable than previously reported

for the species, in particular for its main audible fre-

quency. Also specimen size variability appears to

be higher than previously reported, with a slightly

smaller biometry for the Sardinian specimen. The

ultrasonic components of O. duldsonans calling

Ultrasound recordings of some Orthoptera from Sardinia (Italy)

Fig u res 23-25. Song of OecantJlUS dulcisonOMS . Figure 23: calling song. Fig u re 24: sound unit. Figure 25: freq uen cy analysis,

FFT size 8 192 bytes. Figure 26. Zoom-in up to 35kFIz from the 250 kHz spectrogram of OecanthliS duldsOflCltlS song,

displaying a main audible frequency of around 3200Hz, Fluminimaggiore, 29 August 2013, numbers show the approximate

location of the first ten unitary harmonics.

song do not seem particularly relevant. Neverthe-

less the weak harmonics above 13 kHz of this

species could have some role, the significance of

which should be investigated within the frame of het-

erospecific behavior, though in the same genus. Bioa-

coustics is here confirmed to be valuable in

biodiversity assessment and taxonomic distinction.

Sound analysis deeper than simple sonogram illustra-

tion, allow to gain more details for sound description,

taxonomic discussion and ethological observations.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We thank Prof. Gianni Pavan (CIBRA-Univer-

sita degli Studi di Pavia) and the anonymous revie-

wer for their comments on the manuscript, Dr.

Paolo Fontana (Fondazione Edmund Mach) for his

inspiring talks on Orthoptera sounds, Dr. Ivano Pe-

licella (Dodotronic) for his technical support on Ul-

tramic and Dr. Gianfranco Caoduro and the

WBA-World Biodiversity Association for promo-

ting scientific studies on the Mediterranean fauna.

Cesare Brizio & Filippo Maria Buzzetti

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Biodiversity Journal, 2014, 5 (1): 39-54

Analysis of the vascular flora of four satellite islets of the Egadi

Archipelago (W Sicily), with some notes on their vegetation

and fauna

Salvatore Pasta 1 *, Arnold Sciberras 2 , Jeffrey Sciberras 3 & Leonardo Scuderi 4

‘National Research Council (CNR). Istitute of B iosciences and Bioresources (1BBR), Corso Calatafimi. 414 - 90129. Palermo.

Italy; e-mail: s a lv a to re ,p a s ta @ ibbr.cnr.it

2 133.Arnest, Arcade Str., Paola, Malta; e-mail: bioislets@gmail.com

3 2 4 Camille ri crt Fit 5,Triq il-Marlozz, Ghadira, Mellieha, Malta; e-mail: wildalienplanet@gmail.com

4 via Andromaca, 60 - 91100 Trapani, Italy; e-mail: scuderileo@ yahoo. it

Corresponding author

ABSTRACT This paper represents the first contribution on the vascular flora of the stack named Faraglione

di Levanzo and of three satellite islets of Favignana, i.e. Preveto, Galeotta and a stack located

at Cala Roto n da. A sketch of their vegetation pattern is also provided, as well as a list of all

the terrestrial fauna, with some more detailed information on the vertebrates. The fin ding of

some bones of MllStclci tlivCllis Linnaeus, 1758 is the first record for the whole archipelago

and deserves further investigations. The floristic data have been used in order to analyze

life-form and chorological spectra and to assess species-area relationship, the peculiarity of

local plant assemblages, the occurrence of islet specialists, the risk of alien plants invasion

and the refugium role played by the islets. The significant differences among the check-lists

compiled by the two diffe rent couples of authors during their ow n visits to Preveto and Galeotta

underline the need of planning regular and standardized field investigations in order to avoid

an overestimation of local species turnover rates.

KEY WORDS Ellenberg bioindicator values; Life-form spectra; Mediterranean Sea; Unbalanced biota.

Received 05.02.2014; accepted 12.02.20 14; printed 30.03.20 14

INTRODUCTION

The aims of the paper

Egadi Islands are located in the province of

Trapani and form the westernmost archipelago of

Sicily. The whole archipelago includes three main

islands, i.e. Favignana, Marettimo and Levanzo,

and almost ten islets and stacks, mostly dispersed

in the sea near the coast of Trapani or between

Trapani and Levanzo. In this paper we present the

results of a five-y ears-long investigation carried out

by tw o different teams,mainly focused on the vascular

flora of four of these tiny islets, i.e. the “Faraglione”

(= stack) of Levanzo (hereinafter named “FLE”)

and 3 satellite islets of Favignana, i.e. Preveto

(“PRE”), Galeotta (“GAL”), and a little islet with-

out any official name situated within Cala Rotonda

and therefore indicated as “ROT” (Figs. 1-5).

The present study enters the strand of recent

investigations on the botanical features of circum-

Sicilian satellite islets (Siracusa, 1996; Pasta, 1 997a,

200 1, 2002; Scuderi et al., 2007; Pasta & Scuderi,

2008; Lo Cascio & Pasta, 2008b, 2012; Sciberras &

Sciberras, 2012) and updates the available informa-

tion on the vascular flora of Egadi Archipelago (D i

Salvatore Pasta et alii

Martino & Trapani, 1 967; Gianguzzi et al., 2006;

Romano et al., 2006). Some rough information on

the vegetation and the fauna of the islets is given, too.

Basic information on the study area

All the studied islets are characterized by Juras-

sic or Cretaceous calcareous rocks, although some

spots of outcropping marls and radiolarites have

been recorded on PRE (Abate et al., 1997). The

available information on the rainfall and tempera-

ture regimes of the nearest climate recording sta-

tion, i.e. Trapani (Zampino et al., 1 997) suggests

that the islets are all subject to the same bioclimatic

type, which is upper thermo-mediterranean dry ac-

cording to R ivas-M artlnez (2008) classification.

Du ring Last Glacial M aximum (i.e.c. 18-12 Kyrs

BP), the sea level was some 80-120 m lower than

today (Lambeck et al., 2010), so that all the consid-

ered islets were part of the main islands, and they

must have been connected with them at least till 8

Kyrs BP (Agnesi et al., 1993; Antonioli et al., 2002).

M alatesta ( 1 957) noticed plenty of lithic arti-

facts on PRE. No other information seems to be

available on the past land use and human presence

on the islets. Besides, a lot of potsherds have been

observed on the flat inland ofPRE, which also hosts

a little and rough cubic structure, probably built up

some decades ago by shepherds, who used to trans-

fer on PRE their animals during summer, in order

to have a shady and fresh place where to eat and

rest. Moreover, along the eastern border of FLE a

sort of path was noticed, perhaps produced by in-

tense trampling due to the presence of herbivores

left on the islet during summer season. The main

geographical characteristics of the islets are sum-

marized in Table 1.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

A specimen of Parapholis pycnantha (Hack.)

C.E. Hubb. (Poaceae), quoted by Cuccuini (2002),

testifies that Giovanni Gussone, the indefatigable

botanist who explored every hidden spot of Sicily

and wrote down the most detailed checklist of Si-

cilian vascular flora ever published, visited FLE

during his botanical expedition to Egadi islands

during May 1 829 (Pasquale, 1 876 ; Trotter, 1948).

The only recent data on FLE flora and vegetation

were collected by S. Pasta during a short visit some

twenty years ago (April 1995; hereinafter indicated

as SP0). More recently the investigation on the vas-

cular flora of the four islets w as carried out through

five visits between 2004 and 2010. More in detail,

three of them were carried out by S. Pasta and L.

Scud eri (PRE: SP-LS 1, 21/0 9/2 004; PRE and GAL:

SP-LS2, 14/08/2005; FLE: SP-LS3, 27/09/2005),

while A. and J. S c ib err as first v is ite d PRE and GAL

(A-JS1, 10/10/2010) and then ROT (A-JS2,

17/10/2010).

The classification of the observed plants was

carried out mainly using Pignatti (1 9 82) and Tutin

et al. (1 964-1 980, 1 993), while their nomenclature

is mainly based on Euro + Med (2006). Moreover,

the families are circumscribed according to the

most recent proposals of A ngiosperm Phylogeny

Group (APG, 2009; Reveal & Chase, 2011), while

families, genera and infrageneric taxa are listed in

alphabetical order.

The check-list also provides basic information

on life forms (Raunkiasr, 1 934) and chorotypes (ac-

cording to Pasta, 1997b) or xenophyte status

(Richardson et al., 2000). In order to perform a bet-

ter interpretation of the floristic similarity among

the islets, the niche width of each taxon was taken

Code

Per (m)

Surface (ha)

Dist (m)

ME (m)

UTM coordinates

1 ,240

4.3 1 9

224

E 262835.73 - N 4199765. 67

GAL

453

0.706

420

E 2625 1 2.94 - N 4 1 99493.1 7

ROT

305

0.423

E 260929.07 - N 4200840.57

FLE

489

0.959

E 265 3 83.93 - N 4207687.67

Table 1. Main geographic features of the investigates islets. Per: perimeter; Dist: minimum distance from the

main island; ME: maximum elevation above sea level.

Vascular flora of four satellite islets of the Egadi Archipelago (W Sicily), with some notes on their vegetation and fauna 4 1

Figure 1. Location of the investigated islets, a: Preveto (PRE); b: Galeotta (GAL); c: islet of Cala Rotonda (ROT); d:

Faraglione di Levanzo (FLE). Figure 2. Preveto and Galeotta from the southern coast of Favignana (photo L. Scuderi).

Figure 3. The Islet of Galeotta from Preveto (photo A. Sciberras). Figure 4. Cala Rotonda islet from the coast of Favignana

(photo A. Sc ib err as). Figure 5. Faraglione di Levanzo from the south-eastern coast of Levanzo (photo L. Scuderi).

Salvatore Pasta et alii

into account through E lie n b e rg e r ’ s b io in d ic a tio n

values (data from Pignatti, 2005, modified), i.e. L

(light, whose range of variation is from 1 to 9), T

(temperature, 1-9), C (continentality, 1-9), U (mois-

ture, 1-12), R (soil pH, 1-9), N (soil fertility, 1-9)

and S (soil salinity, 1-3). Basic information used

for data elaboration is contained in Table 2. In this

Table 2 the Column “LF” contains information on

Raunkiaer’s life forms. Columns 2-8 refer to Ellen-

berger’s b io in d ic atio n values as follows: L (light),

T (tem perature,), C (c o n tin en tality ), U (moisture),

R (soil pH), N (soil fertility) and S (soil salinity).

For further information on the range of these values

see the text in “M ate rial and Methods” paragraph.

Column “Choro” illustrates the chorotype of each

plant. In the last four columns the presence (“1”)

or absence (“0”) of each detected vascular plant is

reported .

M oreover, the m ain literature concerning coastal

Sicilian vegetation (Bartolo et al., 1 982; Brullo et

al., 2001; Minissale et al., 2010) has been consulted

in order to facilitate the interpretation of local plant

c o m m u n itie s .

Data on fauna were collected as a broad brush

baseline survey of all the specimens (including re-

mains, traces and faecal pellets) encountered. Id en -

tifications of most invertebrate species were carried

out according to Fontana et al. (2002).

RESULTS

The vascular flora

AIZOACEAE

Malephora croceci ( J a c q . ) Schwantes - Ch succ

- Naturalized: FLE (LS-SP3)

Mesembryanthemum crystallinum l. - t rept -

Subcosmopolitan: PRE (LS-SP2;A-JS1)

Mesembryanthemum nodiflorum l. - t rept -

Tethyan-Capensis: PRE (LS-SP2; A-JS1); FLE

(SP0; LS-SP3)

AMARANTHACEAE

Arthrocnemum macrostachyum (M o r i c . ) K .

Koch - NP succ - Mediterranean-Irano-Turanian:

PRE (LS-SP1, LS-SP2; A-JS1); GAL (LS-SP2;

A -J SI); ROT (A-JS2); FLE (SP0;LS-SP3)

Beta maritima L - H scap - M editerranean-

A tlantic: PRE (L S - S P 2 ; A - J S 1 )

Chenopodium murale l. - t scap - Subcos-

mopolitan:PRE (LS-SP2;A-JS1)

Chenopodium opulifolium Schrad. - t scap -

S u b c o s m o p o litan : GAL (A-JS1)

f Halimione portulacoides (L.) Aeiien - np -

Te th y an -E urop e an : GAL (LS-SP2)

Suaeda vera j.f. g melin - Ch frut - Tethyan-

A tlantic: PRE (LS-SP1,LS-SP2;A-JS1);GAL (L S -

SP2; A -JS 1)

AM ARYLLIDACEAE

Allium commutatum Guss. - G bulb - Mediter-

ranean: PRE (LS-SP2; A-JS1); GAL (LS-SP2; A-

JS); FLE (SP0; LS-SP3)

ANACARDIACEAE

Pistacia lentiscus l . - p caesp - Mediterranean:

FLE (SP0; LS-SP3)

A P IA C E A E

Crithmum maritimumh. - Ch suffr - Mediter-

raneans tlantic : GAL (LS-SP2; AJ&JS1); ROT

(AJ&JS2); FLE (SP0;LS-SP3)

Daucus bocconei g uss.-H bienn-CW Med ite r-

ranean: FLE (SP0; LS-SP3)

Ferula communis L. - H scap - M editerranean-

M ac aro n e sian : PRE (LS-SP2)

Thapsia garganicah . subsp. garganica- h scap

-CW Mediterranean: PRE (LS-SP2;A-JS1)

A R A C E A E

Aris arum Vulgar e Targ.-Tozz. - G rhiz - Mediter-

ranean: PRE (LS-SP2; A-JS1); FLE (LS-SP3)

ARECACEAE

Chamaerops humilis L. - NP - CW Mediter-

ranean: FLE (SP0; LS-SP3)

ASPARAGACEAE

Asparagus acutifolius L. - G l-hiz - Mediter-

ranean: PRE (LS-SP2); FLE (LS-SP3)

Asparagus aphyllus L. - Ch frut - S Mediter-

ranean: ROT (A-JS2)

Prospero autumnale (L .) Speta (= Scilla autum-

nalis L.) - G bulb - Tethyan-European: ROT (A -

JS 2 )

ASTERACEAE

Anthemis secundiramea Biv. - t scap - cw

Mediterranean: FLE (SP0; LS-SP3)

Vascular flora of four satellite islets of the Egadi Archipelago (W Sicily), with some notes on their vegetation and fauna 4 3

Beilis annua L.-T scap - Tethyan:PRE (A-JS1)

Calendula arvensis l . - t scap - Tethyan-Euro-

pean: PRE (A -JS 1 )

CarduUS pycnocephalus L . - H bienn - Te thy an -

European: PRE (LS-SP2;A-JS1)

Galactites tomentosa m oench - H bienn -

Mediterranean: PRE (LS-SP2;A-JS1)

Helichrysum panormitanum Tine o [= H. rupe-

Stve (Raf.) DC.] - Ch frut - NW Sicilian endemic:

FLE (LS-SP3)

Jacobaea niaritinia (L .) Pelser et M eijden subsp.

