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Giambattista Bello

  • Biodiversity Journal, 10 (4): 389-404 - MONOGRAPH

    Giambattista Bello
    The Mediterranean Sepiolidae (Mollusca Cephalopoda) diversity
    https://doi.org/10.31396/Biodiv.Jour.2019.10.4.389.404

    ABSTRACT
    Sepiolidae (Mollusca Cephalopoda) is the most diverse cephalopod family in the Mediterranean Sea, where 17 species of this taxon have been identified. In the present review, the updated list of the Mediterranean sepiolids is given along with the species type locality, the first documented record in this basin and the present geographical distribution. The exclusion of Sepiola atlantica and Heteroteuthis atlantis - species that have been reported in the Mediterranean but whose presence is not warranted - from the list is also explained. Moreover, patently erroneous information about the bathymetric and geographical distributions of Sepiola rondeletii is revised. The extreme rarity of Sepiola aurantiaca and the comparatively recent entrance into the Mediterranean and establishment of Stoloteuthis leucoptera are discussed. The genesis of the Mediterranean sepiolid-fauna, in relation to the NE Atlantic fauna, is dealt with and, in particular, the reasons that determined its comparatively broad diversity are examined. They are to be traced back to both the mode of life and reproductive biology of these small-sized cephalopods. In connection with the latter matter, the high degree of endemism in the subfamily Sepiolinae is also explained.