Giampaolo Moretti

Freeze-fracture study of the rectal pads in Stenophylax permistus McL. (Trichoptera)

Abstract With freeze-fracturing many different types of membrane specialization have been observed in the rectal sac epithelium of S. permistus; of these some supply the means of attaching microtubules and/or cuticular microfibrils to the cell membrane, while others concern various kinds of cell junctions, viz. desmosomes, scalariform, pleated septate and reticular junctions. Gap junctions are also observed between the different cells. The position and structure of these different junctions suggest that a) both septate junctions and desmosomes carry out a purely mechanical function, maintaining the complex structure of the rectal pad; b) gap junctions serve as informational channels between cells; c) ion exchange is presumed to take place in scalariform junctions. Furthermore, the reticular septate junctions, previously reported only in Diptera, may possibly be responsible for maintaining those structural conditions necessary for the functioning of the complexes formed by association between plasma membra...

Ultrastructural organization of the rectal pads in adult Stenophylax permistus McL. (Trichoptera)

Abstract The epithelium of the rectal sac in S. permistus is organized to form numerous circular pads. Each pad consists of about ten large cells covered by a cuticle and surrounded by sheath cells that form a barrier isolating the rectal pad. The largest cells (cortical cells), with long microvilli in the apical region and numerous structural complexes formed by the association between the lateral plasma membrane and mitochondria, are engaged actively in drawing fluids from the gut lumen. Subcuticular areas are intermingled with the microvilli. Beneath these cells is an infundibular space delimited by a continuous layer of cells (medullary cells) with a structural organization suggestive of their participation in ion regulation.

Gregarines in Trichoptera Larvae

In Italy, 39 of the 71 Trichoptera species examined housed Gregarines. The 29 taxa recorded belong to the Gregarina-Leidyana-Pileocephalus-AsterophoraGlobulocephalus-Ancyrophora genera.

L'habitat e la biologia di Helicopsyche sperata Me. L. in Toscana

Summary After a chorologic reference to the genus Helicopsyche Hag. (Trichoptera-Sericostomatidae), there follow a few brief historical notes non the European species, and in particular on the H. sperata Mc.L., founded in Toscana after a bibliografical silence lasting from the last century. Clarified the springal habitat of the species in an survey carried out on the 136 sourcse between 1954 and 1959 years, the Authors have produce an analytical balance of the surrounding areas wich woidd seem to condition the colonization of the sources on the part of this tricopter. The elements considered are as follow, the form of the spring bed, the nature of the soil, the rock structure, the type of bottom, the vegetation, the altitude, the inclination, the direction, the classification Thienemann-Steinmann, the water quantity, the pH, the oxygen, the hardness, the presence of iron and the temperature. It has been possible to establish that the H. sperata prefers to inhabit springs of an exiguous water mass, with cl...

Prospettive e problemi nello studio del Lago Trasimeno

Summary The XXX convention of the Unione Zoologica Italiana, deciding to dedicate a morning to the subject of Hydrobiology, chose as a site for this special session the Institute of Idrobiologia and Pescicoltura « G. B. Grassi » of the University of Perugia. The Institute is situated at Monte del Lago on Trasimeno Lake. It was thus considered apt to summarize rapidly for the gathered members, the origins, vicissitudes and the fate of this great lake, wich although occupying in surface area first place among the lakes of the Italian Peninsula, shows undeniable signs of serious stagnation. This lake, originating in the Quaternarium by means of the water pouring off from the lake of Villafranchiano in an adjoining depression, became a closed residual basin of a laminar type. The digging of an artificial outlet (1898) led to the loss of compensating waters and the lake began to withdraw rapidly at the first appearance of a series of droughts (1911–1958). In cold winters it freezes completely, and in hot summe...

Contribution a la Connaissance des Epibiontes et Parasites des Larves des Trichopteres Italiens

This study represents an updated review of the epibionts and parasites that have been found in the larvae of different species of Trichoptera coming from several regions of Italy. Various forms of both plant and animal life were studied: Algae-Fungi-Protozoa-Trematoda-Rotatoria- Nematoda-Nematomorpha-Annelida-Insecta.

Hydrobiology and Fish biology

(1986). Hydrobiology and Fish biology. Bollettino di zoologia: Vol. 53, No. sup001, pp. 93-100.

Trichoptera in the Intestinal Content of Certain Fish Species

As Trichoptera are often observed in the intestinal contents of fish, a research was carried out in the three Central Italian lakes: Bolsena, vulcanic, Piediluco, an artificially regulated water system, and Trasimene, laminar. Various sizes and ages of 12 fish species were assayed in all seasons of the year. The Trichoptera larvae and pupae found in the food contents belonged to 24 taxa. Their incidence differed from lake to lake and the highest aliquot, with respect to the total content, was found in the fishes of Lake Piediluco.

The Sericostoma Latr. genus in Italy

As all Trichopterologists know, the problem of systematics of the Sericostoma LATR. genus is still far from clear. The lack of clear taxonomic characters in the genital armature and, converely, the extreme variability in the form of the appendages of segment X in the ♂ of certain species left, and still leaves, specialists puzzled in safely attributing specimens to this or that species. Already McLACHLAN in 1884 (McLACHLAN, 1874–1880) furnished numerous drawings of the appendages of segment X of the ♂ which, in his opinion, were able to distinguish, just to give an example, two very similar species such as S. personatum KIRBY & SPENC. and S. pedemontanum McL.

The taxonomical and chorological problem of Drusus improvisus McL. in the North-Central Italian Apennines

Mclachlan in 1884 established Monocentra improvisa from some specimens found in Central Italy (Appennino Pistoiese). In the study of Schmid on the subfamily Drusinae (1956), M. improvisa is attributed to the mixtus group of the genus Drusus, as the affinity with the genus Monocentra consists only on the presence of scales in the androconial pocket of the ♂ posterior wing.