bicolor { Willd.) B. Nord. et Greuter [= Senecio

bicolor (W illd.) Tod.] - Ch frut - CW Medit: FLE

(LS-SP3)

Limbarda crithmoides (L.) Dumort. (= Inula

crithmoides l .) - c h suffr - CS - Mediterranean-

A tlan tic : R O T (A-JS2);FLE (SP0;LS-SP3)

Senecio leucanthemifolius Poir. s.i. - t scap -

CW Mediterranean: PRE (LS-SP2; A-JS1); GAL

(LS-SP2; A-JS1); ROT (A-JS2)

Sonchus oleraceus l . - t scap - B oreal-Tethy an :

PRE (LS-SP2;A-JS1); GAL (A-JS1);FLE (LS-SP3)

Sonchus tenerrimus L . -T scap -Tethyan-Paleo-

tropical: PRE (A -JS 1 )

Xanthium strumarium l. subsp. italicum

(Moretti) D. Love - T scap - Subcosmopolitan: ROT

(A -JS2)

BORAGINACEAE

Echium plantagineum L . - H bienn - Tethyan-

European: PRE (LS-SP2;A-JS1);FLE (LS-SP3)

Heliotropium europaeumL . - t scap - Tethyan-

Eu rope an: PRE (LS-SP1,LS-SP2;A-JS1)

BRASS1CACEAE

Diplotaxis erucoides (L.) dc . - T scap -

Mediterranean: PRE (A-JS1)

Iberis semperflorens l . - c h su ffr - C entral

M editerranean: FLE (LS-SP3)

Lobularia maritima (L .) Desv. - h scap - Medit:

FLE (SPO; LS-SP3)

CAPPARACEAE

Capparis spinosa l . subsp. rupestris (Sibth. et

Sm.) Nyman - NP - M ed iterran ean - PRE (LS-SP1,

LS-SP2, A-JS1); GAL (LS-SP2; A-JS1); ROT

(A-JS2); FLE (SPO; LS-SP3)

Dianthus rupicola b iv. su b sp . rupicola - c h fru t -

A p u lian - S ic ilian endemic: FLE (LS-SP3)

Polycarpon alsinifolium (Biv.) dc. - t scap - s

M editerranean-A tlantic : PRE (LS-SP2)

Silene sedoides Poir. subsp. sedoides - t scap -

Mediterranean: PRE (LS-SP2); GAL (LS-SP2);

FLE (LS-SP3)

CRASSULACEAE

Sedum litoreum Guss.-T succ - Mediterranean:

PRE (LS-SP2)

CUCURBITACEAE

Ecballium elaterium (L.) a. Rich. - h scand -

Tethyan-Pontic: PRE (LS-SP1,LS-SP2;A-JS1)

EUPHORBIA CEAE

Euphorbia segetalis l . (inch E. pinea l .) - c h

suffr-CW M editerranean: PRE (A-JS2); ROT ( A -

J S 2 )

Mercurialis annua l. - t scap - r - Tethyan-

Eu rope an: PRE (LS-SP1,LS-SP2;A-JS1)

FA B A C E A E

LotUS CytisoideS L . - Ch suffr - Mediterranean:

ROT (A-JS2)

FRANKENIACEAE

Frankenia hirSUta L. - Ch suffr - M editerranean-

Pontic: FLE (LS-SP3)

Frankenia pulverulenta l. - t scap - Tethyan-

Pontic: PRE (LS-SP2)

GENTIANACEAE

Centaurium tenuiflorum (Hoffmgg. et Link)

Fritsch - T scap - Mediterranean: PRE (LS-SP2)

GERANIACEAE

Erodium malacoides (L.) l’h erit. - T scap -

Tethyan: PRE (A -JS 1)

Erodium moschatum (L.) l’h erit. - T scap -

M editerranean-E uropean : PRE (A-JS1)

LAMIACEAE

Sideritis romana l . - t scap - Mediterranean:

PRE (LS-SP2); FLE (LS-SP3)

Salvatore Pasta et alii

M A LVA C E A E

Malva arborea (L .) Webb, et Berthei. [= Lavatera

arborea l.) - h b ienn - M e d iterr an e an - A tla n tic :

PRE (LS-SP1, LS-SP2; A-JS1)

Malva multiflora (Cav.) Soldano, Banfi et

G alasso [= Lavatera cretica L .] - T sc ap - M editer-

ranean: PRE (A-JS1)

PLUMBAGINACEAE

Limonium aegusae B rullo - Ch suffr - endemic

o f F a v ig n an a : R O T (A-JS2)

Limonium bocconei { Lojac.) Litard. - Ch suffr -

NW Sicilian endemic: PRE (LS-SP2)

Limonium lojaconoi Bruiio - ch suffr - nw

Sicilian endemic: FLE (LS-SP3)

Limonium ponzoi (Fiori et Beg.) B rullo - Ch

suffr - W Sicilian endemic: FLE (LS-SP3)

P O A C E A E

Avena cfr. barbata Link - T scap - Tethyan-

Pontic: PRE (A -JS 1 )

Brachypodium retusum (Pers.) p. Beauv. - h

caesp - Mediterranean: FLE (LS-SP3)

Catapodium pauciflorum (Merino) Brullo,

Giusso, Minissale et Spampinato - T scap - CW

Mediterranean: FLE (LS-SP3)

Catapodium rigidum c.E.Hubb.subsp. rigidum -

T scap - Tethyan-European: FLE (LS-SP3)

Dactylis glomerata Roth. l. subsp. hispanica

(Roth) Nyman - H caesp - Mediterranean: FLE

(SPO; LS-SP3)

Hordeum leporinum Link - T scap - Mediter-

ranean-European: PRE (LS-SP2)

LagUVUS ovatus L . s.l. - T scap - M editerranean-

A tlantic: PRE (A S & JS 1 )

Parapholis incurva (L .) c .e . h ub b . - T scap-

Te th y a n - E u r o s ib iria n : PRE (LS-SP2); GAL (L S -

S P 2 ) ; FLE (SPO; LS-SP3)

Parapholis pycnantha (Hack.) c.e. Hubb. - t

scap - CW Mediterranean: FLE (LS-SP3)

f Sporobolus pungens (Sc hr eb .) Kunth - G 1 -hiz

- H o larc tic -P ale o trop ic al : GAL (LS-SP2)

RANUNCULACEAE

Ranunculus bullatUSL. - G bulb - R - Mediter-

ranean: PRE (LS-SP2)

RUBIACEAE

Valantia muralis l. - t scap - r - Mediter-

ranean: PRE (LS-SP2); FLE (LS-SP3)

SOLANACEAE

Hyoscyamus alb us l . - T scap - M editerranean-

Macaronesian: GAL (LS-SP2;A-JS1)

Mandragora autumnalis Bertoi. - h ros -

Mediterranean: PRE (LS-SP1,LS-SP2;A & ESI)

Solatium lycopersicum l . (= Lycopersicon escu-

lentum M ill.) - T scap - Casual alien: PRE (A & ESI)

URT1CACEAE

Parietaria lusitanica L. - H scap - Tethyan-

European: PRE (LS-SP2)

Urtica membranacea Poir. - t scap - m editer-

ranean-M acaronesian: PRE (A-JS1)

Two sea-grasses, Cymodocea nodosa (Ucria)

Asch. and Posidonia OCeanica (L.) Delile, quite

common along the coasts of Egadi islands (Giac-

cone et al., 1985) and present near all the considered

islets, do not figure within the list. The symbol

f underlines that HaWmone portulacoides and

Sporobolus pungens , were no more observed in

GAL. Considering their perennial life-cycle, the

very little size of both their local population and the

islet, they must be considered as locally extinct and

therefore excluded from further data elaboration.

Main structural and floristic patterns of

local plant communities

The distribution and the floristic assemblage of

the observed plant communities firstly depends on

the size and the topography (e.g. flat areas, rocky

cliffs, even or steep shores, etc.) of the islets.

The natural landscape of PRE is also shaped by

the disturbance induced by a huge breeding colony

of yellow - legged seagulls (at least 60 pairs), which

causes important changes on both the structure and

chemistry of the soil due to trampling and to organic

matter input, respectively (see Caldarella et al.,

2010, and references therein). In fact, the northern

half of its inland area (Fig. 6), where most part of

the nesting sites are concentrated, holds a ruderal

community referred to Stellarietea mediae R . Tx.

Lohmeyer et Preising ex von Rochow 1951, rather

rich in annual pioneer plants which are quite com-

mon in disturbed places, arable lands and in fallow

communities; among them, Malva arborea and

CarduUS pycnocephalus are the most common and

dominant species.

Vascular flora of four satellite islets of the Egadi Archipelago (W Sicily), with some notes on their vegetation and fauna 4 5

Choro

Scientific name

M ed

Allium commutatum Guss.

1 1

C W M ed

Anthemis secundiramea b iv.

M ed

Arisarum vulgare t a rg . - t o z z .

N P

1 1

M ed-Ir-T ur

Arthrocnemum macrostachyum

(Moric.) K. Koch

M ed

Asparagus acutifolius l .

S M ed

Asparagus aphyllus l .

Te t-P o n t

Avena c fr. barbata Link

Tet

Beilis annua l .

1 1

M ed-A tl

Beta maritima l .

1 1

M ed

Brachypodium retusum (Pers.) p. Beauv.

Tet-E ur

Calendula arvensis l .

N P

M ed

Capparis spinosa l . sub sp . rupestris

( S ib th . & Sm.) Nyman

Tet-E ur

Carduus pycnocephalus l .

1 1

C W M edit

Catapodium pauciflorum (M erino)

Brullo, Giusso, Minissale et Spampinato

Tet-E ur

Catapodium rigidum c .e . h ubb .

subsp. rigidum

M ed

Centaurium tenuiflorum

(Hoffmgg. et Link) Fritsch

N P

1 1

C W M ed

Chamaerops humilis l .

Subcosmop

Chenopodium murale l .

S ubcosm op

Chenopodium opulifolium Schrad.

1 1

M ed-A tl

Crithmum maritimum l .

1 1

M ed

Dactylis glomerata l . subsp.

hispanica (Roth) Nyman

C W M ed

Daucus bocconei Guss.

1 1

1 0

End A p u 1-

S ic

Dianthus rupicola b iv. subsp. rupicola

M ed

Diplotaxis erucoides (L .) d c .

Te t-P o n t

Ecballium elaterium (L .) a . r ich .

Table 2 . Basic information used for data elaboration. LF = life forms according to R aunkisr (1934); for the meaning of the

abbreviations of the following 7 columns, please see Ellenberger bioindicator values in “ M aterial and M ethods” paragraph;

Choro = chorotype (continued).

Salvatore Pasta et alii

Choro

Scientific name

1 1

Tet-E ur

Echium plantagineum l .

1 1

Tet

Erodium malacoides (L .) l*h erit.

1 1

M ed-E ur

Erodium moschatum (L .) L'H erit.

1 1

1 0

C W M ed

Euphorbia segetalis l .

M ed-M ac

Ferula communis l .

1 1

M ed-Pont

Frankenia hirsuta l .

1 1

Tet-P ont

Frankenia pulverulenta l .

M ed

Galactites tomentosa m oench

1 1

End NW Sic

Helichrysum panormitanum Tin eo

1 1

Tet-E ur

Heliotropium europaeum l .

M ed-Eur

Hordeum leporinum Link

M ed-M ac

Hyoscyamus albus l .

C M ed

Iberis semperflorens l .

1 1

C W M ed

JaCObaea maritima (L.)PelseretMeijden

subsp. bicolor (W illd.) B . N ord. et Greuter

M ed-A tl

Lagurus ovatus l . s.l.

1 1

M ed-A tl

Limbarda crithmoides (L .) d umort.

1 1

End Favign

Limonium aegusae b ruiio

1 1

End NW Sic

Limonium bocconei (Lojac.) Litard.

1 1

1 0

End NW Sic

Limonium lojaconoi b ruiio

1 1

1 0

End NW Sic

Limonium ponzoi (Fiori et B eg.) B ruiio

M ed

Lobularia maritima (L .) d esv.

1 1

1 0

M ed

Lotus cytisoides l .

1 1

1 2

N aturalized

Malephora crocea (Jacq.) Schwantes

M ed-A tl

Malva arborea (L .) w ebb . & Berthei.

Table 2 (continued). Basic information used for data elaboration. LF = life forms according to Raunkiter (1934); for the

meaning of the abbreviations of the following 7 columns, please see Ellenberger bioindicator values in “Material and

Methods” paragraph; Choro = chorotype (continued).

Vascular flora of four satellite islets of the Egadi Archipelago (W Sicily), with some notes on their vegetation and fauna 4 7

Choro

Scientific name

M ed

Malva multiflora { Cav.) Soldano, Banfi et

G alasso

M ed

Mandragora autumnalis b ertoi.

Tet-E ur

Mercurialis annua l .

1 1

S ubcosm op

Mesembryanthemum crystallinum l .

1 1

1 2

Tet-C ap

Mesembryanthemum nodiflorum l .

1 1

Tet-E uro sib

Parapholis incurva (L .) c .e . h ubb .

1 1

C W M edit

Parapholis pycnantha (Hack.) c.e. Hubb.

Tet-E ur

Parietaria lusitanica l .

1 1

1 0

M ed

Pistacia lentiscus l .

1 1

S M edit-A tl

Polycarpon alsinifolium (B iv.) d c .

Tet-E ur

Prospero autumnale (L .) s peta

M ed

Ranunculus bullatus l .

1 1

1 0

M ed

Sedum litoreum Guss.

1 1

C W M ed

Senecio leucanthemifolius Poir. sd.

1 1

M ed

Side rids romana l .

1 1

1 0

M ed

Silene sedoides Poir. subsp. sedoides

C asual

Solanum lycopersicum l .

B or-Tet

Sonchus oleraceus l .

Tet-Paleotrop

Sonchus tenerrimus l .

1 1

1 0

Tet-A tl

Suaeda vera j.f. g m eiin

1 1

C W M ed

Thapsia garganica l . subsp. garganica

Med -M ac

Urdca membranacea Poir.

1 1

M ed

Valantia muralis l .

S ubcosm op

Xanthium strumarium l . subsp. italicum

(M o re tti) D . Love

Table 2 (continued). Basic information used for data elaboration. LF = life forms according to Raunkiter (1934); for the

meaning of the abbreviations of the following 7 columns, please see Ellenberger bioindicator values in “Material and

Methods” paragraph; Choro = chorotype.

Salvatore Pasta et alii

The second half ofPRE, more exposed to south-

ern winds and, thus, to salt-spray, is less disturbed

by seagulls and it is covered by a species-poor

chenopod h a lo -x e ro -n itro p h ilo u s scrubland domi-

nated by Suaeda vera (SE) or by Arthrocnemum

macrostachyum (sw and s) and referred to the

class Sarcocornietea fruticosae Br.-Bi. etR.Tx.ex

A. etO. de Bolos 1950 em. O. de Bolos 1967.

ROT is characterized by a low halophilous

shrub land ascribed to CritHlIW-LilflOnietCCl B r.-B 1.

in B r.-B 1., Roussine et N eg re 1952 and dominated

by Limbarda crithmoides and Limonium aegusae

(Fig. 7).

