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Nicola Maio

  • Biodiversity Journal, 8 (4): 947-950

    Nicola Maio, Francesco Pollaro, Angelo Gasparro, Agnese Petraccioli, Marcello Mezzasalma, Mario Guariglia, Giorgio Galiero, Fabio Di Nocera, Doriana Iaccarino, Mario Santoro, Gianni Insacco & Fabio Maria Guarino
    New record of Dwarf Sperm Whale Kogia sima (Owen, 1866) from the Mediterranean Sea (Cetacea Kogiidae)

    ABSTRACT
    We report a new record of the Dwarf Sperm Whale Kogia sima (Owen, 1866) (Cetacea Kogiidae) in the Mediterranean Sea, following the stranding of a dead female of this species occurred on 4th February 2017. The specimen was found at the Trentova seaside near Agropoli (Salerno Province, Southern Italy) within the area of the Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni National Park. The molecular analysis of a partial sequence of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA confirmed the species identification based on anatomical and morphological characters. This stranding is the third on the Mediterranean and Italian coasts.

  • Biodiversity Journal, 7 (1): 033-038

    Nicola Maio, Vincenzo Maione & Riccardo Sgammato
    First record of a Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae (Borowski, 1781) in the Tyrrhenian Sea (Cetacea Balaenopteridae)

    ABSTRACT
    It is reported the sighting of a Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae (Borowski, 1781) (Cetacea Balaenopteridae) in the Gulf of Pozzuoli, near the coast of Baia (Bacoli, Napoli, Campania, Southern Italy). This record represents the first in the Tyrrenian Sea, the eighth in the Italian Seas and the twenty-fourth in the Mediterranean Sea.

  • Biodiversity Journal, 6 (3): 671-672
    Nicola Maio
    The Cetacean biodiversity in the Italian seas (Mammalia Cetacea)
  • Biodiversity Journal, 6 (1): 377-392 - MONOGRAPH

    Agnese Petraccioli, Paolo Crovato, Ivano Niero, Laura De Riso, Camillo Pignataro, Gaetano Odierna & Nicola Maio
    A preliminary checklist of the species of non-marine molluscs (Mollusca Gastropoda Bivalvia) from the Alburni Mountains (Campania, Southern Italy)
    Proceedings of the 2nd International Congress “Speciation and Taxonomy”, May 16th-18th 2014, Cefalù-Castelbuono (Italy)

    ABSTRACT
    An annotated checklist of the species of non-marine molluscs from the Alburni Mountains (Salerno Province, Campania, Southern Italy) is reported. The research was carried out from 2010 to 2013 inside a Site of Community Importance (SCI) and a Special Protection Area (SPA), of the Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni National Park. The non-marine molluscs sampled on the field were compared with data available from the literature and malacological collections. Up to now, only 12 non-marine Mollusc species were known from the Alburni Mountains through bibliographical data. In all, the malacofauna of Alburni Mountains is composed by 83 non-marine Mollusc species (73 species of land snails, and 10 species of freshwater molluscs). The presence of nine species (six species of land snails and three species of freshwater snails) was confirmed by our field investigation, four species (3 species of land snails and 1 species of allochthonous freshwater snails) were recorded only by bibliographical data and were not yet found. Our analysis identifies 70 species of non-marine Molluscs (64 species of land snails, 6 species of freshwater molluscs) recorded on the basis of field data which were not previously recorded from the study area. At least 11 species are new records for the Campania Region. Extremely interesting is the record of Vertigo angustior Jeffreys, 1830 a species protected in European Union by the Annex II of the “Habitats Directive” and listed as “Vulnerable” at the European level. A Red List of Threatened Species is proposed and the species were classified with the code of I.U.C.N. (Version 2014.3). Five allochthonous species were surveyed for the first time in the study area: 3 land snails: Lucilla scintilla (Lowe, 1852), Lucilla singleyana (Pilsbry, 1829) and Paralaoma servilis (Shuttleworth, 1852), and 2 freshwater snails: Potamopyrgus antipodarum (J.E. Gray, 1843) and Ferrissia fragilis (Tryon, 1863). Four species are known exclusively from the literature: Vertigo (Vertigo) moulinsiana (Dupuy, 1849), Macrogastra (Pyrostoma) plicatula (Draparnaud, 1801), Cernuella virgata (Da Costa, 1778), and Haitia acuta (Draparnaud, 1805).

  • Biodiversity Journal, 4 (4): 483-500

    Nicola Maio, Agnese Petraccioli, Paolo Crovato, Nabil Amor & Gaetano Odierna
    New faunistic data on Trochoidea (Trochoidea) caroni (Deshayes,1832) (Gastropoda Pulmonata Hygromiidae)

    ABSTRACT
    Trochoidea (Trochoidea) caroni (Deshayes, 1832), with T. (T.) elegans (Gmelin, 1791) and T. (T.) trochlea (Pfeiffer, 1846), belong to a group of species (“elegans group”), which, although considered valid by most authors, show a not completely defined systematic position. In this work, we report four new records (Terracina and Spigno Saturnia for Latium, Sorrento for Campania and Castagneto Carducci for Tuscany) and confirm two historical records (Ischia Island for Campania and Manfredonia for Apulia) of T. caroni from Italy, and all published and new faunistic data about the presence of this species in the Sicilian Islands, Capri Island and Maltese Islands. Moreover, we report some historical data from the Western Mediterranean Sea: two bibliographical records from the Balearic Islands, not verified, and three records from North Africa (Tunis in Tunisia, Annaba in Algeria and an unmarked locality in Morocco). We also report the up to now historical faunistic data of T. trochlea, a not well known species with an undefined status, and of some populations of T. elegans with raised whorl. It is not yet possible to draw a certain conclusion on the particular biogeography of these taxa, but the new data presented in this work, enhance the current knowledge on the distribution of T. caroni which would be larger than previously known.

  • Biodiversity Journal, 3 (2): 145-150

    Ivano Adamo, Francesco Carandente, Camillo Pignataro, Paolo Crovato & Nicola Maio
    New records of Heteroptera (Hemiptera) from Campania, Southern Italy

    ABSTRACT
    During a two-year faunistic research (2010 and 2011) carried out in three different areas of Campania (the Crater of Astroni, the Matese Mountains, and the Alburni Mountains: Site of Community Importance, SCI, - Special Protection Area, SPA) eight species of Heteroptera that are new records for the region were collected.