Biodiversity Journal - For wildlife research and environmental studies

Pietro Lo Cascio

Biodiversity Journal, 9 (1): 001-002

Pietro Lo Cascio
Trogonophis wiegmanni Kaup, 1830 (Squamata Trogonophidae)
Biodiversity Journal, 7 (3): 325-330

Pietro Lo Cascio & Vincent Rivière
An updated herpetofaunal inventory for some islets of South-Eastern Tunisia

ABSTRACT
The present paper provides the results of the herpetological investigations carried out on the satellite islets of Djerba and the Kneiss Archipelago, and an updated list of their herpetofauna. On the whole, the faunal assemblage of the eleven visited islets includes seven species of reptiles, whose richness seems to be related to the islet size. Stenodactylus sthenodactylus (Lichtenstein, 1823) and Malpolon insignitus (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1827) are new records, respectively, for the Djerba satellites and the Kneiss Archipelago, while new localities were recorded for the previously known species.
Biodiversity Journal, 6 (2): 529-592 - MONOGRAPH

Pietro Lo Cascio
Worldwide checklist of the island mutillid wasps (Hymenoptera Mutillidae)

ABSTRACT
The family of Mutillidae includes 776 taxa among species and subspecies recorded for 311 islands worldwide, whose distribution is provided in the present checklist. A brief review of some traits that characterize the insular faunas of these hymenopteran parasitoids is given. The main constraints to the dispersal on islands are due to the apterogyny and the occurrence of suitable hosts. Species richness is generally correlated with island size. Although probably still underestimated, the greatest number of species is found on Sri Lanka (82), Borneo (77), Madagascar (70) and Taiwan (61). Endemics are more than half (55%) of the whole insular mutillids and are found mostly in the oceanic islands and in those that have undergone to a long-time isolation. On the contrary, endemic genera are represented only on few islands (Madagascar, Sri Lanka and, secondarily, New Guinea, Sulawesi and Canary).
Biodiversity Journal, 5 (3): 391-396

Pietro Lo Cascio & Vincent Rivière
Herpetofaunal inventory of Kuriat and Jbel islets (Tunisia)

ABSTRACT
The present paper provides the results of the herpetological investigations carried out on the Kuriat Archipelago, in the Khnis Bay, and the islet of Jbel, off the harbor of Echebba. Six reptile species on the whole have been found on the studied islets. Tarentola fascicularis (Daudin, 1802), familia Phyllodactylidae, occurring on Great Kuriat, and Trachylepis vittata (Olivier, 1804), familia Scincidae, detected on all the three islets, are recorded for the first time for the islands of Tunisia.
Biodiversity Journal, 3 (4): 311-330

Pietro Lo Cascio & Salvatore Pasta
Lampione, a paradicmatic case of Mediterranean island biodiversity

ABSTRACT
The papers aims at underlining the “unespected” value of Lampione’s biological heritage, as well as the fragility of its ecosystem. Despite its very little size, this islet harbours a very rich pool of plant and animal species of high biological and/or conservation interest. Special attention is paid to the biogeographic meaning of local endemics, on local extinction and turnover processes, on some ecological or biological patterns which contribute to the distinctiveness of local biota. However, further investigations are needed in order to complete the list of animals and to monitor the demographic trends of all species. In particular, it is necessary to assess if local seagull colony may represent a major threat for local diversity.
Biodiversity Journal, 3 (1): 003-012

Michel Delaugerre, Flavia Grita, Pietro Lo Cascio & Ridha Ouni
Lizards and Eleonora’s Falcon (Falco eleonorae Gené, 1839), a Mediterranean micro-insular commensalism

ABSTRACT
Lizards and Eleonora’s falcon occur on many Mediterranean islets. Data given in literature and new observations concerning their asymmetrical interactions, which have been reviewed and illustrated, allow to regard those as a commensal relationship typical on these micro-insular ecosystems. Some considerations on the ecological, ecomorphological and phenological traits involved on this commensalism are also briefly discussed.
Biodiversity Journal, 2 (2): 089-096