Due to its extremely low elevation and its even

topography, no plant communities could be detec-

ted on GAL, except from a little AvthvOCYl&flUTYl

JflClCWStClchyUJI'l h aloph ilou s scrub. It worths to be

emphasized the local frequency of HyOSCyCUUUS

albuS, a plantwhich is normally associated with shel-

tered/shaded nutrient-rich ruderal com m unities, a pat-

tern also observed at M araone (S. Pasta pers. obs.).

Probably due to its shape and elevation FLE

shows the highest richness in terms of number

of plant communities. In fact, its bare and rocky

coasts host a mosaic-like vegetation dominated by

halophilous species-poor chenopod scrubland re-

ferred to Sarcocornietea fruticosae intermingled

with little spots of therophytic vegetation ascribed

to Saginetea maritimae w esthoff, van Leeuwen et

Adriani 1962, the base of the rocky and steep inland

is colonized by several species of the class Crithmo-

Lunonietea, and the cliffs host some perennial grass-

land species, truly rupicolous species such as

Dianthus rupicola subsp. rupicola and even a little

nucleus of low, scattered and extremely simplified

maquis with Chamaerops humilis , Pistacia lentis-

cus and Asparagus acutifolius.

Notes on the invertebrate fauna

As concerns PRE, a remarkable number of ani-

mals was collected and/or recorded during A & JS

1 visit on the islet. Except from CantareUS apertUS

(Born, 1 778), all the other (8 species) collected spe-

cies ofterrestrialMollusca still awaitidentification.

So goes for three species of Lepisma l in n ae u s ,

1758 and for four species of Hymenoptera.Two spec-

imens of one species of Formicidae were also col-

lected. M oreover, several individuals of Orthoptera,

like Calliptamus barbarus { Costa, 1 83 6 ),Aiolopus

strepens (Latreiiie, 1 804), Anacridium aegyptium

(Linnaeus, 1758), EyprepOCUemis plorans (C h arp en -

tier, 1 825 ) and Acrida sp. (Acrididae) were ob-

served. Among the few collected Coleoptera it has

been possible to identify the narrow endemic

Otiorhynchus ( Arammichnus ) aegatensis (So lari et

Solari, 1913). More detailed information on the ani-

mals o b serv ed /collected atPRE is provided in Table 3.

Phylum

Order

Family

Species

Nr ind.

Status

Mollusca

G astropoda

H elicidae

Cantareus apertus

Arthropoda

0 rth o p tera

A crididae

Calliptamus barbarus

c. 15

Arthropoda

0 rth o p tera

A crididae

Aiolopus strepens

Arthropoda

O rth o p tera

A crididae

Anacridum aegyptium

Arthropoda

0 rth o p tera

A crididae

Eyprepocnemis plorans

Arthropoda

C oleoptera

C urculionidae

Otiorhynchus ( Arammichnus )

aegatensis

1 1

Table 3. Prospect, number of individuals and status of the identified terrestrial invertebrates observed and/or collected by

A&JS during their visit to PRE.Abbreviations concerning the “status” column: A = living and B = living and/or migratory.

Vascular flora of four satellite islets of the Egadi Archipelago (W Sicily), with some notes on their vegetation and fauna 4 9

Notes on the vertebrate fauna

As concerns reptiles, Tarentola mauritanica

(Linnaeus, 1 758) was observed close to the aban-

doned building. Interestingly, Podarcis Siculus

(Rafinesque, 1810) was the only lizard found at

PRE (Fig. 8), while at Favignana it co-occurs with

Podarcis waglerianus (Gistel, 1 8 6 8 ) (Corti et al.,

1998, 2006). It was also observed on ROT (Fig. 9).

On both islets it performs very high densities like

elsewhere in Mediterranean microinsular biota (Lo

Cascio & Pasta, 2006, 2008a; Sciberras, 2007;

Sciberras & Sciberras, 2014).

OryctolagUS cuniculus (Linnaeus, 1758) and

RattUS norvegicus (Berkenhout, 1 7 69) were col-

lected at PRE and both were observed on the islet.

Local rabbitpopulation appears to be very massive.

Some vertebrae (8) and a lower jaw bone of Mustela

nivalis (Linnaeus, 1766) were collected from site

but no living individuals were encounte red. Among

the observed bird species (data not shown), only the

permanent presence of LaVUS ntichahellis (Nau-

rnann, 1 840) is very much evident.

No terrestrial fauna was encountered on GAL.

Several Larus michahellis were observed on ROT

and GAL. Due to the total lack of traces of nesting

material, both islets probably are only perching/

resting sites. As concerns FLE, it represents the nest-

ing site of few pairs of y e llo w -le g g e d seagulls and

hosts a population of Podarcis Siculus. The pres-

ence of numerous mounds of olive seeds suggests

the occasional visit of Turdidae; most of these

seeds are bitten by a rodent, probably RattUS TattUS

(Linnaeus, 1758).

Figure 6. The flat top of Preveto (photo A. Sciberras). Figure 7. The natural landscape of Cala Rotonda islet (photo A.

Sciberras). Figure 8. Podarcis siculllS at Preveto islet (photo A. Sciberras). Figure 9. Podarcis siculllS at Cala Rotonda islet

(photo A. Sciberras).

Salvatore Pasta et alii

DISCUSSION

Phytogeographical insight on the local va-

scular flora

The 73 terrestrial vascular plants recorded on the

four considered islets belong to 28 different families

(the most represented being A steraceae, Poaceae

and A m aran th ac e ae with 12, 11 and 6 infrageneric

taxa, respectively) and 62 genera. If w e consider ab-

solute values, the richest islet is PRE with 46 taxa,

followed by FLE (32), while both GAL and ROT

host only 11 species. A simplified analysis of

species/area relationship seems to separate the most

isolated islets from those that are near to the main

islands. In fact, the value of the rate nr taxa/m " is

0.011 and 0.015 for PRE and GAL, respectively,

while it is 0.026 for ROT and 0.033 for FLE.

Although the striking differences concerning

both the life-form spectrum (e.g. stark prevalence

of therophytes only on PRE and GAL, high vari-

ability of the percentage of chamaephytes, total ab-

sence of h e m ic ry p to p h y te s in GAL and ROT: Fig.

10) and the chorological spectrum (e.g. absolute

dominance of M ed ite rranean taxa only on FLE: Fig.

11) are still unexplained, this is not such a rare pat-

tern on the very little islets, which often represent

‘unbalanced biota’.

As for Ellenberg b io in d ic a to rs values (Fig. 12),

only R show some significant - and yet unexplained

- variation between PRE e GAL (very high) and

FLE (very lo w ).

Although no real islet specialists have been de-

tected, it should be underlined that the only two taxa

whose presence has been recorded on all the four

considered islets, i.e. Arthrocnemum macrostachyum

and Capparis spinosa subsp. rupestris , are very

common in all the c ire u m - S ic ilian islets and stacks

(Pasta, 1 997a).

Faunistic notes

The detected remains of Mustela Tlivalis on

PRE represent the first record of the species for

the whole E g ad i A rc h ip elag o (Sara, 1 998; Siracusa

& Lo Duca, 2008). Its regular presence on the islet

seems quite improbable,while itmighthave reached

PRE as a carcass picked up by a seagull or as a

prey of the barn-owl, TytO alba (Scopoli, 1769), or

the buzzard, ButCO butCO (Linnaeus, 1 75 8), two

1 0

Cho retypes

□Alien

□ Med sX

□ Med-Eur&.l.

□Tet s.l.

□ Tet-Eur s.l.

E Hdarct s.l.

■Wide range

PSE GAL rot fie

1 1

1 2

Figure 10. Life-form spectrum of the vascular flora of each

islet. Figure 1 1 . Chorological spectrum of the vascular flora

of each islet. Figure 12. average values ofEllenberg indica-

tors concern-ing the vascular flora of each islet.

birds which occasionally feed on it according to

Sara & Zanca (1988) and Siracusa & Lo Duca

(2008), respectively. As the western coast of Sicily

seems to be too far away from PRE, future in-

vestigations on its occurrence should start from

Favignana.

Vascular flora of four satellite islets of the Egadi Archipelago (W Sicily), with some notes on their vegetation and fauna 5 1

Considering that PoddTcis siculuS show s a high

morphological plasticity and that all the micro-

insular races described in the past are now treated

as mere synonyms of the species, an accurate field

data collection focused on many different meristic

and morphological parameters should be carried out

in order to assess the pattern and the range of vari-

ability of PRE and ROT lizard populations.

CONCLUSIONS

Small areas , few or no available niches:

effects on microinsular assemblages

If compared with other islets with a similar

size, like Strom bolicchio on Aeolian Islands (Lo

Cascio & Pasta, 2008a) or Lampione on Pelagian

Archipelago (Lo Cascio & Pasta, 2012), the stud-

ied islets do not show a remarkable botanical

value. Nonetheless, they give hospitality to nine

species of b io g e o g rap h ic and/or conservation in-

terest, i.e. Dianthus rupicola subsp. rupicola ,

Iberis semperflorens, Limonium aegusae, Limo-

nium bocconei , Limonium lojaconoi (Fig. 13),

Limonium ponzoi, Helichrysum panormitanum ,

Polycarpon alsinifolium and Silene sedoides

subsp. sedoides, and to several plants which be-

came extinct or are extremely rare on Egadi is-

lands: for example, at FLE thrive 4 out of less than

10 plants of Chamaerops humilis present in the

whole Egadian archipelago, while PRE hosts per-

haps the last individual of Ranunculus bullcitUS,

apparently extinct at Favignana (S. Pasta, pers.

obs.). The same “refugium” role is played by

Strombolicchio, which hosts the only known Aeo-

lian (and Sicilian) populations of Ephedra po-

dostylax Boiss. and Eokochia saxicola (Guss.)

Freitag etG.Kadereit(Lo Cascio & Pasta, 2008b).

On the other hand, only two aliens, probably

recently introduced by seagulls, i.e. Solanum ly-

copersicum (pre) and Malephora crocea (fle),

were noticed. The first one behaves as a casual on

many little islets (Lo Cascio & Pasta, 2008b; Cal-

darella et al., 2010), while the second is becoming

a more and more frequent invasive within the

halo-lithophilous communities of circum - Sicilian

islands (Romano et al., 2006).

Figure 13 . Litnoniwn lojaconoi : P re veto (photo L. Scuderi)

Goodbye or see you soon?

Although they have visited PRE and GAL

nearly in the same period, the check-lists written

down by the two different couples of co-authors

show rather striking differences, perhaps because

of the different intensity and duration of summer

drought period. For example, this could be the case

of ail the ii species ( Avena cfr. barbata, Beilis

annua. Calendula arvensis, Chenopodium opuli-

folium, Diplotaxis erucoides, Erodium malacoides

and E. moschatum, Lagurus ovatus, Solanum lycop-

ersicum, Sonchus tenerrimus and Urtica mem-

branaeeCt) which have been observed at PRE only by

A & JS. The presence and commonness of these

annual pioneer therophytes linked to disturbed habi-

tat is probably subject to annual fluctuations due to

local climatic regime and species patterns (e.g. low

numbered and/or extremely localized populations).

The same goes also for 13 of the 15 taxa which

have been seen only by LS & SP, i.e. two hemicryp-

tophytes ( Ferula communis and Parietaria lusi-

Salvatore Pasta et alii

tanica ) and n therophytes (Centaurium tenuiflo-

rum, Frankenia pulverulenta, Hordeum leporinum ,

Parapholis incur v cl Polycarpon alsinifolium ,

Ranunculus bullatus, Sedum litoreum, Sideritis ro-

mana, Silene sedoides subsp . sedoides and Valantia

muralis which may have been totally undetectable

a fte r summer p erio d , w h ile Limonium boCCOUCi was

probably neglected by A and JS). As concerns

Halimione portulacoides and Sporobolus pungens

once recorded at GAL, considering their perennial

life-cycle as well as the very little size of the islet,

they must be considered as locally extinct.

Rather dramatic changes recently affected many

d ifferen t micro-insular systems ofW M ed iterran e an

area (e.g. Bocchieri, 1 998; Lo Cascio & Pasta,

20 1 0, 20 1 2; Caldarella et al., 2010). In order to

avoid a misinterpretation of Species/Area relation-

ships, an o v er e s tim a tio n of species turnover pro-

cesses and to allow a better understanding of the

rate and the driving-forces of such mechanisms,

standard, regular and long-lasting data collections

are needed (Walter, 2004).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We appreciated very much the help of our friend

Pietro Lo Cascio ( A s s o c ia z io n e Nesos, Lipari,

www.nesos.org) for logging support, several a r thro -

pod identifications and for his critical review of a

first draft of this paper, the support of Alan Deidun

(U niversity of M alta) for organising the expeditions

of A. and J. Sciberras as part of a financial grant

from the Research Committee of the University of

M alta, to which the authors are indebted. Moreover,

we are gratefulto Giuseppe Garfi (CNR, Institute of

Biosciences and Bioresources, Unit of Palermo) for

his support du ring data elabo ration, to Carlo Di Leo

(Servizi Forestall s.r.l., Palermo) which provided us

the basic geographical data reported in Table 1 and

cared the layout of figure 1, and to the anonymous

referee whose observations strongly improved the

quality of the final version of the manuscript.

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Biodiversity Journal, 2014, 5 (1): 55-60

Spatial distribution of Calomera littoralis nemoralis (Olivier,

1 790) in a coastal habitat of Southern Italy and its importance

for conservation (Coleoptera Carabidae Cicindelinae)

Antonio Mazzei 1 , Pietro Brandmayr 1 , Salvatore Larosa 1 , Maria Grazia Novello 1 , Stefano Scalercio 2 &Teresa

Bonacci 1

'Department of Biology, Ecology and Earth Science, University of Calabria, via P. Bucci, 1-87036 Rende (Cosenza) Italy

2 Consiglio per la Ricerca e la sperimentazione in Agricoltura, Unita di Ricerca per la Selvicoltura in Ambiente Mediterraneo,

Contrada Li Rocchi-Vermicelli, 1-87036 Rende, Cosenza, Italy

^Corresponding author: teresa.bonacci@unical.it

ABSTRACT The spatial distribution of Calomera littoralis nemoralis (Olivier, 1790) (Coleoptera Carabidae

Cicindelinae) was studied on the marine sandy beach area of 1 km, near the mouth of a stream

in Catanzaro province (Southern Italy, Calabria). During the sampling period (July-August

2011- 2012) we investigated the distribution of adults of C. littoralis nemoralis by visual

census method and the spatial distribution of larval burrows of C. littoralis nemoralis along

three transects (A, B, parallel to the coast line; C, embracing the river mouth). All the transects

were selected by soil microclimate (a higher or lower humidity) and food availability. Larval

burrows distribution was performed using QGIS. The dispersal index (ID) shows regular di-

stribution of adults along transects A and B while in C the individuals are aggregated.

