The Abruzzo-Apulian (Central and Southeastern Italy) fossil fauna, new challenges for paleontologists and paleobiogeographers

The Abruzzo-Apulian Platform was an endemic Neogene paleobioprovince. Its relics can be found at the south-east of the Italian Peninsula. Geological and paleontological traces of this past land crop out both in the central Apennines, Maiella (Scontrone fossiliferous site), as well as in the Gargano Promontory. The Scontrone paleofauna -Scontrone is placed on the southern borderline of the Abruzzo National Park, Central-Southern Apennine. The bone-bearing sediments are coastaltidal-flat calcarenites stratigraphically dated to the Lower Tortonian. They yielded remains of terrestrial mammals, which include the bizarre ruminant Hoplitomeryx and the giant insectivore Deinogalerix, of a large terrestrial bird, and of large crocodilians and chelonians. At present, Hoplitomeryx, Deinogalerix and the crocodilians represent the elements in common with the Gargano community. The fauna is endemic and quite unbalanced. Six species of Hoplitomeryx have been described until now, but other species are adding to the list as new specimens are being freed from the calcarenites. Deinogalerix seems also represented by more than a single species. No mammal carnivores nor small mammals were found until now. The Gargano paleofauna - A very diversified endemic fauna is contained in soil deposits (Terre Rosse) that fill an extensive karst system at the north-western slopes of Mount Gargano (Southern Italy). The fossil assemblages include both large and small mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians, and are highly unbalanced. The small mammal component is mainly made of rodents, lagomorphs, and insectivores. Larger mammalian taxa are less abundant and are represented by Hoplitomericidae, Deinogalerix. And the sea otter Paralutra garganensis. The fissure fillings have been arranged in a biochronological sequence based on their different faunal composition and evolutionary degree. During the time period documented by the fissure deposits the faunal diversity changed and several taxa underwent significant evolutionary modifications, giving rise to numerous adaptive radiations. Taxa weakly- or non-modified compared to their continental counterparts characterize the oldest assemblages. They likely represent the youngest dispersal phase from the mainland into the insular domain, suggesting a polyphasic origin of the community.Evidence of apparently the oldest faunal settlement in Gargano was found in the recently discovered fissure M013. It contains remains of a new murid, which is manifestly the ancestor of Mikrotia (the endemic and widespread murid of the Terre Rosse), together with those of a new Cricetodontinae, which resembles primitive early Miocene representatives. These occurrences, in addition to the absence of Apodemus and Prolagus, two ubiquitous taxa of the Terre Rosse fillings, confirm that the assemblages are the result of a set of successive bioevents. The age and paleogeography of Scontrone and Gargano: the Abruzzo-Apulian domain - The Early Tortonian age of the Scontrone fauna is unequivocally proven not only by solid geologic evidence, but also by the Hoplitomeryx representatives, which are comparatively more primitive than their Gargano counterparts. The same might apply to the Deinogalerix specimens from the two localities, but analyses are still under way to check this aspect. The Gargano fissure fillings are tentatively dated to the Late Miocene on the basis of paleontological inferences, namely the occurrence of Apodemus, which is supposed to be not older than MN12 in the European mainland. The Gargano’s younger age possibly reflects the fact that the Gargano palaeo-islands formed stable structural high, while the Scontrone area was involved in the Apennine build-up and gradually sunk. Thus, the faunas from Scontrone and Gargano represent two different time slices within the same bioprovince. The colonization of the Abruzzo-Apulia domain - The existence, from the Late Oligocene to the Langhian, of a trans-Adriatic structural high between Dalmatia and the Gargano Peninsula, through the present day Tremiti Islands, was ascertained based on the seismostratigraphic analysis of more than 6000 kilometers of reflection seismic profiles from the Adriatic offshore, but also on several tens of deep wells. The major 29-30 Ma global sea-level fall caused the generalized surfacing of this structure across the Adriatic. The trans-Adriatic isthmus was originally in the form of stripe of land. Then, as the sea level turned growing at the transition to the Early Miocene, the structural high likely gave rise to an archipelago of gradually shrinking islands. The isthmus definitively sank at the end of the Langhian, i.e. around 14.8 Ma, and the Abruzzo-Apulian area remained cut off from any near mainland for the next 7 million years. Dalmatia and the Gargano were connected again during the Messinian sea lowstand. Thereafter, the sea level turned gradually to rise again, at first isolating the Abruzzo-Apulian area and then finally submerging it entirely at the very end of the Messinian. The possible ways of colonization used by the Messinian colonizers is still passionately debated. Although many steps have been made in the direction of improving our understanding of the history of the Abruzzo-Apulian Platform and of its faunal communities, yet many issues are still unanswered. Settling these issues will not only give us a better insight into the development of the Abruzzo-Apulian faunas per se, but will also lead us to a better understanding of the geo– and biodynamics of paleoislands in general