Pietro Lo Cascio & Massimo Capula
Does diet in lacertid lizards reflect prey availability? Evidence for selective predation in the Aeolian wall lizard, Podarcis raffonei (Mertens, 1952) (Reptilia, Lacertidae)

ABSTRACT
In this paper the invertebrate fauna occurring on Scoglio Faraglione, a tiny Aeolian island (Aeolian Archipelago, NE Sicily) inhabited by a population of the critically endangered lacertid lizard Podarcis raffonei (Mertens, 1952), was censused at different seasons and the resulting data were then compared with data obtained analysing prey composition and prey abundance in the diet of the lizards occurring on the same islet. The diet of Podarcis raffonei was mainly based on insects and other arthropods. The results indicate that diet composition is not directly influenced by prey availability and temporal prey abundance, and that there is strong evidence indicating selective predation. Lizards prey upon a number of arthropod categories fewer than that recorded in field. Some invertebrate taxa (e.g. Diptera and Gastropoda) are really less attractive for lizards and are rarely preyed or not preyed at all despite their spatial and/or temporal abundance. This suggests that Podarcis raffonei is able to operate a hierarchical choice within the range of prey items constituting its prey spectrum, probably through the ability to discriminate between prey chemicals or visually oriented predation.
Biodiversity Journal, 2 (2): 051-052

Pietro Lo Cascio
Reptiles of Socotra
Biodiversity Journal, 15 (3): 509-516

Pietro Lo Cascio & Piero Leo
A new Trachyscelis Latreille, 1809 from Cape Verde Islands (Coleoptera Tenebrionidae)
https://doi.org/10.31396/Biodiv.Jour.2024.15.3.509.516
https://www.zoobank.org/B2828CA2-90F6-4345-9131-AA263A97A26D

ABSTRACT
A new species of Trachyscelis Latreille, 1809 (Coleoptera Tenebrionidae) endemic to some islands of the Cape Verde archipelago is described. It differs from the widely distributed T. aphodioides Latreille, 1809 for the testaceous teguments, the incomplete set of elytral striae where only 1-3 are entirely visible, the smaller eyes with 50 ommatidia and the reduced wings.
Biodiversity Journal, 14 (4): 0741-0747

Ignazio Sparacio, Pietro Lo Cascio, Calogero Muscarella, Salvatore Surdo, Amedeo Falci & Francesco Allegrino
A new subspecies of Cicindela (Cicindela) campestris Linnaeus, 1758 (Coleoptera Cicindelidae) from the Aeolian Islands (Italy)
https://doi.org/10.31396/Biodiv.Jour.2023.14.4.741.747
https://www.zoobank.org/A5E8037D-E05E-4513-9C98-59636F5C7C11

ABSTRACT
Cicindela (Cicindela) campestris didyme n. ssp. from the islands of Salina and Lipari (Aeolian Archipelago, Sicily, Italy) is here described. The new subspecies differs from other Italian populations of C. campestris, in particular from the closest ones of Sicily (C. campestris siculorum Schilder, 1953) and Calabria (C. campestris calabrica Mandl, 1944) for some morphological characters such as the shape of the clypeus, the granules of the elytra less elevated and more sparse and the different aedeagus. It is immediately recognizable by more or less extensively green-brown color of the dorsal surface often entirely red-brown.
Biodiversity Journal, 13 (3): 0531-0585 - MONOGRAPH

Pietro Lo Cascio, Giovanni Altadonna & Philippe Ponel
Diversity and distribution of beetles in a Mediterranean volcanic archipelago: an updated checklist of the Coleoptera of the Aeolian Islands (Sicily, Italy)
https://doi.org/10.31396/Biodiv.Jour.2022.13.3.531.585