Concerning the larval galleries distribution, the QGIS analysis shows a significant difference

in their spatial distribution. The sampled data were analyzed using univariate and multivariate

statistical methods. This is the first report on spatial distribution of adults and larvae of C. lit-

toralis nemoralis in relation to soil humidity and food availability. The adult home range of

this species is much larger than the reproductive habitat, that seems limited to wet sandy river

bank around the mouth. The importance of such experimental studies for cicindelid conser-

vation is briefly discussed.

KEY WORDS Tiger beetles; Calomera littoralis', adults distribution; larval burrows.

Received 10.02.2014; accepted 05.03.2014; printed 30.03.2014

INTRODUCTION

The subfamilia Cicindelinae (Coleoptera Cara-

bidae) classified in the suborder Adephaga includes

many species with predatory habits. Both adults and

larvae are predators hunting for small arthropods

(insects and spiders) (Larochelle, 1974; Pearson,

1988; Pearson & Vogler, 2001) though cannibalistic

behavior was descripted in some species (Acorn,

1991; Cassola et al., 1988; Hoback et al., 2001).

Adults, usually prey visually and catch them after

short and fast running (Gilbert, 1987, 1997; Pearson

& Vogler, 2001). Tiger beetles species prefer hunt

individually for active and usually fast moving

preys (Larochelle, 1974; Wilson, 1978; Gilbert,

1987, 1997; Lovari et al., 1992). Few species have

been observed eating on plant material (Hori, 1982;

Hill & Knisley, 1992; Jaskula, 2013) and rarely on

Antonio Mazzei etalii

dead vertebrates (Schultz, 1981) or dead arthropods

(Swiecimski, 1956; Pearson & Vogler, 2001; Riggins

& Hoback, 2005). Calomera littoralis (Fabricius,

1787) s.l. has wide habitat range compared to other

tiger beetles and, in Europe, the species lives in dif-

ferent sandy habitats like sandy beaches, salt-

marshes, river and lake banks (Magistretti, 1965;

Contarini, 1992; Audisio, 2002; Jaslcula, 2013).

Calomera littoralis nemoralis (Olivier, 1790) is

the comon subspecies distributed along the sandy

shores of the Italian peninsula and Sicily (Mag-

istretti, 1965).

Females lay eggs in the sand and the larvae dig

a burrow which emerges on the surface of the sand

by a steep vertical pit. The larvae feed on insects

and they draw back into their dens when the tem-

perature drops. In Italy, in the past, the species was

found along the coasts and in Sicily. In the last

decade, the human activity has contributed to the

disappearance of the species on many Italian coasts

(Contarini, 1992). Today in Italy, as well as in other

geographical areas, the species is endangered

(Zanella et al., 2009). The aim of this paper is to de-

fine the spatial distribution of adults and larvae of

C. littoralis nemoralis in response to human in-

duced disturbance, food availability and habitat

suitability, in order to refine basic ecological knowl-

edge for conservation purposes.

Types of spatial distribution of a population

The spatial dispersion of a population is defined

as the distribution or disposition of the individuals

in the space (Southwood & Henderson 2000).

Knowing the type of dispersion of individuals in a

population is a highlight in demographic and eco-

logical studies (Tremblay, 2003). The dispersion of

the sample data provides important information on

the distribution of a population ( Pedigo et al.,

1994), often closely linked to the ecology and ethol-

ogy of the species. The pattern of spatial distribu-

tion (see Tremblay, 1988) are traditionally classified

according to three categories: uniform (uniform,

regular, underdispersed) , random (random), and

aggregated (clumped, contagious, overdispersed).

The statistical measure of aggregation easiest com-

monly used is the ratio between the variance of the

sampling data and the average number of individ-

uals counted. In the theory of probability this ratio

is a measure of dispersion of a probability distribu-

tion or density. If individuals are dispersed ran-

domly in the sample according to a Poisson distri-

bution, the variance of the distribution of

individuals is approximately equal to the average.

In the case of an aggregate distribution, however,

the variance is larger than average.

A ratio variance/mean greater than unity, thus

indicating a deviation from randomness and a ten-

dency to aggregation that will be greater with in-

creasing ratio. This aggregation index is simple to

calculate and there are also simple statistical tests

to assess the significance of the deviation between

the ratio variance / mean observed and the value as-

sociated with a random distribution. A deviation

from random distribution can be tested by multi-

plying the ratio between the variance and the av-

erage for the number of samples minus one (n-1).

This index is called the dispersion index (ID) and

can be compared with the distribution of the

chisquare (j 2 ) with n-1 degrees of freedom. For

more details on mathematical formulas see Selby

(1965) and Cicchitelli (2004). A more general ap-

proach to the relationship between the mean and the

variance is given by an equation known as Taylor

's Power Law (Taylor, 1961), for more details see

Burgio et al. (1995); Pasqualini et al. (1997), and

Furlan & Burgio (1999).

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The observations were made in the morning

hours in the July- August 2011 and 2012. The sam-

pling site was the seaside beach located near the

mouth of the Fiumarella di Guardavalle River in the

Catanzaro province (Lat. 38° 28.142'N, Long. 16°

34.926'E) (Fig. 1).

The sampling of adults of C. littoralis nemoralis

was performed using the visual census method con-

sisting in daily observations carried out in morning

hours (7.45-10.30 a.m.) from 20th July to 10th Au-

gust 2011 and 2012. Three transects (A, B, C) (Fig.

1), 400 meter long and 1.5 meter wide, were chosen

after a preliminary investigation of the study area.

The transect A is located north of the mouth, beside

a tourist resort that increases the human-induced

habitat alterations. The transect B is located south of

the mouth where human activity is lower than in the

transect A. The transect C is U-shaped and includes

the river mouth where human activity is very low.

Spatial distribution of Calomera littoralis nemoralis in Southern Italy and its importance for conservation

The distribution scheme of adults along the tran-

sects was evaluated applying the Dispersion Index

(DI) (Cicchitelli, 2004): this index is directly pro-

portional to the variance of a sample. A sample with

a variance higher than the mean value may be de-

fined as aggregate, while a sample with a variance

lower than the mean may be defined as regular. A

sample having higher value of DI may be defined

as aggregate, a sample having lower values of DI

may be defined as regular.

To quantify the spatial distribution of individ-

uals, has performed the verification of the adapta-

tion of the data collected in the Poisson model

(random distribution), the model of the binomial

(grouped distribution) and the Rectangular model

(uniform distribution) were performed. For the cor-

relation of data models (Poisson, Binomial and

Rectangular), was chosen the x 2 test . In case of si-

gnificant values x 2 was rejected the hypothesis of

randomness in the Poisson model, or the hypothesis

of aggregation in the case of the Binomial or uni-

formity in the case of the rectangular model, with p

< 0.05). According to the /-square test results, we

may conclude that the observed distribution signif-

icantly deviates from the distribution model

adopted. The numerical analysis of the data was

performed with the program STATISTICA (Stat-

Soft, 1999) .

The spatial distribution of larval burrows was

investigated along the river on a surface of 100

square meters, 30 meters from the shoreline, where

two water bodies are present: one with flowing

water and another with stagnant water. The investi-

gated area was partitioned in 100 cells lxl m (Fig.

2). The abundance of larval burrows was evaluated

within any cell resulting in density values. The lo-

calization of any burrow was georeferred using

QGIS. Geostatistical analysis was performed using

the Minimum Distance Analysis algorithm from

Processing plugin, thus being able to calculate the

values of minimum and maximum distance of bur-

rows for each cell. The investigated area was sub-

divided according to the soil surface wetness

because this soil property contributes to the survival

of eggs, facilitates the digging of larval burrows and

prevents the dehydration of larvae. We defined the

soil surface as wet when sandy grains may stay at

rest like a solid and dry when sandy grains don’t

show this property.

Figure 1. Location of study area. Letters indicate the

sampled transects for adults sampling.

Figure 2. Location of the experimental plot for the study

of larval distribution along the river.

RESULTS

A total number of 3,934 observations of adults

was recorded for the study area subdivided in the

sampled transects as follows:

Transects A: 1,015 observations (Mean = 36.3

Antonio Mazzei etalii

individuals; SD = ± 4.00; variance = 18.56; DI =

13.98. Data trend shows that individuals have a reg-

ular distribution Of'2.81 con p = 0,24).

Transects B: 1,382 observations (Mean = 49.4

individuals; SD = ±5.13; variance = 26.31; DI

=14.39). Data trend shows that individuals have a

regular distribution (j 2 3.62, p = 0.06).

Transects C: 1,537 observations (Mean = 54.9

individuals; SD = ± 8.45; variance = 92.80; DI =

45.66). Data trend shows that individuals have an

aggregated distribution (/ 2 2.93, p = 0.23).

265 larval burrows were found in the study area.

They were found only on wet soil surface, as showed

in figure 3. We found a significant difference of bur-

row density between the banks of flowing and stag-

nant water body ( p<0.05). In fact, on the bank of

flowing water body we recorded 85 burrows (4.25

±3.11 burrows/m 2 ), while on the bank of stagnant

water body we recorded 180 burrows (16.36 ±9.93

burrows/m 2 ). The minimum distance between larval

burrows was 4.3 cm, the maximum within a cell

was 72.6 cm, and the mean distance was 13.4 ± 10.6

cm (Fig. 3).

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

The distribution of adults showed two clear pat-

terns. They are less abundant in the more disturbed

sand beach and more abundant where the human

disturbance is weaker, with no significant differ-

ences between undisturbed sandy shore and river

banks. Furthermore, they showed a gregarious habit

only on the river banks and not on the coastal strips.

Then, abundance depends on habitat disturbance

but distributional pattern depends on habitat type.

C. littoralis is mainly a predator, as all tiger beetles,

and probably it uses the sand banks as hunting ter-

ritory, where it preys visually by inspecting the en-

tire soil surface. This behavior should result in a

homogeneous distribution of adults on the investi-

gated sand habitat. But both sexes show a gregar-

ious behavior in habitats where a high trophic

resource is disposable also for the alimentation of

larvae such as the monitored river banks. This be-

havior was described also in riparian species of

ground beetles (Zetto Brandmayr et al., 2004, 2005;

Mazzei et al., 2006). This biotope could support the

adult aggregation because vegetable material, such

algae and aquatic plants are easily available for their

prey. In fact, the high prey availability inhibits the

aggressive behavior between adults within aggre-

gation sites. In this investigation, the bank river

seems to fulfill the optimal conditions for environ-

mental and alimentary issues for adults and imma-

ture stages. Females search also for optimal soil

moisture that prevents dehydration of eggs and lar-

vae that complete their development cycle inside

the sandy soil.

The larvae showed a clear preference toward

wet soils, avoiding to dig burrows on the dry side

of river banks. An optimal soil humidity rate en-

sures the survival of individuals inside the burrows

and an easier maintenance of their rest site where

they stay for prey. For larvae more than for adults,

the soil moisture is a determinant parameter be-

cause it determines where to dig a burrow. The high

density of burrows near to the stagnant water is

probably due to a higher concentration of preys,

mainly Diptera, in these sites compared to sites lo-

cated along the flowing water. In fact, saprophagous

dipteran communities are more abundant and

species rich on decaying plant materials and around

still waters.

In conclusion, the structure of C. littoralis pop-

ulations is strictly dependent on food availability

and habitat suitability and seems to be linked to the

resources provided by the river mouth. The adult

home range seems to be much larger than the repro-

duction sites, and wet and fme-grained sand banks

along the stream mouths seem to be of outstanding

importance for the conservation of this cicindelid

species.

Studies on conservation biology of tiger beetles

have become very common especially in the last 20

years. Pearson & Cassola (2007) assert their evolu-

tion is consistent with a historical model defined

GCSPN (General Continuum of Scientific Perpec-

tives on Nature, by Killingsworth & Palmer, 1992),

that comprises sex steps from 1, “descriptive natural

history” to 6, “Technical terminology and methods

so refined that they now limit the audience that can

fully comprehend it”. This short study demonstrates

that intermediate steps from 2, “simply experimen-

tal” to 5, “research teams and increasing evidence

of socialization” are still of importance in defining

measures for tiger beetle conservation, and that

species ecology of too many cicindelid species is

unsatisfactorily endeavoured.

Spatial distribution of Calomera littoralis nemoralis in Southern Italy and its importance for conservation

mmm

KXXXXX

Dry soil surface

Water body

Wet soil surface

Figure 3. Schematic repre-

sentation of soil typology and

larval burrows distribution,

obtained after QGIS analysis.

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Biodiversity Journal, 2014, 5 (1): 61-68

Preliminary ecological studies on the Lepidoptera from

Khajjiar lake catchment, Himachal Pradesh, India

Vikram Singh* & Harjeet Singh Banyal

Department of Biosciences, Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla -171005 (HP), India

Corresponding author: proliterate@ yahoo.com

ABSTRACT A study on the Lepidoptera from Khajjiar lake of District Chamba of Himachal Pradesh re-

vealed the presence of 49 species ofbutterflies belonging to 41 genera and 10 fa milies. Anal-

ysis of data revealed that family Nymphalidae and Satyridae (12 species each) dominated the

Lepidoptera fauna ofKhajjiar lake catchment, followed by Pieridae and Lycaenidae (6 species

each), Hesperiidae (4 species), Papilionidae (3 species), Erycinidae and Danaidae (2 species

each), and A craeidae and Riodinidae (1 species each). Categorization of the species further

revealed thatof these 49 species, 5 were very common, 32 common, 5 uncommon and 7 were

rare. M oreover, 3 species were listed in Indian W ildlife Protection Act (1972), LctllC SCCLfldci

(Moore, 1 8 5 7 ) and LcimpidcS boCtidlS (Linnaeus, 1 7 6 7 ) placed under scheduled II and

Castcilius ro Simon (Fabricius, 1775) under scheduled IV of the Act. Our study revealed that

fo rest area supports the highest diversity ofbutterflies followed by lake areas and human set-

tle m e n t s .

KEY WORDS Butterflies; ecology; biodiversity; India.

Received 22.02.2014; accepted 08.03.2014; printed 30.03.2014

INTRODUCTION

A recent estimate shows the occurrence of about

142,500 species of Lepidoptera around the globe,

but estimates within Lepidoptera from the Indian

sub-continent revealed that the group comprises

over 1 5,000 species and many more subspecies dis-

tributed over 84 families and 18 superfamilies (Al-

fred et a 1 . , 1998). In India nearly 1500 species of

butterflies are reported (Gay et al., 1 992). Many

scientists have studied the butterflies from Hi-

malayas including Moore ( 1 8 8 2 ), Marshall & de

Niceville (1 890), Evans ( 1 9 3 2 ), Talbot ( 1 9 3 9;

1 947), W ynter-Blyth (1940; 1945a, b; 1957), Mani

( 1986) and Thakur et al. (2002; 2006).Arora et al.

