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Implementing efforts to understand biogeographic distribution patterns and taxonomic limits within animal groups is crucial for addressing several challenges of modern zoology. Although avian phylogeography has been extensively investigated within the Western Palearctic, several families, such as shrikes, still display unresolved or neglected biogeographic patterns both between and within species, thus requiring further investigations. The Woodchat Shrike (Lanius senator) is a long-distance migratory species that exhibits three morphologically well-recognizable subspecies, whose boundaries have never been phylogenetically investigated. Here, we aimed to define the phylogeographic structure of Lanius senator throughout its breeding range and assess the genetic coherence with respect to the phenotypically described subspecies. We assembled a collection of 34 samples mainly from breeding populations of each subspecies and analysed them using four mtDNA and two nuDNA markers. We did not find clear phylogenetic structure in nuclear Ornithine Decarboxylase (ODC) and Myoglobin intron 2 (MYO), but all the four mtDNA loci (i.e., ND2, COI, cytb and CR) highlighted two main haplogroups: one including both the nominate subspecies L. s. senator and L. s. badius and a second one consisting of L. s. niloticus (the easternmost part of its range). Surprisingly, individuals phenotypically assigned to L. s. niloticus from Israel were genetically assigned to the senator/badius haplogroup. Moreover, genetic distances between haplogroups showed intermediate values between inter-intraspecies diversity usually reported for Passerines. We estimated a divergence time at ca. 890 kya (554–1.259 kya HPD). Our findings showed a mismatch in subspecies assignment using morphology and genetic information and a marked differentiation between the eastern L. s. niloticus and all other L. senator populations sampled.

Early life stages of marine fish populations may be strongly affected by environmental factors. Changes in the physical environment or the availability of food resources could lead to stress-related physiological responses affecting larval fitness, growth and survival. In the present study, we determined, for the first time, amino acid composition (AAC), lipid, and carbohydrate content, as well as alkaline phosphatase and peroxidase activities in larvae from the European anchovy Engraulis encrasicolus. Fishes were caught in two different spawning areas of the Strait of Sicily, characterized by different environmental conditions, including a coastal upwelling with a lower temperature (Adventure Bank; 20.22±0.38°C) and a thermohaline front with a higher temperature (Maltese Bank 23.10±0.25°C). The results showed that the two groups of larvae, in their early life, had similar nutritional status. However, compared with the samples from the Maltese Bank, the specimens collected in the Adventure Bank area exhibited higher alkaline phosphatase activity, lower concentrations of aspartate plus asparagine, threonine, and arginine but a higher concentration of leucine, highlighting different patterns of amino acid metabolism. Collectively, these results indicated that AAC analysis could represent an additional valid tool to evaluate the link between physiological responses and environmental conditions at early life stages.

Solifuges were recorded in Italy for the first time in 1956, on the island of Lampedusa (Strait of Sicily), and classified as Biton ehrenbergi Karsch, 1880 and Biton velox Simon, 1885. More than 60years later, we carried out the first targeted investigation of these little-known animals. A survey conducted during both spring and autumn 2017 confirmed the presence of solifuges on Lampedusa Island. We identified all specimens as B. velox and not B. ehrenbergi. We concluded that B. ehrenbergi is absent from the island, on the basis of both newly collected data and a re-evaluation of the past records. Morphology and taxonomic position of the examined specimens are discussed in light of the unresolved state within the family Daesiidae Kraepelin 1899. Fifteen potentially suitable habitats were investigated across the entire island during 240 transects with standardised time-constrained searches (TCSs) of 30minutes each. The survey documented a current habitat specificity of the solifuge population, as they were recorded only in the south-eastern coasts, where the local phrygana association, rich in endemic plant species, is still intact.

It is known that the freshwater heterotrich ciliate Blepharisma japonicum uses five pigments called blepharismins, stored in its extrusive pigment granules, for both light perception and chemical defense against predators. In this work we focused our attention on the defensive strategies of two additional pigmented species of Blepharisma, B. stoltei and B. undulans. In particular: (1) we observed the predator–prey interactions of B. stoltei or B. undulans against one multicellular and two unicellular predators; (2) we clarified the nature of B. stoltei and B. undulans pigments by means of High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS); and (3) we demonstrated and compared the toxicity of the purified pigments on a panel of ciliated protists, and against one metazoan predator. The results indicate that the chemical defense mechanism present in B. stoltei and B. undulans is mediated by the same five blepharismins previously characterized for B. japonicum, although produced in different proportions.

Evidence available for most inland water and terrestrial organisms highlights the significant role played by southern Italy, Sicily and the Maltese islands as refuges during Pleistocene climatic fluctuations. However, to date, the hypothesis that these areas may have acted as Pleistocene refugia for the freshwater crab Potamon fluviatile has not been explicitly tested, and a recent origin of local P. fluviatile populations was proposed on the basis of a small set of analysed molecular data. We have thus expanded the currently available data set on the population genetic structure of P. fluviatile through dedicated samplings in Sicily (Italy, 18 specimens), the Maltese Islands (Malta, 15 specimens) and the island of Corfu (Greece, seven specimens), with the explicit aim of testing the role of southern Italy, Sicily and the Maltese archipelago as refugia where early Pleistocene or pre-Quaternary populations of the freshwater crab could have persisted to date. Based on the analysis of both novel and published cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) sequence data, we gathered evidence supporting a recent origin of the southern Italian, Sicilian and Maltese populations of Potamon fluviatile from the Balkans, thus rejecting the hypothesised Pleistocene persistence in the area of pre-existing local populations of the same species., peer-reviewed

The genetic structure of Aphanius fasciatus populations has been analysed using two mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) markers (16S rRNA and D-loop) obtained from specimens collected in nine sites from the Venice lagoon, Comacchio saltworks and Corsica. Available GenBank sequences were also included, in order to extend the results on a Mediterranean scale. Genetic polymorphism within the Venice lagoon was very low, with most of the specimens analysed (66% for 16S rRNA and 83% for D-loop) sharing the same haplotype for either of the two markers. The genetic homogeneity found within the Venice lagoon may be the consequence of the northward migration of southern Adriatic populations after the Last Glacial Maximum: mismatch analysis showed indeed clear signs of a rapid demographic and spatial expansion. To explain this genetic homogeneity other hypotheses were also suggested, such as adaptation to the high variability of brackish water habitats, and artificial introductions. On a Mediterranean scale, phylogenetic analyses showed the presence of five distinct geographical lineages: Aegean Sea, Greek coast of the Ionian Sea, Adriatic Sea, Tyrrhenian Sea and Southern Sicily. Analysis of molecular variance revealed a genetic partitioning mainly due to differences between groups presumably due to late Miocene geological events, while less polymorphism was present within groups and populations.