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Scarce data are currently available about the distribution of the Mediterranean medicinal leech Hirudo verbana in Italy, and most of the known occurrence localities are based on records collected in the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century, which were not confirmed in the last decades, mostly due to a lack of surveys. Accordingly, the available knowledge on the distribution of the species is far from being updated and representative, although a significant negative trend of H. verbana throughout the country is supposed. The lack of sound distribution data is a significant shortfall, which hinders the implementation of the monitoring of the species as required by the Article 17 of the “Habitats Directive” on the species of Union concern. To provide recent, validated distributional data for the Mediterranean medicinal leech in Italy to be used as baseline data for further surveys and monitoring, we present herein a set of unpublished observations collected in the last decades in peninsular Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia. Moreover, we report observation of H. verbana feeding on amphibians, a feeding habit to date poorly documented for the Mediterranean medicinal leech. Based on both published and novel data, H. verbana is characterised by a large but fragmented distribution in Italy. Therefore, dedicated monitoring programs and the collection of validated occasional observations are highly desirable to get a clearer picture of the real distribution of the species.

Facultative paedomorphosis occurs rarely in the genus Triturus compared to other European newts such as Ichthyosaura alpestris and Lissotriton spp., with most of observation related to single or few individuals per site. In this paper we report about body size, age and population size of two populations of Triturus carnifex with paedomorphs. Since one of the populations consisted of approximately 25% of paedomorphs, this is the first study about a population of large-bodied newts with a conspicuous number of paedomorphic individuals. We found evidences for an ecological causation of paedomorphosis, as well as further support for two recent findings about paedomorphosis: the reduction of sexual size dimorphism and the female-biased sex-ratio within paedomorphs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human-induced environmental alterations, e.g. the introduction of alien species and the application of management practices, together with climatic change, represent the main threat to worldwide amphibian conservation. Long-term monitoring programmes are mandatory to monitor the status of amphibian populations in changing landscapes and climatic conditions. In this study, we showed the population dynamic of the Italian crested newtsTriturus carnifexliving in four artificial ponds in Central Italy over a 20-year period. Adult newts were recognised through a capture-mark-recapture protocol, involving the analysis of belly patterns. The first best population model showed a constant newt survival among years and a complete recapture rate; the second supported model showed a sex-dependent survival, with slightly higher values for males with respect to females, and corroborated a complete recapture rate. A high philopatry occurred: we observed less than 10% of individuals dispersing from a birth site to other ponds. In 20 years of continuous monitoring, the population of Italian crested newt increased. The removal of goldfishCarassius auratusfrom one of the ponds in 2010 allowed adult newts to overwinter within the pond and to have two reproductive periods, with overwintering larvae after the second spawning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports predation events on the protected European amphibian, Bufotes viridis balearicus, by the invasive bird species Threskiornis aethiopicus in Tuscany, Italy, highlighting the need for further studies on the impact of invasive species on amphibian communities.

In this paper we evaluated the effects of the metacercariae of C. complanatum on body condition and survival probability of the Italian crested newt. We studied two populations of T. carnifex, with one of the two infected by the trematode, in central Italy, for a year. We found that: i) paedomorphic newts were more likely to be infected; ii) cysts were mostly located on the head and into the mouth; iii) the infection did not affect the body size of newts; iv) survival probabilities of infected and not infected newts from the same population did not differ, and it was similar to the survival of newts from the not-infected population. We conclude that, at least in the short term, the metacercariae of C. complanatum are not damaging for T. carnifex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Allochthonous water frogs (gen. Pelophylax) have been repeatedly introduced in several European countries, causing dramatic consequences for the conservation of indigenous taxa. In Italy, invasive populations are known for northern regions, where they were introduced mainly for edible and scientific purposes. Here, we report the first detection of an alien population of water frogs in Central Italy, along the Resina valley (Umbria). Genetic analysis of the mitochondrial ND3 gene polymorphism assigned some specimens to two different Pelophylax ridibundus clades widespread in Central and Eastern Europe. By contrast, two samples matched the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence of Pelophylax lessonae bergeri, an autochthonous taxon widespread in Central Italy, suggesting possible hybridization between alien and indigenous frogs. Finally, the specific haplotype of Pelophylax shqipericus, the Albanian Pool Frog, was also identified according to mtDNA polymorphism. This record, firstly reported for Italy, poses concerns for the conservation of this cryptic taxon, suggesting that international water frog trade may involve also particularly endangered species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salamandrina perspicillata is an endemic Italian salamander in which morphological sexual dimorphism is weak and sexes are almost indistinguishable in live specimens. We here report on a simple method for sexing these salamanders in the field on the basis of cloacal morphology and we present new data on the sexual dimorphism in this species. Nine morphological characters were used to assess the amount of sexual dimorphism using a multivariate approach (Mancova: Wilks' λ = 0.248, P < 0.001). Sexes differed significantly in both size (females are larger than males) and shape (females have proportionally longer distance between extremities, males have longer cloacal slit and wider head). The observed pattern of sexual dimorphism is discussed in an evolutionary context. Difference between sexes in the proportion of the V-shaped patch on the head was also tested. Finally, we also report the first preliminary data on the sex ratio of a S. perspicillata population in the wild. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Gender differences in asthma perception and control have been reported. The PROXIMA observational study assessed these outcomes in a cohort of Italian severe allergic asthma (SAA) patients. This post hoc analysis of the PROXIMA results was aimed at assessing gender differences in SAA in a real-world setting, focusing on disease perception and impact on quality of life (QoL). Methods: The PROXIMA study was an observational, multicenter study, consisting of a cross-sectional and a prospective longitudinal phase, including adult outpatients diagnosed with SAA at step 4 requiring a therapeutic step-up. Patients on omalizumab treatment at baseline were included in the 12-month longitudinal phase. Disease control was assessed by the Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ) score, patients' disease perception by the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (BIPQ), and QoL by the EuroQoL five-dimensional three-level questionnaire (EQ-5D-3 L) at baseline and after 6 and 12 months. Two regression models were used to evaluate the association between gender and BIPQ total score and EQ-5D-3L score, respectively. Results: 357 patients (65% females) were analyzed for the cross-sectional phase and 99 (62.6% females) for the longitudinal phase. The prevalence of perennial and seasonal aeroallergens was similar between genders. ACQ score decreased similarly during omalizumab treatment at 6 and 12 months in both genders; no gender differences were observed in control rates. Asthma perception was worse among females at all study visits reaching statistical significance at 12 months (mean (SD) B-IPQ total score 41.8 (9.4) vs 35.6 (12.0); T test p-value (males vs females) < 0.05). Statistically significant gender differences were observed for some specific items, with males reporting less symptom experience, concern about the disease, and emotional impact at 12-months. The results of the multivariate regression model for repeated measures showed that overall treatment with omalizumab improved disease perception overtime regardless from gender. Males reported a significantly better QoL compared to females at both 6 and 12 months. Conclusions: In this real-world setting, females confirmed to have a worse perception of asthma, feel it as more symptomatic and suffer a greater impact on their QoL, even though having similar baseline severity and obtaining similar level of control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]