(2005 ) listed 2 8 8 species from the recently created

state of Himachal Pradesh distributed in 12 districts

with altitudes ranging from 400-4500 m. However

very few studies are there on the ecological aspects

of the butterflies in Himachal Pradesh. Apart from

Thakur et al. (2006) who have listed butterflies of

K a la to p - K h a j j ia r wildlife sanctuary, there is little

information about butterflies from Chamba district.

However recently Singh & Banyal (2013) enlisted

butterflies of Khajjiar along with insect fauna. But

that work was focused only on presenting a check-

list of insects and did not account the ecological

aspects of butterflies. The area under investigation

is one of the oldest conservation areas for wildlife

in Himachal Pradesh and, being a favoured tourist

destination, is also under remarkable anthropologi-

cal pressure which may severely influence habitat

conservation and egg laying habits of butterflies.

Keeping this in mind we explored Khajjiar Lake to

Vikram Singh & Harjeet Singh Banyal

assess ecological aspects of butterflies such as

abundance, seasonal occurrence, habitat preference

and conservation status. Besides, an effort was also

made to identify the existing threats to the habitat

of butterflies in the study area.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Study Area Khajjiar Lake “The Mini Switzer-

land of Himachal Pradesh” is situated in the western

part of Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh. K h a -

jjiar Lake lies 3 2° 32" North and 76°03'East about

1 920 m above sea level between Chamba and D al-

ii o u s i e (Fig. 1). The average depth of this lake is

stated to be thirteen feet as per district gazetteer

(Singh & Banyal, 2012). Kh ajjiar Lake has a clump

of reeds and grasses exaggeratedly called an island

in it. This lake is placed in the centre of large glade

and is fed by slim streams. This glade is greenish in

its turf and contains in its centre a small lake having

an approximate area of 464.52 square meters. Kha-

jjiar Lake has thick forest of Kala Top sanctuary

(20.69 sq. km) surrounding the green grass. This

small sanctuary lies in the catchments of the Ravi

river, located in the western part of Chamba District.

It is one of the oldest preserved forests of the state

(notified on 01.07.1949). There is a ‘golden’ domed

temple at the edge of this meadow, dedicated to the

deity ‘Khajjinag’, from whom the area derives its

name (Fig. 2). It experiences south-western mon-

soon rains in July-September and the average annual

rainfall is about 800 mm. The climate of Khajjiar,

summers being mild and winters cold and bitter,

shows a temperature range from -10° C to 35°C.The

vegetation consists of mature mixed Blue Pine

( Pinus wallichiana a . b . jack s.) and Deodar cedar

fo re s ts ( Cedrus deodara (Roxb.) g. Don), with

some Green Oak and Rhododendron plants. Study

area was broadly divided into three main types de-

pending upon the vegetation and human intervention

like dense forests, lake meadow and human settle-

ments. Different butterfly species were sampled at

regular intervals from all three localities.

Sampling of butterflies. Butterflies were sam-

pled using the line transect walk method (Pollard &

Jammu and Kaslunir

CHAMBA

[ ahau] and Sph

I'Khajjiar Lake

^ . •

/ -

i Dalhousie

'Cliamba

Kangra

To ChiiTnhn

Kalatop-Kh ajjiar Vi Saicluary

Figure 1. Study area: Kh ajjiar Lake, in the western part of Chamba district of Flimachal Pradesh (India).

Preliminary ecological studies on the Lepidoptera from Khajjiar lake catchment, Himachal Pradesh, India

Yates, 1993). Six transects measuring 500 m each,

were randomly laid for sampling (two in each site).

Point counts were made after interval of 200 meters

along each transect to record butterfly species and

their number. All butterflies seen within two meters

on either side of the transect were recorded. Tran-

sects were walked between 10:00 hrs and 13:00 hrs

which corresponds to the peak activity period for

most butterflies. Nylon net with long handle was

used for sweeping free flying and free living but-

terflies. After collection specimens were put into

killing bottles containing chloroform. These insects

were transferred to paper envelops. Each envelop

was numbered carefully and the details of specimen

number, date, host etc. were written in a field note-

book. Thereafter, insects were properly stretched

and pinned by rust-free entomological pins. These

stretched and pinned specimens were kept in

wooden insect boxes in dry conditions providing

naphthalene balls (Arora, 1990) to protect them

from fungal infections and other attacks.

Butterfly Identification . Identification of

species was done from description given by Mar-

shall & de Niceville (1 890), Evans (1932),Wynter-

Blyth (1957). Some species were identified after

comparison with reference collections housed at In-

dian Agriculture Research Institute (I.A.R.I.), New

Delhi; High Altitude Regional Centre, Zoological

Survey oflndia, Saproon, Solan; Himachal Pradesh

and Forest Research Institute (F.R.I.), Dehradun.

Dr. M .S. Thakur of Department of Biosciences,

Himachal Pradesh University, Shim la was also con-

sulted for authentication of identification.

Data analysis. Abundance status was assessed

on an arbitrary frequency scale as: very common

(VC), collected more than in eight spots from the

three areas; common (C), collected from four to

seven spots from the three areas; uncommon (UC),

collected from two or three spots from the three

areas; rare (Ra), collected from one spot from the

three areas, according to Davidar et al. (1 996).

RESULTS

Present study revealed the presence of 49 species

of butterflies belonging to 41 genera and 10 fami-

lies (Table 1). Analysis of data revealed that family

Nymphalidae and Satyridae (12 species each) domi-

nated the Lepidoptera fauna of Khajjiar area, fol-

lowed by Pieridae and Lycaenidae (6 species each),

Hesperiidae (4 species), Papilionidae (3 species),

Erycinidae and Danaidae (2 species each), and

Acraeidae and Riodinidae (1 species each) (Fig. 2).

Analysis of these species for abundance revealed

that of these 49 species, 5 were very common, 32

common, 5 uncommon and 7, namely PcimClSSiuS

hardkwickei hardwickei , Lethe insane insane , Lethe

scanda , Ypthima ceylonica hubneri. Pseudergolis

wedah, Issoria lathonia, Polytrema eltola , were rare

(Fig. 3). Moreover, three species were placed under

Wildlife Protection Act (1972). These included

Lethe scanda and Lampides boeticus placed under

scheduled II and CaStaliuS VOSimon und er sched-

uled IV of the Act.

■ Nymphalidae

9 Satyridae

9 Pieridae

9 Lycaenidae

9 Hesperiidae

9 Erycinidae

■ Danaidae

9 Acraeidae

Riodinidae

■ Papilionidae

Figure 2. Lepidoptera diversity of the Khajjiar Lake, India.

Figure 3. Lepidoptera abundance of the Khajjiar Lake,

India; explanation in the text.

Vikram Singh & Harjeet Singh Banyal

Name of Butterfly

Family

Wing Size

(in mm)

Conservation

Status

Months of Dominance

from-to

Papilio protenor Cramer, 1775

P ap ilio n id ae

100- 130

Common

M arch-September

Papilio polyctor polyctor

Boisduval, 1836

90-130

Common

M arch-0 ctober

Parnassius hardkwickei hardwickei

G ray, 183 1

5 0-65

Rare

M ay-S eptem ber

Delias belladonna horsfieldi

(G ray, 1831)

P ierid ae

70-96

Uncommon

A p ril- J u ly

Sep tern ber-N ovem ber

Pieris canidia indica Evans, 1926

4 5-55

Common

A pril-0 ctober

Catopsillia crocale C ram er, 17 7 5

55-75

Common

M ay-October

Gonepteryx rhamni nepalensis

Double day, 1847

60-70

Common

M arc h-0 ctober

Eurema hecabe fimbriata

(W allace, 1 8 67 )

30-40

Common

A p ril-N ovem ber

Colias electofieldi Menetries, 1885

42-45

Very common

February-N ovem ber

1 0

Danaus genutia (Cramer, 1779 )

D an aid ae

70-78

Common

M arch-N ovem ber

1 1

Parantica sita sita (Koiiar, 1 8 4 4 )

85-105

Common

A p ril-N o v e m b er

1 2

Mycalesis perseus blasius

(F ab ric iu s , 1 7 9 8 )

S aty ridae

3 8-55

Very common

M arch-N ovem ber

1 3

Lethe insane insane (K oiiar, 1 8 44 )

5 5-60

Rare

M ay-O c to ber

1 4

Lethe SCanda* (Moore, 1 8 5 7 )

55-65

Rare

June-S eptem ber

1 5

Lethe verma verma (K oiiar, i 844)

55-60

Common

A p ril-O ctober

1 6

Lasiommata schakra schakra

(K oiiar, 1 844)

45-60

Common

Apri-O ctober

1 7

Aulocera swaha swaha

(K o liar, 1 844)

60-75

Common

M ay-S eptem ber

1 8

Aulocera saraswati saraswati

(K oiiar, 1 844)

60-75

Common

July-0 ctober

1 9

Callerebia annada (Moore, [ 1 8 5 8 ] )

5 5-70

Common

A pril-0 ctober

Ypthima nareda nareda

(K oiiar, 1 844)

30-32

Common

A pril-O ctober

2 1

Ypthima ceylonica hubneri

K irby, 18 7 1

30-40

Rare

A pril-0 ctober

Ypthima sakra nikaea Moore, 1 8 7 5

45-55

Very common

M arch-N ovem ber

Melanitis leda ismene ( c ram er,

[ 1 7 7 5 ])

60-80

Very common

M arch-N ovem ber

Athyma opalina (K oiiar, [i 844])

N y m phalidae

55-70

Common

M arch-N ovem ber

Parathyma asura asura

(Moore, 1 85 7 )

65-75

Uncommon

July - August

Table 1. Check list and ecological data of the Lepidoptera from Kh ajjiar Lake, India (continued).

Preliminary ecological studies on the Lepidoptera from Khajjiar lake catchment, Himachal Pradesh, India

Name of Butterfly

Family

Wing Size

(in mm)

Conservation

Status

Months of Dominance

from-to

Neptis mahendra Moore, 1 8 7 2

55-60

Common

A pril-0 ctober

Neptis hylas as to la Moore, 1 8 7 2

50-60

Common

M arch-O ctober

Pseudergolis wedah k oiiar, 1 8 44

5 5-65

Rare

A pril-N 0 vem ber

Precis iphita (Cramer , [1779])

5 5-65

Uncommon

Jan-D ecem ber

Cynthia cardui { Linnaeus, 1 75 8 )

55-70

Common

A pril-N 0 vem ber

3 1

Vanessa indica { Herbst, 1794 ))

5 5-65

Common

M arch-D ecem ber

Kaniska canace (Linnaeus, 1 763 )

60-75

Uncommon

M arch-N ovem ber

Aglais cashmirensis (Koiiar, 1 8 44 )

55-65

Common

M arch-N ovember

Childrena childreni (G ray, 1 8 3 1 )

75-100

Common

M ay-N ovem ber

Issoria lathonia (Linnaeus, 1758)

55-60-7 8

Rare

February-0 ctober

Acraea issoria anomala

K 0 liar, 1848

A craeidae

4 5-65

Common

A pril-S eptem ber

Libythea myrrha g 0 d art, 1 8 1 9

E ry c in id ae

4 5-55

Common

M arch-0 ctober

Libythea lepita (Moore, 1 8 5 7 )

55-60

Common

M arch-S eptem ber

Dodona durga (Koiiar, 1 8 4 4 )

R iodinidae

30-40

Common

M arch-O ctober

Pseudozizeeria maha

(K 0 liar, [ 1 844])

Lycaenidae

20-30

Common

January -N ovem ber

4 1

Lampides boeticus *

(Linnaeus, 1767)

24-36

Common

M arch-O ctober

Lycaena pavana (K oiiar, [ 1 8 4 4])

37-40

Common

M arch-0 ctober

Heliophorus sena (K oiiar, [ 1 8 44])

28-33

Very common

M arch-0 ctober

Castalius rosimon* *

(F ab ric iu s, 1 7 7 5 )

2 5-27

Common

January-N ovem ber

Rapala manea schistacea

(M oore, 1 8 7 9 )

30-33

Common

June-0 ctober

Coladenia dan (Fabricius, 1 7 8 7 )

H e sp eriid ae

35-45

Common

M ay-October

Sarangesa purendra (Moore, 1 8 8 2 )

2 8

Uncommon

M ay-June

Polytremis eltola (Hewitson, 1 8 6 9 )

Rare

M arch-N ovem ber

Borbo bevani (Moore, 1 8 7 8 )

Uncommon

A pril-0 ctober

Table 1 (continued). Check list and ecological data of the Lepidoptera from Khajjiar Lake, India.

Vikram Singh & Harjeet Singh Banyal

Maximum richness was observed in the forest

area which is rich of trees with well developed

undergrowth. Minimum richness was present in the

human settlement of the study area which is a de-

graded habitat where continuous intervention of hu-

mans generated severe pollution. Intermediate

values of species richness were observed in the lake

meadow area.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

Khajjiar lake catchment, which is an important

conserved area of Himalayas, supports a rich fauna

of butterflies with 49 species. These records are in

accordance with the previous study of Arora et a 1 .

(2005) who also recorded some butterfly species of

conservation concern from the state of Himachal

Pradesh. Similar studies were also conducted by

M ehta et a 1 . (2002) who studied butterflies of Pong

Dam wetland in District Kangra (H .P.) and Thakur

et al. (2006) who reported 50 species belonging to

37 genera under seven families; moreover distribu-

tional records of Rhopalocera from Pin Valley

National Park were studied and 14 species belong-

ing to 11 genera and four families were reported.

Nymphalidae is the largest family of the butter f lies

in the study area represented by 12 species along

with family Satyridae having the same number of

species. Nymphalidae is the largest representative

family of butterflies from India with 450 species

(Varshney, 1993). This may be attributed to their

polyp h ago us habits which probably helps these

Lepidoptera to survive in a variety of habitats. M ore-

over, members of this species can forage in distant

areas as they are active fliers.

Maximum numbers of species were observed

from March to November and very few species

were seen from Decemberto February and only one

species was noted in January in a human habitation

far from frozen lake. Two species were present for

a very short period of the year in the study area, i.e.

Parathyma Cisura asura in July and August while

the small-sized species ScirCltlgCSCl pUV€VldvCl in M a y

and June. Maximum abundance of butterflies in

particular periods of the year (months) is related to

seasonal variations and atmospheric temperature.

From March to November the temperature of the

area is favorable to lepidopterans. In the months

from July to September Monsoon is active in this

part of India which results in increased growth of

various type of vegetation. Hence, during this time

abundance of butterflies is more than in the months

from December to February when climatic condi-

tions in the area are very adverse. D uring this period

the area is subject to heavy snow falls resulting in

low temperatures and poor vegetation.

When relative abundance of these species was

studied it was found that of these 49 species, 5 were

very common, 32 common, 5 uncommon and 7

were rare. This shows that 10% species are very

common, 66% species are common, 10% species

uncommon and 14% are rare species of the total

recorded species from the area. In addition, 3 species

listed in W ildlife Protection Act (1 972) viz., Lethe

scanda and Lampides boeticus placed under sched-

uled II and Castalius rosimon under scheduled IV

of the Act have also been reported from the Khajjiar

area. The occurrence of three threatened species

suggests the need of immediate need of implemen-

tation of strategies of sustainable conservation.

