Paolo Fontana

Agricultural management, vegetation traits and landscape drive orthopteran and butterfly diversity in a grassland-forest mosaic: a multi-scale approach.

Abstract.u2002 1. Most ecological processes at the population and community level act on multiple spatial scales. We identified the influence of grassland management, vegetation traits and landscape on orthopteran and butterfly diversity in 44 meadows located in a forest‐dominated region in the Italian Alps. The meadows were sampled in landscapes characterised by different proportions of woody vegetation and grasslands quantified at 11 spatial scales (95–3000 m).

A multi-scale study of Orthoptera species richness and human population size controlling for sampling effort.

Recent large-scale studies have shown that biodiversity-rich regions also tend to be densely populated areas. The most obvious explanation is that biodiversity and human beings tend to match the distribution of energy availability, environmental stability and/or habitat heterogeneity. However, the species–people correlation can also be an artefact, as more populated regions could show more species because of a more thorough sampling. Few studies have tested this sampling bias hypothesis. Using a newly collated dataset, we studied whether Orthoptera species richness is related to human population size in Italy’s regions (average area 15,000xa0km2) and provinces (2,900xa0km2). As expected, the observed number of species increases significantly with increasing human population size for both grain sizes, although the proportion of variance explained is minimal at the provincial level. However, variations in observed Orthoptera species richness are primarily associated with the available number of records, which is in turn well correlated with human population size (at least at the regional level). Estimated Orthoptera species richness (Chao2 and Jackknife) also increases with human population size both for regions and provinces. Both for regions and provinces, this increase is not significant when controlling for variation in area and number of records. Our study confirms the hypothesis that broad-scale human population–biodiversity correlations can in some cases be artefactual. More systematic sampling of less studied taxa such as invertebrates is necessary to ascertain whether biogeographical patterns persist when sampling effort is kept constant or included in models.

TRAIT (TRAnscript Integrated Table): a knowledgebase of human skeletal muscle transcripts

TRAIT is a knowledgebase integrating information on transcripts with related data from genome, proteins, ortholog genes and diseases. It was initially built as a system to manage an EST-based gene discovery project on human skeletal muscle, which yielded over 4500 independent sequence clusters. Transcripts are annotated using automatic as well as manual procedures, linking known transcripts to public databases and unknown transcripts to tables of predicted features. Data are stored in a MySQL database. Complex queries are automatically built by means of a user-friendly web interface that allows the concurrent selection of many fields such as ontology, expression level, map position and protein domains. The results are parsed by the system and returned in a ranked order, in respect to the number of satisfied criteria.

On some Drymadusini from the Middle East

Abstract A new record of Scotodrymadusa syriaca (Pictet, 1888) in Lebanon is given and the differences between this species and other Lebanese species, including, Scotodrymadusa ebneri Ramme, 1939, are pointed out. The previously unknown female of the Iranian Scotodrymadusa gedrosica Bey-Bienko, 1958, is described and suggests a close relationship of the species with Scotodrymadusa persica (Chopard, 1921). Finally, details are provided on the sexual appendages of the male of Exodrymadusa inornata (Uvarov, 1936) and its morphological variability.

New and little known species of genus Steropleurus Bolivar 1878, from Libya (Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae, Ephippigerinae)

The authors update the knowledge of genus Steropleurus in Libya, reporting new records of S. innocentii innocentii and S. filenorum, and describing a new species, S. ientilei, from Cyrenaica.

Description and biogeographical implications of a new species of the genus Podisma Berthold 1827 from Mont Ventoux in South France (Orthoptera: Acrididae)

Summary The status of the genus Podisma Berthold 1827 is discussed and all its taxa are listed. Endemic taxa within montane orthopteroid insects in southern Europe are considered and new genera recently revised are recorded. In this context Podisma amedegnatoae n. sp. from Mount Ventoux in the South Alps (France) is defined and described. The main distinctive characters of the new species are the relative length of prozona and metazona, the presence of the dotted dorsal pattern (FDDP) in almost 100% of the females, the broadly incised male furcula, the subquadrate dorsal valvae of the penis and the peculiar v-shaped middle incision diving them. The presence of a distinct species on Mount Ventoux allows to suppose the presence of a refuge area in this region during the ice ages. The analysis of the distribution of the FDDP character, distributed from southern France to southeastern Italy, shows a clear interruption in the genetic flow between the western and eastern slopes (French and Italian slopes) in the western Alps. This interruption fits well with the presence of a hybrid zone, recorded in literature for the genus Podisma on the basis of the distribution in this area of two male sex-chromosome forms. On the other hand data concerning the distribution of FDDP suggest a genetic flow coming from Nortwest to South-east. After that the description of P. amedegnatoae is not only a new contribution to the knowledge of the biodiversity in the southern Europeanmountains but adds new data to the study of the colonisation of Europe after the ice ages, by species which have survived in refuge areas.

Contribution to the orthopteroid (insecta: Blattoptera, orthoptera, dermaptera) fauna of Sal Island (cape verde)

Abstract Nineteen taxa of orthopteroid insects are reported from Sal Island in the Cabo Verde Archipelago. Two species of Blattoptera are new for Sal. The song oscillogram of a male of Acheta dome‐sticus (Linnaeus, 1758) recorded in the island is shown.

New Eriophyoid Mites (Acari Eriophyoidea) from Italy. III

Three new eriophyoid species, collected in Veneto (Northern Italy), are described and illustrated also using scanning electron microscopy. Aceria biradiatus n. sp. was found vagrant on Corylus avellana L. (Fam. Corylaceae). Cecidophyes campestris n. sp. was collected on Acer campestre L. and A. pseudoplatanus L. (Fam. Aceraceae); it was associated to a hypertrichosis on the leaves of A. campestre at the level of the nervature ramifications. Diptacus corni n. sp. was vagrant on Cornus sanguinea L. (Fam. Corneaceae). Key words: hedges, phytophagous, alternative prey. ACARI ERIOFIOIDEI (ACARI ERIOPHYOIDEA) NUOVI PER L’ITALIA. II Tre nuove specie di eriofioidei, raccolte in Veneto, sono descritte e illustrate anche mediante l’utilizzazione del microscopio elettronico a scansione. Aceria biradiatus sp. n. e stato raccolto vagante su foglie di Corylus avellana L. (Fam. Corylaceae). Cecidophyes campestris sp. n. e stato rinvenuto su Acer campestre L. e A. pseudoplatanus L. (Aceraceae); le foglie infestate di acero campestre presentavano una leggera ipertricosi presso la biforcazione delle nervature. Diptacus corni sp. n. e stato osservato vagante su Cornus sanguinea L. (Fam. Corneaceae). Parole chiave: siepi, fitofagi, prede alternative.