ABSTRACT
This paper provides a faunal inventory of the Coleoptera of the Aeolian Islands, including both the list of 669 species so far recorded and its update with 192 new records for the archipelago. Sericoderus brevicornis Matthews, 1890 (Corylophidae) is new for Italy; for Anthicus crinitus La Ferté-Sénectère, 1849 (Anthicidae) the second record in Italy is given; Pangus scaritides (Sturm, 1818), Tachyura curvimana (Wollaston, 1854) (Carabidae), Arthrolips convexiuscula (Motschulsky, 1849) (Corylophidae), Dignomus irroratus (Kiesenwetter, 1851) (Ptinidae), Megaloscapa punctipennis (Kraatz, 1856) (Staphylinidae), Aclees taiwanensis Kôno, 1933, Cryphalus numidicus Eichhoff, 1878 and Hypothenemus leprieuri (Perris, 1866) (Curculionidae) are new for Sicily; Migneauxia crassiuscula (Aubé, 1850) (Latridiidae) and Phloeotribus cristatus (Fauvel, 1889) (Curculionidae) are confirmed for this region. For 193 species new distributional data are also given; among these latter, some concern the narrow endemics Firminus massai Arnone, Lo Cascio et Grita, 2014 (Scarabaeidae), Catomus aeolicus Ponel, Lo Cascio et Soldati, 2020, Leptoderis zelmerloewae Ferrer, 2015, Nalassus pastai Aliquò, Leo et Lo Cascio, 2006 (Tenebrionidae) and Pseudomeira aeolica Bellò, Pesarini et Pierotti, 1997 (Curculionidae). The inventory highlights an increasing abundance of alien species, some of which have only recently been reported at national or regional scale, that evidently spread rapidly even in isolated environments such as an archipelago. Some biogeographical considerations on the beetle fauna of these islands are given in the discussion.
Biodiversity Journal, 12 (4): 0765-0775

Pietro Lo Cascio
Ornithological observations from São Tomé and Príncipe islands (Gulf of Guinea, West Africa)
https://doi.org/10.31396/Biodiv.Jour.2021.12.4.765.775

ABSTRACT
In the present paper are summarized the observations carried out on the avifauna of the islands São Tomé and Príncipe during a scientific trip. Along with a list of distributional data, remarks on population consistence and density of some endemic birds are given; among these are of particular interest those concerning the rare Dwarf Olive Ibis Bostrychia bocagei (Chapin, 1923) a threatened species for a long time considered extinct and rediscovered in 1990, currently classified as “Critically Endangered” by IUCN.
Biodiversity Journal, 11 (3): 717-750

Giuseppe Fabrizio Turrisi, Giovanni Altadonna, Pietro Lo Cascio, Vittorio Nobile & Marco Selis
Contribution to the knowledge of Hymenoptera from the Aeolian Archipelago (Sicily), emphasizing Aculeata
https://doi.org/10.31396/Biodiv.Jour.2020.11.3.717.750

ABSTRACT
This study provides the first contribution to the knowledge of the Order Hymenoptera, emphasizing Aculeata, for the Aeolian archipelago, based on recent field investigations and examination of several collections. A total of 169 species belonging to 19 families are recorded: Evaniidae (1 species), Aulacidae (2 species), Gasteruptiidae (3 species), Ichneumonidae (1 species), Leucospidae (1 species), Chrysididae (8 species), Tiphiidae (3 species), Scoliidae (6 species), Mutillidae (13 species), Pompilidae (6 species), Vespidae (14 species), Sphecidae (6 species), Crabronidae (24 species), Formicidae (14 species), Colletidae (4 species), Andrenidae (8 species), Halictidae (29 species), Megachilidae (12 species), Apidae (14 species). Most part of species are newly recorded for the Aeolian Archipelago, the following being new records for Sicily: Dryudella esterinae Pagliano, 2001, Nysson quadriguttatus Spinola, 1808, Miscophus aetoni Saunders, 1903, Miscophus lusitanicus Andrade, 1952, Cerceris circularis dacica Schletterer, 1887 (Crabronidae), and Lasioglossum (Dialictus) semilucens (Alfken, 1914) (Halictidae); Miscophus lusitanicus is also newly recorded for Italy. Combining the available data, a total of 218 species of Hymenoptera are currently known for the Aeolian Archipelago. The Hymenoptera fauna of these islands is dominated by widespread Mediterranean or West Palaearctic species, and most of them are also found in the Western Mediterranean Basin. The study briefly highlights some key points regarding biogeographical and conservation of this group and its significant role in the management of ecosystems in the Aeolian Archipelago.

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Pietro Lo Cascio