In this study it was revealed that maximum

abundance was present in the forest areas of Kha-

jjiar. Similar observations were made in previous

studies on diversity and habitat preference of but-

terflies in various parts of India (Sreekumar &

Balakrishnan, 2001; Ramesh et al., 2010; Sarma et

al., 2012). Butterflies show distinct patterns of

habitat utilization. The nature of vegetation is an

important factor which determines the dependence

and survival of a species on a particular habitat.

Being highly sensitive to environmental changes,

they are easily affected by even relatively minor dis-

turbances in the habitat so much that they have been

considered as indicators of environmental quality

and are also treated as indicators of the health of an

ecosystem. The presence of butter flies emphasizes

availability of larval food plants. As stated before,

most of the butterflies have specific habitat re-

quirements, as females usually tend to lay eggs only

on selective food plants occurring in the area (Thakur

& M attu , 20 10).

With ever increasing number of tourists reach-

ing Khajjiar every year the number of hotels in the

area is increasing. This is good for general socio-

economic development of the area but has adverse

impacts on ecology. M any tourists visit deep in the

forests and enjoy trekking in the hills. Hotels and

tourists produce a large quantity of n o n - d e g ra d a b le

garbage which accumulates in and around the lake

Preliminary ecological studies on the Lepidoptera from Khajjiar lake catchment, Himachal Pradesh, India

6 7

and also deep into the forest. These activities can

affect sensitive microhabitat of butterflies. Present

study revealed that Khajjiar Lake catchment area is

very rich in lepidopteron fauna, which is depicted

from the large number of variety of butterflies in

term of large number of species. But at the same

time 14% of the species comes under the category

of rare species which means their specimens have

been collected only from limited (single) place i.e.

from grassland or dense forestor from human habi-

tations. Additionally, 3 species were placed under

W i 1 d life Protection Act (1972). Therefore this area

needs intervention for implementation of measures

of sustainable conservation.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Authors are grateful to University Grants Com-

mission for providing financial assistance in form

of R ajeev Gandhi National Fellow ship. Authors are

also thankful to Dr. M .S. Thakur of Department of

Biosciences, Himachal Pradesh University, Shim la

and Director, High Altitude Regional Centre, Zoo-

logical Survey of India, Saproon, Solan, Himachal

Pradesh for help in species identification.

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Biodiversity Journal, 2014, 5 (1): 69-86

Biodiversity indices for the assessment of air, water and soil

quality of the “Biodiversity Friend” certification in temperate

areas

Gianfranco Caoduro 1 *, Roberto Battiston 2 , Pier Mauro Giachino 3 , Laura Guidolin 4 & Giuliano Lazzarin 1

'World Biodiversity Association, c/o Museo Civico Storia Naturale, Lung. Porta Vittoria, 9 - 37129 Verona, Italy; e-mails: gian-

franco . caoduro@libero . it; giuliano . lazzarin@libero . it

2 Musei del Canal di Brenta, Palazzo Perli, Via Garibaldi, 27 - 36020 Valstagna, Vicenza, Italy: e-mail: roberto.battiston@

museivalstagna.it

3 Settore Fitosanitario Regione Piemonte, Environment Park; Via Livorno 60, 10144 Torino, Italy; e-mail: PierMauro.Giachino@

regione.piemonte.it

4 University of Padua, Department of Biology, ViaU. Bassi, 58/B - 35121 Padua, Italy; e-mail: laura.guidolin@unipd.it

■"Corresponding author

ABSTRACT “Biodiversity Friend” is a standard certification developed in 2010 by World Biodiversity

Association to evaluate the biodiversity and promote its conservation in agriculture. The

procedure to obtain the certification considers the environmental impacts of the agricultural

activities on the agrosystem and the biodiversity and suggests operational strategies to

improve the environmental quality of the agriculture areas. The evaluation is referred to 12

actions related to low-impact methods of pest and weed control, reconstitution of soil fertility,

rational management of water resources, diffusion of hedges, woodlands and nectariferous

plants, conservation of agricultural biodiversity, soil, air and freshwater quality through Bio-

diversity Indices, use of renewable sources for energy supply, lower C0 2 production and

C0 2 storage and other actions that may have beneficial effects on biodiversity.

The environmental conditions of the agrosystem are evaluated by biomonitoring of air, water

and soil. The biodiversity of soil and aquatic macroinvertebrates and the biodiversity of epi-

phytic lichen communities decrease very quickly when the soil, water and air conditions are

altered by different causes such as pollution, synthetic and organic pesticides, bad land use

practices, etc. The protocol of the three indices of the standard certification “Biodiversity

Friend”: Lichen Biodiversity Index (LBI-bf), Freshwater Biodiversity Index (FBI-bf), and

Soil Biodiversity Index (SBI-bf) are here presented in detail.

KEY WORDS biodiversity; bioindicators; pollution; certification; agrosystem.

Received 28.02.2014; accepted 14.03.2014; printed 30.03.2014

INTRODUCTION

Up to date, on the Earth about two million species

have been recorded (Fontaine et al., 2012), but the

naturalists estimate that the total number of species

is at least 8.7 million (Mora et al., 2011), three-

quarters of them concentrated in the tropical rain-

forests. So, we know only about one fourth of plant

and animal species on our planet. Zoologists and

botanists describe about 17,000 new species every

year (Fontaine et al., 2012), but the destruction of

tropical rainforests at a rate of several ten thousands

sq km a year (Skole & Tucker, 1993; Katzman &

Cale, 1990) determines the extinction of thousands

Gianfranco Caoduro et alii

of species annually; therefore, the loss of biodiver-

sity is one of the most important environmental

emergencies today.

The recognition of such an emergency has led

150 countries to sign, at the Rio de Janeiro Earth

Summit in 1992, the "Convention on Biological Di-

versity". With the aim of promoting sustainable de-

velopment, the Convention recognizes that the

protection of biodiversity is not concerned only to

living organisms and their ecosystems, but it in-

volves and affects the whole human community and

its basic needs (the right to food, health, air, water

and soil quality). Despite the Convention's member

countries have met regularly to establish actions

and strategies, the rate of biodiversity loss increased

continuously. The minimum target set in the 6th

Conference in Johannesburg on 2002, has been

fixed in a meaningful reduction of the current rate

of biodiversity loss at global, regional and national

levels, within 2010 (Decision 6/26). Unfortunately,

unsustainable patterns of production and consump-

tion, lack of education and awareness about this

problem at any level did not allow to get significant

results: the rate of biodiversity loss has not been re-

duced; on the contrary, the destruction of rainforests

is proceeding very quickly every day.

From a long time, the European Community rec-

ognized the conservation of biodiversity as a key

objective of the strategy for sustainable develop-

ment (Convention on Biological Diversity, 1992).

The preservation of biodiversity is closely connected

with other environmental emergencies, such as

climate change and resources’ availability, about

which in the coming decades the fate of the entire

human community will be played.

Biodiversity as a resource. Most people

have a romantic vision of biological diversity,

mainly linked to emotional and aesthetic criteria.

Even though few people recognize its value, biodi-

versity is the most important resource of natural sys-

tems in the Earth. Therefore, its conservation is

functional to real preservation of ecosystems, from

which depend, directly or indirectly, all human ac-

tivities. In essence, we can say that every living species

is a potential resource, an option for the future, on the

contrary eveiy extinct species is a missed opportunity.

Today, at global level, the destruction and frag-

mentation of habitats, pollution, climate change,

irrational exploitation of resources, human popula-

tion growth and spread of alien species are the main

threats to biodiversity (Convention on Biological

Diversity, 1992).

Biodiversity is a fundamental resource for

human beings, such as energy and water resources.

The maintenance of high biodiversity in the envi-

ronment must be an overriding objective for pro-

duction activities, especially in the primary sector.

The agrosystem can be considered as a man-con-

trolled environment in which the coexistence of veg-

etal and animal species is not characterized by

stable relationships between them; therefore it can

not be considered a true ecosystem. However, it rep-

resents the best possible solution to assure environ-

mental quality and food production. A modern

farmer has to face the problem of how to encourage

biodiversity in its farm and to manage the effects of

a possible reduction since it was established the

close relationship between the biological quality of

the environment and the quality of products. The

use of "good agricultural practices" to ensure con-

servation of soil fertility, correct water management,

weed and pest control through environmentally

friendly methods contribute to the maintenance of

biodiversity in the agrosystems. Other actions such

as the increase of hedgerows, wolds, wooded areas

and nectar species, the leaving of necromasses and

the use of multi-year rotations, increase biodiversity

in the agrosystems, at the same time improving the

quality of air, water and soil (Lowrance et al.,

1986).

Supporting biodiversity in agrosystems. In

this changing world, we are facing a strategic

challenge for the future of the planet: to ensure, in

terms of sustainability, the productivity of economic

systems and the preservation of natural resources.

World Biodiversity Association, a non-profit or-

ganization since its foundation October 4, 2004 at

the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Verona, has

been engaged in studying and conserving biodiver-

sity hot spots, in Italy and worldwide.

In the matter of environmental responsibility,

World Biodiversity Association is moving for a

long time to promote among the companies a

greater consciousness of their role into the field of

conservation and the sensitization of their clients to

sustainability.

With the support of a team of naturalists, agron-

omists, foresters, and its International Scientific

Biodiversity indices for the assessment of air, water and soil quality of the “Biodiversity Friend” certifi cation in temperates areas 7 1

Committee, WB A developed in 2010, a certification

that, starting from the assumption of reducing the

biodiversity losses in the cultivated areas, encour-

ages fanners to increase biological complexity of the

agrosystem, towards a real sustainability and quality

of the crops. The new certification, named “Biodi-

versity Friend” (BF) is not merely confined to cer-

tify the engagement of the farm to a significant

reduction of the biodiversity loss, but represents an

incentive for the farm towards a progressive increase

of biological diversity, that ultimately coincides with

an improvement of the health and quality of the prod-

ucts. BF certifies that the production processes do

not involve loss of biodiversity, and the certified

company is constantly committed to improve the

quality of the environment in which it operates.

The Biodiversity Friend standard. The Bio-

diversity Friend (BF) protocol considers the envi-

ronmental impacts of the agricultural activities on

the ecosystem quality and biodiversity. BF has the

objective of defining a complete picture of the in-

teractions of a product or service with the biological

diversity of the territory. Moreover, the new proto-

col suggests operational strategies to improve the

environmental quality, with the aim to reduce the

impacts of the agricultural activities on agrosystems

and their biodiversity.

Operative strategies are defined in 12 actions

which are related to:

1) low-impact methods of pest and weed control

(organic or integrated production)

2) low-impact methods for the reconstitution of soil

fertility

3) rational management of water resources

4) presence of hedges, woodlands and dry stone

walls/terraces

5) abundance of nectariferous plants

6) conservation of agricultural biodiversity

7) soil quality through the Soil Biodiversity Index

8) freshwater quality through the Freshwater Bio-

diversity Index

9) air quality through the Lichen Biodiversity Index

1 0) use of renewable sources for energy supply

11) moderate C0 2 production, C0 2 storage and

low-impact manufacturing techniques

12) other actions that may have beneficial effects

on biodiversity.

Each action corresponds with a score. The com-

missioner must obtain a minimum score of 60 out

of 100 to be certified. To maintain the certification

the commissioner must increase the biodiversity

every year through effective actions that can be sug-

gested by the evaluators and verified in the annual

controls. When the farm get a score of 80 out of

100, no other improvement is requested (Caoduro

& Giachino, 2012).

Since 2010 to the present day about 50 organic

and integrated production farms have been certified

“Biodiversity Friend”. Many of them already

placed on the market their products with the brand

“Biodiversity Friend”, to show the consumers their

engagement in biodiversity conservation. In 2010

“Biodiversity Friend” obtained the patronage of the

Ministiy of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies

of Italy. The brand “Biodiversity Friend” is exclu-

sive property of the WBA and has been registered

as an international trademark in Italy, European

Union, China and U.S.A.

The Biodiversity Friend environmental

quality assessment

The actions related to the environmental condi-

tions of the agrosystem have a very high importance

for the BF certification. They concern the assess-

ment of the quality of the air, water and soil by

using synthetic biomonitoring procedures based on

methods recognized by scientific community. In the

years 2009 and 2010 a group of WBA naturalists

coordinated by Dr. Gianfranco Caoduro, under the

supervision of the WBA Scientific Committee, de-

veloped different procedures for evaluating the

complexity, in terms of biodiversity, of the soil and

freshwater communities of temperate agricultural

areas. In the same way, the Lichen Biodiversity

Index (LBI), the most frequently used procedure to

assess atmospheric pollution using bioindicators,

has been modified to allow an easier application of

the method. The operation allowed to identify three

different procedures of the “Biodiversity Friend”

protocol for the assessment of the quality of air,

water and soil based on biodiversity indices. The

biodiversity of soil and aquatic macroinvertebrates

and the biodiversity of epiphytic lichen communi-

ties decrease very quickly when the soil, water and

air conditions are altered by natural or anthropic

causes such as pollution, synthetic and organic pes-

ticides, bad land use practices, etc.

Gianfranco Caoduro et alii

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The three indices of the standard certification

“Biodiversity Friend” for temperate areas of North

Hemisphere are represented by: Lichen Biodiversity

Index (LBI-bf), Freshwater Biodiversity Index (FBI-

bf), and Soil Biodiversity Index (SBI-bf).

THE LICHEN BIODIVERSITY INDEX OF

BIODIVERSITY FRIEND (LBI-BF)

Lichens and air pollution in agriculture.

Frequently air pollution is considered a problem re-

lated to industrialized and urban areas. However, in

the last decades the impacts of agriculture on air

quality has been recognized. Air pollutants like pes-

ticides and ammonia substances can have negative

effects also on freshwater, groundwater and soil

(National Research Council, 2009). Many authors

showed that air pollutants produced by agricultural

activities have a reliable impact on epiphytic lichens

(Alstrup, 1991; Brown, 1992; Loppi, 2003; Carrera

& Carreras, 2011). Lichens are generally considered

to be good indicators of air quality: altered compo-

sition of atmospheric gases is reflected in changes

in epiphytic lichen communities. The sensitivity of

lichens is particularly relevant to fungicides, but

herbicides and insecticides also have an important

impact on them. In particular, lichen species

richness was demonstrated to be negatively in-

fluenced by the frequency of pesticide treatments

(Bartok, 1999).

Lichen as bioindicators. Lichens are organisms

formed by a symbiosis between a fungus and an

alga. To date, more than 14,000 species of lichens

have been described by lichenologists. Lichens can

give excellent indications on the level of environ-

mental alteration because their metabolism depends

strictly by the air quality. The characteristics that

make lichens excellent bioindicators of the air

quality, both in urban and in rural areas, are: a) high

capacity of absorption and accumulation of sub-

stances absorbed from the atmosphere; b) resistance

to environmental stress; c) impossibility to get rid

of the polluted parts; d) longevity and slow growth;

e) high sensitivity to the pollutants.

