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Maria Teresa Spena

  • Biodiversity Journal, 3 (4): 555-570

    Agatino Reitano, Fabio Liberto, Salvatore Giglio, Rosario Grasso & Maria Teresa Spena
    Terrestrial molluscs from the R.N.I. “Grotta Conza” (Palermo, Sicily) (Gastropoda Architaenioglossa Pulmonata)

    ABSTRACT
    The results of a study on the fauna of terrestrial molluscs from the R.N.I. "Grotta Conza" (Palermo, North-Western Sicily) are here described. Research has allowed us to compile a checklist of 41 species, 18 of which are endemic to Sicily. For each species ecological and distributional data are provided.

  • Biodiversity Journal, 13 (3): 0613-0616 - MONOGRAPH

    Vera D’Urso, Antonino Puglisi, Rosario Grasso & Maria Teresa Spena
    Notes on the Sicilian cave-dwelling species of Auchenorrhyncha (Insecta Rhynchota)
    https://doi.org/10.31396/Biodiv.Jour.2022.13.3.613.616

    ABSTRACT
    Up to now, there are very few species of troglobitic Auchenorrhyncha identified for Europe outside the Macaronesian region belonging to the Cixiidae family. From the biospeleological point of view, Sicily is a very interesting island because the presence of both limestone caves and lava tubes that allow a variety of specialized taxa belonging to different groups of Invertebrates. Concerning Auchenorrhyncha, at least two obligately cave-dwelling species belonging to Ibleocixius D’Urso et Grasso, 2009 and Cixius Latreille, 1804 genera inhabit the Sicilian caves. Ibleocixius is a troglobitic genus, endemic from Sicily with a unique species, Ibleocixius dunae, living in a limestone cave of the Hyblean plateau (South-eastern Sicily). Recently, a new troglobitic taxon (under description) has been found in some lava tubes on the Etna volcano; it belongs to Cixius genera, to C. pallipes-wagneri group. Both taxa live on the roots that penetrate the caves. They have a different palaeogeographic history. Ibleocixius dunae is a paleoendemic taxon showing strong degree of troglomorphy, and the genus differs from Cixius and related taxa in a different arrangement of several characters which are also present in other taxa. Cixius n. sp. is a neoendemic taxon showing morphological characters close to those of the epigean species Cixius wagneri sensu Holzinger et al. (2003).