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Renzo Ientile

  • Biodiversity Journal, 15 (2): 277-300 - MONOGRAPH

    Giuseppe Rannisi, Paolo Galasso, Andrea Cusmano, Rosa Termine, Manuel Andrea Zafarana, Renzo Ientile & Salvatore Surdo
    Colonies of herons and other allied waterbirds breeding in Sicily, 2007-2022
    https://doi.org/10.31396/Biodiv.Jour.2024.15.2.277.300

    ABSTRACT
    We describe the results of the first regional census of herons and other colonial waterbirds, including Great Cormorants Phalacrocorax carbo, Little Bitterns Ixobrychus minutus, Black-crowned Night Herons Nycticorax nycticorax, Squacco Herons Ardeola ralloides, Western Cattle Herons Bubulcus ibis, Grey Herons Ardea cinerea, Purple Herons Ardea purpurea and Little Egrets Egretta garzetta, carried out throughout Sicily from 2007 to 2022. We also collected data about Great Egrets Casmerodius alba and other waterbird species in Ardeidae colonies without any breeding evidence, as Eurasian Spoonbills Platalea leucorodia and Glossy Ibis Plegadis falcinellus. Collected data highlighted a regional widespread increase of the numbers in known colonies and nests of each species, especially of Bubulcus ibis that showed a sharp increase in number from 30 nests recorded for the whole region in 2007 up to 530 nests in 2022, mainly concentrated in eastern Sicily, in the province of Catania. Also A. ralloides, N. nycticorax and E. garzetta showed a positive trend with an increase in the number of colonized locations and nests recorded, with A. ralloides occupying the most of the Sicilian colonies with at least few pairs. On the other hand, A. cinerea showed a slight negative trend, with 45 nests recorded in 2007 and only 31 in 2022, at the end of the study; A. purpurea is an irregular breeder with an oscillating and unpredictable trend related to only 1–4 ascertained pairs maximum for the whole region. Despite the P. carbo is a regular breeding species in Sicily, it has not showed any sign of expansion in the last decade, remaining confined to a few historical locations near the Simeto River and Lentini Lake. All data here presented are related to the minimum and ascertained numbers of colonies and counted nests. Small colonies may not have been counted in some unmonitored locations, often inaccessible. It is highly recommended, in the near future, the creation of a coordinated survey network that would improve and make the census more in-depth and better standardized.

  • Biodiversity Journal, 12 (1): 0205-0211

    Paolo Galasso, Elena Amore, Renzo Ientile & Giovanni Signorello
    Odonata checklist of Nature Reserve “Complesso Speleologico Villasmundo - S. Alfio” (Sicily, Italy)
    https://doi.org/10.31396/Biodiv.Jour.2021.12.1.205.211

    ABSTRACT
    From March to September 2018 and 2019, a first monitoring of Odonata promoted by CUTGANA was conducted inside the Nature Reserve named “Complesso Speleologico Villasmundo - S. Alfio”, in Melilli (Syracuse), in south-eastern Sicily. A total of 18 different species were recorded, 6 belonging to the Zygoptera suborder and 12 to the Anisoptera suborder, including Onychogomphus uncatus and Libellula fulva. Some information on uncommon species recorded in the neighbouring areas are also reported.

  • Biodiversity Journal, 12 (1): 0027-0089

    Bruno Massa, Renzo Ientile, Arianna Aradis & Salvatore Surdo
    One hundred and fifty years of ornithology in Sicily, with an unknown manuscript by Joseph Whitaker
    https://doi.org/10.31396/Biodiv.Jour.2021.12.1.27.89

    ABSTRACT
    A new complete check-list of Birds of Sicily is presented in this paper, with a comparison with previous lists for a period of one hundred and fifty years. Further, an unknown manuscript by Joseph Whitaker “Birds of Sicily”, dated back to ca. 1920, has been transcribed and is here presented integrally. Thus, lists of birds here presented have been separated as follows: i) Doderlein (1869–1874); ii) Whitaker (1920); iii) Iapichino & Massa (1989), Lo Valvo et al. (1993) iv) Corso (2005), Ientile & Massa (2008); v) 2010–2020: Massa et al. (2015) and personal observations; vi) long-term trend: personal observations. Overall, 437 species are listed. Out of 283 species regularly present in Sicily, over the long period here considered of one hundred and fifty years, 75 (26.5) resulted to maintain stable populations, 35 (12.4%) resulted increasing, 12 (4.2%) very increasing, 75 (26.5%) with declining populations, 34 (12%) with very declining populations and 11 (3.9%) became extinct. Further, 41 species (14.5%) showed a population trend different from the previous ones, that we classified as fluctuating. We discuss about seventy representatives of the previous categories.

  • Biodiversity Journal, 11 (4): 0837-0844

    Paolo Galasso & Renzo Ientile
    Odonata checklist of Nature Reserve and SAC (Special Area of Conservation) “Vallone di Piano della Corte” (Sicily, Italy)
    https://doi.org/10.31396/Biodiv.Jour.2020.11.3.837.844

    ABSTRACT
    From March to September 2018 and 2019, a first monitoring of Odonata promoted by CUTGANA was conducted inside a site of Natura 2000 network, named “Vallone di Piano della Corte”, near Agira (Enna), Sicily. A total of 21 different species were recorded, including Pyrrhosoma nymphula (Sulzer, 1776), for which there are no stations reported for this side of Sicily.