In the evaluation of the air quality lichens can

be used as bioindicators and bioaccumulators.

Frequently, a decrease in the number of lichen

species is recorded together with a reduction of the

number of specimens of each species. While mor-

phological and physiological alterations are difficult

to evaluate, the ecological variations allow to con-

vert the lichen reactions into numeric values, related

to different levels of air pollution. Generally, near-

ing the pollution sources, there is a progressive de-

terioration in lichen's health condition.

The first studies on lichen sensitivity to air pol-

lution date back to the XIX century, but only since

some decades they are used in large-scale biomon-

itoring. Recently many methods based on appro-

priate interpretation levels have been proposed. The

most used procedure calculates the Lichen Biodi-

versity Index (LB I) based on the state of the lichen

diversity in standard conditions, after a long expo-

sition to atmospheric pollution and/or other kinds

of environmental stress; the lichens considered for

the index calculation are, essentially, the epiphytic

ones. Specific indications on the sampling system

and survey procedures of the lichen biodiversity are

available on the Manual for the application of the

index, published by ANPA (ANPA, 2001).

A synthetic method to evaluate the air quality of

the rural areas is the use of the lichens as biosensors

of phytotoxic gases (Nimis, 1999). The epiphytic

lichen biodiversity is an excellent indicator of the

pollution produced by air pollutants. By means of

this approach it is possible to correlate different lev-

els of environmental alteration to variations of the

external aspect of the covering and floristic richness

of the lichen communities. A phytotoxic agent, at

determined concentrations, can cause the death of

the lichens sensitive to it. As the sensitivity to the

pollutants is related to the morphology of the lichen

tallus, to its ecological, physiological and structural

characteristics, the disappearance of the lichens

from a polluted area is not simultaneous, but de-

ferred in time: first the more sensitive species die

and then the more resistant ones. Therefore, the floris-

tic composition becomes an indirect measure of the

concentration of pollutants in a certain place.

Lichens answer with a relative velocity to alter-

ations of the air quality, but they can recolonize in

few years industrial and urban environments if air

quality conditions improve, as many European

countries revealed. The studies of ah quality through

lichens found a large diffusion in Italy starting from

the eighty years, at the same time with the resump-

tion of the interests for the lichenological studies.

Biodiversity indices for the assessment of air, water and soil quality of the “Biodiversity Friend” certifi cation in temperates areas 73

Many investigations were realized both in urban and

in rural areas, in natural protected areas and in areas

where the human activities are particularly intense.

The methodology adopted in Italy starting from

the beginning of the 2000 years is indicated as

“ANPA Method” (ANPA, 2001). This approach

minimizes the subjective elements of the guide lines

previously proposed in Italy and Germany, giving

specific attention to the selection of the sampling

sites, of the trees to be monitored and the position

of the sampling grid.

This method estimates the state of the lichen

biodiversity in standard conditions after a long ex-

position to air pollutants and/or other kinds of en-

vironmental stresses. It is important to specify that

lichens considered in evaluation of biodiversity are

essentially the epiphytic ones; this allows to limit

the variability of the ecological parameters unre-

lated with pollution, such as base content or water

capacity, very changeable in the lithic substrates.

The Lichen Biodiversity Index of “Biodi-

versity Friend”

According to the complexity of the ANPA

method, which can be performed only by an expert

lichenologist, Biodiversity Friend uses a simplified

application of it, allowing to use the procedure also

by non specialists. In the application of the “Biodi-

versity Friend” method the taxonomic identification

of the lichen species is not necessary; the operator is

required only to distinguish the major morphological

differences among the species of the lichen commu-

nity. The operator, therefore, identifies the “Species

A”, from the “Species B”, from the “Species C” and

so on. All other operations correspond exactly to the

ones used by the ANPA Method. The use of the tra-

ditional sampling grid allows the calculation of a nu-

merical index based on lichen diversity and on the

frequency of the various species, through which it is

possible to define the alteration level of the lichen

community. The density of the sampling sites is cal-

culated in relation to the extension of the total farm

surface, as described in Table 1 .

Each sample is formed by three trees (phoro-

phyta) with the characteristics required by the pro-

tocol. The site must be located inside the farm

lands, preferably in the central area. The operator

must choose the three trees nearest to the farm cen-

ter. If in the farm there are not trees suitable to be

Total Farm

Surface

Number of samples

< 20 ha

One sample

20-200 ha

1 + (total surface — 50)/50

The result must be rounded to the

inferior integer number

> 200 ha

3 + (total surface - 200)/ 100

The result must be rounded to the

inferior integer number

Table 1 . Number of air quality sampling sites in relation to

farm surface.

sampled the operator must search other trees in the

peripheral zones. The geographic coordinates of the

site must be reported on the sample form, together

with a synthetic map with the location of the trees

to make their finding easier in the following sur-

veys. If the total farm surface is larger than 20

hectares and it is necessary to locate more than one

site, these must be located at least at 150 m of dis-

tance among them. About the selection of the tree

species, two groups can be distinguished according

to the pH of the bark, as in Table 2.

Species with

subneutral bark

Species with acid bark

(to be preferred)

Acer pseudoplatanus

Prunus domestica

Acer platanoides

Olea europaea

Ceratonia siliqua

Quercus petraea

Ficus sp.

Alnus glutinosa

Fraxinus excelsior

Castanea sativa

Fraxinus ornus

Quercus pubescens

Jug Ians sp.

Quercus cerris

Populus x canadensis

Betula pendula

Sambucus nigra

Prunus avium

Ulmus sp.

Tilia sp.

Table 2. Tree species that can be used in biomonitoring of

air quality by the LBI-bf.

Gianfranco Caoduro et alii

For the biomonitoring the trees with a bark eas-

ily exfoliable (e.g. Aesculus, Platanus ) must be ex-

cluded; the use of Sambucus and Robinia is not

recommended for the high water tolerance of their

bark. Celt is australis and Populus alba are not rec-

ommended because they maintain for a long time a

smooth bark, poorly colonizable by lichens; Fagus

is suggested only in mountain areas. Samples based

on trees of different groups are not directly compa-

rable. Only one tree species is to be used. When this

is not possible, it is best to use another species of

the same group. It is preferable to use species with

acid bark, in particular, trees of the genus Tilia

(Table 2). The sample trees must have the following

characteristics: 1) the inclination of the trunk must

not exceed 10° to avoid effects due to the excessive

eutrophication of inclined surfaces; 2) circumfer-

ence larger than 60 cm to avoid situations with pio-

neer lichens; 3) absence on the bark of evident

factors of disturbance or pathologies.

The presence and frequency of the lichen species

on the bark are detected by means of a sampling grid

formed by a vertical ladder of 10x50 cm, divided in

five subunities of 10x10 cm; the ladder must be ap-

plied to each of the four cardinal points, with the

base at about 100 cm from the ground level. To ex-

clude from the sample any unfit part of the trunk, a

rotation up to 20° clockwise can be allowed.

Even if the lichen cover is high, the position-

ing of the grid in each cardinal point must avoid:

decorticated or damaged portions of the trunk, por-

tions with evident knots, portions corresponding to

rainwater tracks, portions covered with more than

25% by bryophytes (however, also muscicolous

lichens must be considered in the calculation, if

they are present).

To allow the repetition of the survey, for every

tree in the survey form must be noted: a) the exact

location of the tree, using a geo-referenced system

or a detailed map; b) the exact exposure (in degree)

of each grid position; c) the height, from the ground

level, of the grid base; d) circumference of the trunk

in the middle of the grid.

All the lichen species present in each subunit

must be recorded together with their frequency, cal-

culated as number of squares in which each species

is present (the frequency values of each species,

therefore, vary from 0 to 5); if the same specimen

of a certain species is present in more than one

square, its frequency is equivalent to the number of

squares in which it is present. The removal and dam-

age of the lichens inside the grid area must be

avoided to permit the repetition of the sample. Con-

sidering that the identification at specific level of

each species can be difficult for a non-lichenologist

operator, on the survey form is sufficient to deter-

mine the diversity of epiphytic lichens present on

the tree specimen, by noting on the form: “Species

A”, “Species B”, “Species C”, etc., making sure that

they are not damaged or underdeveloped specimens

of species already present in the grid. In case of

doubts in identifying a species, the operator can use

the magnifying glass to confront at microscopic

level the different morphologies and the camera for

macro photography for a following identification.

The value of lichen biodiversity of each sampled tree

is obtained summarizing the frequencies recorded in

each unit.

Calculation of the Biodiversity Lichen Index

The Biodiversity Lichen Index of the site is sta-

tistically determined on the basis of the values col-

lected during the survey. The first step is to

summarize the frequencies of the species recorded

on each tree. As it is predictable a substantial growth

difference among the sides of the trunk, the frequen-

cies must be noted separately for each cardinal point.

In this way, for each tree will be obtained four sums

of frequencies (BLjN, BLjE, BLjS, BLjW). In each

site the following operations must be realized:

1) for each tree the frequencies of all the lichen

species detected are summed (in this way we have

the biodiversity related to the single phorophyta);

2) all the frequencies gathered on each tree are

summed and the total is divided by three (the

number of phorophyta). In this way we obtain the

Lichen Biodiversity Index of the site (LBI);

The Lichen Biodiversity Index of the site must

be superior or equal to 45. In case of surveys to

make in more sites (farms with total surface larger

than 40 hectares), the total Lichen Biodiversity

Index emerges by the sum of the indices of all sites,

divided by the total number of sites. The ratio must

be 45 or more, for an acceptable air quality.

Classes of lichen biodiversity

Generally, seven classes of Lichen Biodiversity

are used, corresponding to the same number of air

Biodiversity indices for the assessment of air, water and soil quality of the “Biodiversity Friend” certifi cation in temperates areas 75

quality levels. The reference scale under reported is

the one calibrated for the Padan-Adriatic biogeo-

graphical area. For different areas a re-calibration

of the classes is necessary.

- Value ofL.B. equal to 0 : corresponds to the so

called “lichen desert”, and therefore to a situation

of very high alteration of the lichen community,

corresponding to the worst level of air quality (very

poor air quality).

- Values ofL.B. between 1 and 15: are referred

to zones with a high level of alteration of the lichen

community. These zones have a very scarce air

quality.

- Values ofL.B. between 15 and 30: correspond

to situations of medium alteration of the lichen

communities. These zones have a scarce air quality.

- Values ofL.B. between 30 and 45: are referred

to zones with a low alteration level of the lichen

communities and a low air quality.

- Values ofL.B. between 45 and 60: are referred

to zones with a medium level of naturalness of the

lichen communities. In these areas the air quality is

moderately good.

- Values of L.B. between 60 and 75: in these

zones the lichen communities have a high level of

naturalness. The air quality in these areas is good.

- Value ofL.B. more than 75: in these zones the

lichen communities have a very high level of natu-

ralness. The air quality in these areas is very good.

According to the “Biodiversity Friend” proce-

dure, the conformity to the action is reached by a

value ofL.B. equal or greater than 45, correspond-

ing to an air quality quite good, good or very good,

on the basis of the calibrated scale of the Padan-

Adriatic biogeographic area (ANPA, 2001).

The survey can be performed during all the year.

Before starting the survey, the operator must

have the following material:

- handbooks with epiphytic lichens identification

keys

- survey form for LBI-bf

- Global Positioning System

- magnifying-glass (at least lOx)

- digital camera for macro-photos

- sampling grid formed by a vertical grid of 10x50

- compass

- measuring tape (at least 3 m)

THE FRESHWATER BIODIVERSITY INDEX

OF BIODIVERSITY FRIEND (FBI-BF)

There are several ways to make an environmen-

tal quality analysis of the freshwater and each of

them can point out different aspects and critical

points. It is possible to divide these methodologies

in two main groups: the direct approaches, related

to the physical-chemical analyses, and the indirect

ones, represented by the biotic indices. Generally,

the physical-chemical monitoring can be very de-

tailed but it is related to simple problems and reveal

single criticalities in a punctiform way. Chemical

analysis targets only specific substances and it may

miss intermittent or periodic pollutants, or sub-

stances outside the range of the analysis.

To analyze complex systems as the ecological

net of a river or a stream, the biotic indices can be

more suitable. The biomonitoring of the organisms

living in waterways can reveal the effects of pollu-

tants not detected by chemical analysis, as well

recorded in modem literature since the proposal of

the Beck's biotic index (Beck, 1955). The strategy

of the biotic indices is based on the identification

of macroinvertebrates, the sensitivity of which to

water quality is well known; for this reason they are

defined bioindicators. The community of the ben-

thic macroinvertebrates in a water body is particu-

larly adapted to be used as a source of bioindicators

because it is easy to investigate, it is abundant and

generally always available and it has moderate sea-

sonal variations. Monitoring the animals that live

in water bodies can reveal the effects of pollution

not detected by chemical monitoring. For this rea-

son the biotic indices had a very important role in

the wide-ranging environmental analysis of the last

half of the last century, till their recognition and

standardization in the national and European regu-

lations related to the monitoring and classification

of the water bodies (Directive 2000/60/EC).

However, in the last years the standardized

model of the Extended Biotic Index (Woodiwiss,

1964; 1978) has been improved by adding sig-

nificant contributions. The E.B.I. works well if it

is applied in well known areas, where the tolerance

parameters of the single species are known, and if

the investigation has a high detail from a taxo-

nomic point of view, with the involvement of spe-

cialists in macroinvertebrates and hydrobiology.

To bypass this methodological limit, and at the

Gianfranco Caoduro et alii

same time to increase the systemic complexity of

the analysis to the study of bioindicators, some au-

thors suggested to reduce the taxonomic resolu-

tion, rewarding it with a more accurate description

of the ecosystem and its functionality, using the

“River Continuum Concept” (Vannote et al., 1980;

Siligardi et al., 2007; or the Italian SEL in the

D.M. 391/2003).

As a further evolution of the biotic index method-

ologies, the Freshwater Biodiversity Index of “Bio-

diversity Friend” is proposed to evaluate the

suitability of a water environment to host a rich bio-

diversity. This protocol adapts common used assess-

ing methods to evaluate biodiversity in freshwater

environments, detecting the diversification and sta-

bility of the biotic communities (Klemm et al.,

1990; Rosenberg et al., 1997), relating them to the

river continuum and to the functional parts of the

hydromorphology.

Determination of the FBI-bf. An environment

suitable to host many kinds of organisms should be

primarily heterogeneous, with different survival

strategies. Therefore, a general classification of the

entire ecosystem functional to the water course, con-

ditioning its dynamics, is necessary. The operator

has to fill out a survey form in which different mor-

phological and ecological parameters are listed. If

the water body presents significantly diversified

ecological conditions, the operator must fill out a

different form for each riparian zone; the final score

will be obtained as the mean of the final values ob-

tained for each zone considered.

Hydro-morphological Assessment

Width. The width of a water body is very impor-

tant considering that the most food sources of the

refuge and reproduction sites of the aquatic fauna

are located near the banks. The width of the bed

must be evaluated in normal water conditions; the

bed of the stream includes the part occupied by the

water and a riparian strip lacking of vegetation,

trees and shrubs that can not survive in conditions

of frequent submersion and erosion of the substrate

caused by high floods.

