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Agostino Letardi

  • Biodiversity Journal, 6 (1): 011-016

    Agostino Letardi, Silvia Arnone, Massimo Cristofaro & Paola Nobili
    Species composition of carabid (Coleoptera Carabidae) communities in apple orchards and vineyards in Val d’Agri (Basilicata, Italy)

    ABSTRACT
    An entomological investigation was carried out in an agricultural area, mainly apple orchards, of the Agri river plain, located in some municipalities of Basilicata, Italy. Between 2012 and 2014, species richness and composition of carabid assemblages were investigated on the ground surface of differently managed (abandoned, organic, commercial and IPM) apple orchards and vineyards. Ground beetles (Coleoptera Carabidae) were sampled by means of pitfall traps. 1288 individuals belonging to 40 species were collected, representing two-thirds of the carabid fauna of this area found in our and earlier studies. The species richness varied between 4 and 20 in the different orchards. The common species, occurring with high relative abundance in the individual orchards in decreasing order were: Pterostichus (Feronidius) melas (Creutzer, 1799), Pseudoophonus (Pseudoophonus) rufipes (De Geer, 1774), Brachinus crepitans (Linnaeus, 1758), Harpalus (Harpalus) dimidiatus (P. Rossi, 1790) and Poecilus (Poecilus) cupreus (Linnaeus, 1758). Most of the collected ground beetles were species with a wide distribution in the Paleartic region, eurytopic and common in European agroecosystems. The assemblages were dominated by small-medium, macropterous species, with summer larvae. No endemic species were found.

  • Biodiversity Journal, 3 (4): 445-458

    Rinaldo Nicoli Aldini, Agostino Letardi & Roberto A. Pantaleoni
    State of the art on Neuropterida of Sicily and Malta

    ABSTRACT
    Sicily, the largest Mediterranean island, is surrounded by many small islands (Aeolian Islands, Ustica, Aegadian Islands, Pantelleria, Linosa, Lampedusa, Maltese Islands), some of which forming archipelagoes. The authors, after a historical sketch of the research on Neuropterida in Sicily (sensu lato), analyze the biodiversity of the area, highlighting the species richness and providing an up-to-date check-list. The lack of knowledge on some of the most paradigmatic communities of Neuropterida is discussed in relation to their various habitats. The distributional patterns of Sicilian Neuropterida are interpreted in order to obtain a biogeographical characterization of the area. It is confirmed that the location of Sicily and its surrounding islands forms a bridge between north and south and a door from the W Mediterranean region to the oriental Mediterranean basin.