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Alessandro Marletta

  • Biodiversity Journal, 7 (1): 051-054

    Paolo Galasso, Nadia Curcuraci & Alessandro Marletta
    First record of Brachytron pratense (Müller, 1764) in Sicily (Odonata Aeshnidae)

    ABSTRACT
    Brachytron pratense (Müller, 1764) is a small Odonata Aeshnidae widespread throughout most of Europe and Central-northern Italy, but up to now never recorded in Sicily. During the spring 2015, some specimens of this species were observed and photographed for the first time at the swamp lake “Pantano Cuba”, in the southeast coast of Sicily, near to Pachino (Syracuse). This record represents now the southernmost Italian locality for this species.

  • Biodiversity Journal, 6 (1): 305-308 - MONOGRAPH

    Alessandro Marletta, Giuseppe Nicolosi & Tiziana Grech
    On the presence of Campodea majorica sicula Condé, 1957 (Diplura Campodeidae) in the "Abisso della Pietra Selvaggia" cave (Mount Pellegrino, Palermo, Italy)
    Proceedings of the 2nd International Congress “Speciation and Taxonomy”, May 16th-18th 2014, Cefalù-Castelbuono (Italy)

    ABSTRACT
    We report for the first time the presence of Campodea majorica sicula Condé, 1957 (Insecta, Diplura, Campodeidae) in the "Abisso della Pietra Selvaggia", a vertical karst cave situated in the southern slope of Mount Pellegrino, adjacent to the city of Palermo (Sicily). This hypogean subspecies is considered endemic of Sicily and up to now it was known only for the “Addaura Caprara” cave, located at the opposite slope (north-east) of Mount Pellegrino. During a speleological excursion in the "Abisso della Pietra Selvaggia" cave, organized by “Centro Speleologico Etneo” (Catania, Italy), 14 specimens of this subspecies were collected in the bottom of the cave, at -170 m. The bottom is one of the few humid areas of the cave, whereas the rest is very dry, dusty and apparently without Diplura. In addition to C. majorica sicula, currently are known the following C. majorica subspecies, all hypogean: C. majorica majorica Condé, 1955, C. majorica interjecta Condé, 1955, both endemic of some caves of Majorca Island (Balearic Islands, Spain) and C. majorica valentina Sendra et Moreno, 2004, found inside 7 caves located in the karstic area of Mount Mondúver and Sierra de Corbera (SE of Valencia, Spain).