During periods of low floods, a part of the bed

can be colonized by pioneer herbaceous vegetation.

Therefore, the operator must observe carefully the

banks to locate the real width of the water body. The

width will be evaluated transversally, from the ex-

treme margins of the bed, in normal water conditions.

If the banks and the bed are completely over-

built or if the flows are regulated, involving the

drainage of the water body for more than three

months in a year, or the bed is dredged more than

twice a year, the water body must be considered

“artificial”.

Fluvial morphology. Dikes and canalization and

flood-relief works artificially modify the water

bodies to have as less impact as possible on the

human activities, to prevent overflows and bank

erosion. In many agricultural areas is very difficult

to keep rivers in their natural conditions, especially

in Europe where anthropization and urbanization

are widely spread (U.N., 2012). On the contrary, a

strong artificial management leads to an homoge-

nization of the fluvial structure, reducing the capac-

ity of the water bodies to support complex biotic

communities. A compromise is, however, possible.

A straight channel, completely artificial, with

overbuilt banks offers very few food sources and

refuge sites; it will be colonized, in the best case,

only by few and very resistant organisms. A more

sinuous and irregular course with natural banks, at

least in some reaches, on the contrary, can transform

radically a little agricultural channel in a wetland of

great interest for the freshwater flora and fauna.

Hydrological regime . Water flow variations are

natural and related to seasonality; they can support

the alternation of different host species and increase

aquatic biodiversity. A constant natural flow, deter-

mined by a well-structured hydrological network,

on the other hand, even guaranteeing more stability

and continuity to some species, can reduce the pos-

sible strategies.

Alterations to the natural hydrological regime

such as water withdrawals for agricultural, hydro-

electric or civilian uses can influence significantly

the functionality of the water body, causing tem-

porary shallows incompatible with the life cycles

of many organisms; also the artificial irrigation

ditches can be considered in this category (Bunn &

Arthington, 2002; Ferrington & Sealock, 2005).

The flow variations must not be evaluated by the

size of the wetting bed at the moment of the survey,

but they must be deduced from the extension and

complexity of the perifluvial vegetation and, even-

Biodiversity indices for the assessment of air, water and soil quality of the “Biodiversity Friend” certifi cation in temperates areas 77

tually, by information given by other sources of mon-

itoring (e.g. Literature, recording stations, etc.).

Riparian vegetation. The perifluvial vegetation,

besides conditioning the position and extension of

the shaded areas, influences the riparian morphology

by creating niches and sites adapted to host the

aquatic fauna and produces the most of its food

sources. If, in absence of riparian vegetation, only

few particularly resistant species can survive, every

increase in terms of diversity and complexity of the

riparian communities will be followed by an in-

crease of the aquatic animal species. Compiling the

survey form, different categories can be added to-

gether, if they are present (e.g. trees, shrubs and

herbs). Only hygrophilic and riparian species can be

considered in the survey; exotic species and not ri-

parian herbaceous vegetation must not be considered.

Taxonomic diversity and pollution tole-

rance

After the hydro-morphological assessment of

the water body has been surveyed, the operator eval-

uates the diversity of the aquatic biocenosis by a di-

rect sampling. The “Biodiversity Friend” procedure

does not consider the species as in the classic taxon-

omy but as morphotypes, as a compromise between

a simple evaluation suitable for non-taxononomists

and an accurate quantitative evaluation of species

diversity.

The morphotypes are here considered as groups

of organisms which at macroscopic level are char-

acterized by similar shapes. It is not important to

define the taxonomic level: e.g. a sample of two

species of Plecoptera, one species of Amphipoda

and three different genera of Mollusca corresponds

to six morphotypes.

However, the identification of a morphotype

needs a good knowledge of the aquatic fauna, con-

sidering that many individuals of different species

can look identical to an untrained eye. An adequate

training, even if not at specialistic level, will be nec-

essary to recognize differences in the number of

appendixes, the different form or position of bristles

or hooks and so on.

The number of the morphotypes gives a direct

evaluation of the biodiversity richness and complex-

ity of the communities. The dominance of few

morphs indicates a scarce species richness, the

heterogeneity of the morphs, indicates good species

richness. If an healthy aquatic environment can host

a rich variety of organisms, the presence of a pol-

lutant can limit this condition. Each species, accord-

ing to scientific literature (e.g. Mandaville, 2002;

see Table 3), has a certain tolerance to pollution, but

it is possible to identify a predisposition to tolerance

also at a higher taxonomic level, obviously arriving

at some detail compromises which are considered

acceptable by many authors (Olsgard et al., 1997).

If it is not infrequent to find tolerant invertebrates

in low polluted sites, the opposite is not true.

Therefore, the presence of at least two bioindi-

cators belonging to groups particularly sensitive to

pollution is here considered as a significant indica-

tion to evaluate the minimum quality of the aquatic

environment. In the survey form the two lower val-

ues are identified to define the pollution tolerance,

corresponding to the rounded down mean of these

two values.

Survey: materials and methods

Before the biological survey, the monitoring

procedure of the FBI-bf provides also the analysis

of the main physico-chemical parameters of the

freshwater measured by portable instruments. In

particular must be surveyed and reported on the

FBI-bf form the following parameters: temperature,

pH, electric conductivity and dissolved oxygen.

These additional information can be useful to un-

derstand the reason for eventual discrepancies

between an apparently good environment and a rich

variety of organisms and suggest the commissioner

effective action to reduce the pollution.

Sampling of water macroinvertebrates is per-

formed with a collecting-net for aquatic inverte-

brates (grid 500 pm), according to the procedure

proposed by the British Standards Institute (ISO

10870: 2012). In some circumstances the identifi-

cation of aquatic invertebrates is possible also from

the bank, investigating the lower surface of rocks

and rubbles. Before sampling with the collecting-

net, the operator must verify the activity of surface

insects, collect by hands the stones and submerged

wood of the bottom for at least two minutes. All the

groups of macroinvertebrates observed during these

surveys will be reported on the FBI-bf form. The

sample with the collecting-net must begin from the

most downstream point of the water body, proceed-

Gianfranco Caoduro et alii

MACROGROUPS

TROPHIC GROUP

POLLUTION TOLERANCE

Plecoptera

Shredders/ Grazers/Predators

Ephemeroptera

Collectors

Tricoptera

Collectors/Grazers/Shredders

Megaloptera

Predators

Platyhelminthes

Collectors

Coleoptera (larvae)

Predators/ Grazers/ Shredders/ Collectors

Heteroptera

Predators

Odonata Anisoptera

Predators

Odonata Zygoptera

Predators

Arachnida Hydracarina

Predators

Diptera (larvae)

Collectors/Grazers/Predators/Shredders

Crustacea Amphipoda

Collectors

Crustacea Decapoda

Collectors/ Grazers

Crustacea Isopoda

Collectors

Mollusca

Collectors/Grazers

Oligochaeta

Predators

Hirudinea

Predators/Collectors

N ematoda/N ematomoipha

Predators

Table 3. Trophic characteristics and synthetic index of pollution tolerance (from Mandaville, 2002 modified) of the most

common types of freshwater macroinvertebrates.

ing upstream; in this way the aquatic environment

is not disturbed before the sampling. The collecting-

net must be placed against the flow; the operator’s

feet and contemporarily the aquatic net can be used

in deeper water bodies to move the ground debris

and drive out burrowers and climbers. In these con-

ditions the net must be held vertically, in opposition

to the water flow, downstream the operator’s feet.

After 3-4 minutes of sampling, the material col-

lected by the net is put into a little white tank and

the operator will begin the identification of the in-

vertebrates morphotypes, with the aid of a magni-

fying glass. In case of uncertain identification, small

size invertebrates can be collected by means of en-

tomological pincers or little brush and put in a test-

tubes with ethyl alcohol 70% to be identified later.

After having finished the sample the Freshwa-

ter Biodiversity Index of the site can be easily cal-

culated by summing all the scores obtained in each

section of the form: hydromorphology, taxonomic

diversity and pollution tolerance. To have accept-

able conditions of biodiversity the result must be

30 or more.

The survey must be done in low or normal water

conditions coming from decreasing flows, from

spring to autumn. Most benthic invertebrate popu-

lations are subjected to seasonal life cycles and this

should be considered in the results. The sampling

Biodiversity indices for the assessment of air, water and soil quality of the “Biodiversity Friend” certifi cation in temperates areas 79

can give results not reliable in the following situa-

tions:

- during or immediately after flood events (it is

recommended to wait at least two weeks to allow

the recolonization of the substrates);

- during or immediately after periods of drought

(it is recommended to wait at least four weeks);

- impediments caused by environmental factors

such as the high turbidity of water.

The samples must be done in a congruous num-

ber, also in relation with the extension of the super-

ficial water grid of the farm or in near areas, on the

base of the Table 4.

Total Farm

Surface

Number of samples

<20 ha

Two samples

20-200 ha

2 + (total surface - 40)/50

The result must be rounded to the

inferior integer number

> 200 ha

5 + (total surface - 200)/ 100

The result must be rounded to the in-

ferior integer number

Table 4. Number of water quality sampling sites in relation

to farm surface.

Completed the samples, in relation to the exten-

sion of the farm surface, the general Freshwater

Biodiversity Index of the farm can be easily calcu-

lated by summing the scores obtained in each

survey form. The mean of the results must be 30 or

more, for acceptable condition for biodiversity.

Before starting the survey, the operator must

have the following material:

- handbooks with aquatic macroinvertebrates iden-

tification keys

- survey form for FBI-bf

- digital portable thermometer

- digital portable pH meter

- digital portable EC meter

- dissolved oxygen test kit

- aquatic net (ISO 10870:2012)

- magnifying glass lOx

- little white tank 30x40 cm

- lattice gloves

- entomological pincers

- test-tubes with ethyl alcohol 70%

- digital camera for macro photos

- Global Positioning System

THE SOIL BIODIVERSITY INDEX OF

BIODIVERSITY FRIEND (SBI-BF)

The soil can be considered an ecosystem formed

by a complex mixture of mineral particles, water,

air, organic matter and living organisms; being the

basic factor of the agricultural production, it is one

of the most valuable natural resources on the Earth.

A large part of Europe’s land is affected by soil de-

terioration due to erosion, compaction, contamina-

tion, loss of organic content and change in land use

(Jones et al., 2012). To be sustainable, agriculture

in the future must adopt a careful soil management.

The utilization of the soils for the purpose of

producing food needs a very high level of mainte-

nance of the resource. The soil quality is tradition-

ally evaluated by means of physical, chemical and

microbiological indicators. Some methods based on

the use of soil microarthropods in evaluating the

soil quality were proposed in the past by different

authors. In fact, many endogean animals show high

sensitivity to land management practices and can

be easily related to the soil ecosystem functions

(Black, 1965; Menta, 2008).

The evaluation of the state of natural integrity,

or alteration, of the edaphic ecosystem can be ef-

fectively realized through the study of the soil

fauna. The edaphic or subterranean animals living

in the soil have a close series of relationships among

them and interact continuously with the physical

environment. Any alteration of this environment is

“registered” by the soil community which, there-

fore, can be used as indicator of the variation of the

natural conditions (Giachino & Vailati, 2005; 2010).

Considering the complexity of soil communi-

ties, in qualitative investigations are usually exam-

ined some groups of animals that have species with

fundamental requirements to be considered good

biological indicators: to be assessable, to be easily

determined and to be sufficiently known from an

ecological and biogeographic point of view.

Gianfranco Caoduro et alii

Coleoptera Carabidae and Staphylinidae, Opil-

ionida, Lumbricidae and Enchytreidae were the

groups more frequently used in the past for investi-

gations of this kind (Brandmayr et al., 2005). But

the application of these procedures were often lim-

ited by the difficulty of classification at species level,

that requires the work of specialists in zoology.

The method of evaluation of the biological soil

quality in relation to the presence of edaphic mi-

croarthropods, was proposed by Parisi in 2001

(QBS-ar, Qualita Biologica del Suolo-Arthropoda),

initially with the aim to develop a procedure able

to characterize the maturity of woodland soils.

Using the ecological concept of Biological Form

(or ecotype), similar to Sistematic Unit in the Ex-

tended Biotic Index, and analyzing the morpholog-

ical and functional convergence among the soil mi-

croarthropods, Parisi (2001) assigned a different

importance to each group characterizing the struc-

ture of the soil community, defining the so called

ecomorphological indices (EMI).

The method of the standard “Biodiversity

Friend” is based on the analysis of soil samples

in which the presence of the animal taxa (Table 5)

is detected to determine the Soil Biodiversity Index

(SBI-bf); the presence of each group is recorded

with a score in the proposed form. In comparison

with the QBS-ar method, in addition to the Arthro-

poda, Mollusca and Annelida have been consid-

ered. These groups have a fundamental role in the

dynamics of the edaphic ecosystem (Liu et al.,

2012 ).

PHYLUM

CLASSES

ORDERS (or families)

SCORE

Mollusca

Gastropoda

Pulmonata and terrestrial Prosobranchia

Annelida

Oligochaeta

Enchytraeidae

Lumbricidae

P seudoscorp ionida

Arthropoda

Aracnida

Palpigrada

Araneae

Opilionida

Acaroidea

Crustacea

Isopoda

Myriapoda

Diplopoda

Chilopoda

Pauropoda

Insecta

Symphyla

Collembola

Protura

Diplura

Thysanura

Orthoptera (Gryllotalpidae and Gryllidae)

Dermaptera

Blattodea

Embioptera

Psocoptera

Coleoptera

Hymenoptera (Formicidae)

Larvae of

Holometabola

Diptera

Coleoptera

Other Holometabola

Table 5. Table for the determination of the Soil Biodiversity Index of “Biodiversity Friend” (SBI-bf)

Biodiversity indices for the assessment of air, water and soil quality of the “Biodiversity Friend” certifi cation in temperates areas 8 1

BIODIVERSITY FRIEND CHECKLIST

SURVEY FORM OF THE LICHEN BIODIVERSITY INDEX (FORM LBI-bf)

Farm Locality _ Province

Date O p e rator

Site UTM Coordinates: Altitude m a,s.l. _

Lichen Biodiversity lndex-bf:

List of the species

TOTAL

LB)

LBI TOTAL

Code of the phorophyta and exposition

NOTES:

Figure 1. Survey form of the Lichen Biodiversity Index (Form LBI-bf).

Gianfranco Caoduro et alii

BIODIVERSITY FRIEND CHECKLIST

SURVEY FORM OF THE FRESHWATER BIODIVERSITY INDEX (FORM FBI~bf)

Farm Locality _ Province

Date Operator

Site UTM Coordinates: Altitude m a.sJ.

Length of the considered reach: m Freshwater Biodiversity Index-bf;

H 2 O physico-chemical parameters: t pH Elect, cond, pS/cm dissolved O 2 mg/I

1) HYDROMORPHOLOGY