The tangled cases of Deinogalerix (Late Miocene endemic erinaceid of Gargano) and Galericini (Eulipotyphla, Erinaceidae): A cladistic perspective

The Late Miocene giant erinaceid Deinogalerix from Scontrone and Gargano (Italy) is associated with many other vertebrates in deposits of a past island, the \u201cAbruzzo-Apulia Platform\u201d. At Gargano, Deinogalerix is accompanied by the moderately endemized Galericini Apulogalerix. This first extensive cladistic analysis is aimed at defining the relationships of Deinogalerix with characteristic members of the tribe Galericini. The analysis was performed on a matrix of 30 characters and 19 taxa and identified some smaller clades, nested within three major ones. The latter include: (i) a pentatomy of Galerix species, (ii) a polytomy of \u201ctransitional\u201d Galerix\u2013Parasorex species and (iii) a large clade with Parasorex, Schizogalerix and Gargano representatives. Galerix and Parasorex proved to be paraphyletic and Schizogalerix monophyletic. Based on the results of the analysis, Deinogalerix and Apulogalerix have distinct origins, which supports an asynchronous colonization of the island. The line of Deinogalerix possibly stemmed from some eastern species transitional between Galerix and Parasorex around Mammal Neogene (MN) zone 2. Conversely, the line of Apulogalerix originated from a primitive Parasorex ibericus, or a close relative, around MN 9\u201310. Another important result was detecting an impressive early Miocene (MN 2?) radiation of Galericini. Moreover, Schizogalerix and Parasorex originated from eastern Galericini morphologically transitional between Galerix and Parasorex

Presentazione del volume M. Guirguis - S. Muscuso - R. Pla Orquín (eds), Cartagine, il Mediterraneo centro-occidentale e la Sardegna. Società, economia e cultura materiale tra Fenici e autoctoni. Studi in onore di Piero Bartoloni (Le Monografie della SAIC

Presentation of the volume M. Guirguis - S. Muscuso - R. Pla Orquín (eds), Cartagine, il Mediterraneo centro-occidentale e la Sardegna. Società, economia e cultura materiale tra Fenici e autoctoni. Studi in onore di Piero Bartoloni (Le Monografie della SAIC 3), voll. I-II, Sassari: SAIC Editore, 2020-2021Presentazione del volume M. Guirguis - S. Muscuso - R. Pla Orquín (eds), Cartagine, il Mediterraneo centro-occidentale e la Sardegna. Società, economia e cultura materiale tra Fenici e autoctoni. Studi in onore di Piero Bartoloni (Le Monografie della SAIC 3), voll. I-II, Sassari: SAIC Editore, 2020-202

I balsamici: fermentazione acetica, viscosit\ue0 e parametri sensoriali

La produzione di aceto di vino \ue8 un processo che utilizza materie prime dal valore relativamente basso per ottenere un prodotto che raggiunge prezzi relativamente alti. La categoria merceologica che maggiormente beneficia dell\u2019uso di questi prodotti \u201cpoveri\u201d \ue8 quella relativa ai condimenti alimentari agrodolci a base di mosto concentrato e/o cotto e aceto di vino, cio\ue8 tutti i prodotti che hanno un esplicito riferimento al termine \u201cbalsamico\u201d. Indubbiamente la diffusione di prodotti balsamici sul mercato \ue8 in forte crescita, anche grazie allo sviluppo di nuove forme di presentazione e di utilizzo del prodotto base (come glasse, creme, spume, spray) e una continua ricerca dell\u2019aromatizzazione distintiva e particolare (attraverso l\u2019utilizzo di fragranze o seguendo processi di produzione peculiari). Nelle province di Modena e Reggio Emilia \ue8 concentrata l\u2019intera produzione di aceti \u201cbalsamici\u201d a denominazione protetta italiani: due DOP per l\u2019aceto balsamico tradizionale di Modena (ABTM) e quello di Reggio Emilia (ABTRE) e una IGP per l\u2019aceto balsamico di Modena (ABM). L\u2019ABT non \ue8 aceto di vino bens\uec di mosto cotto, tuttavia nell\u2019ABM l\u2019acidit\ue0 deriva dal comune aceto di vino ottenuto per fermentazione in sommerso. La linea di prodotti sviluppati coniuga gli aspetti migliori dal punto di vista qualitativo ed economico delle due tipologie, introducendo numerose innovazioni: i) le fermentazioni dirette e in condizioni statiche consentono un risparmio energetico notevole e favoriscono la formazione di composti secondari sensorialmente positivi, anche grazie all\u2019impiego di lieviti e batteri acetici specifici e selezionati appositamente per le loro caratteristiche fermentative; ii) il processo di concentrazione del mosto tramite cottura \ue8 assente o fortemente limitato mentre l\u2019invecchiamento \ue8 accelerato tramite l\u2019utilizzo di tecniche di condizionamento ambientale ecosostenibile; iii) non sono presenti additivi e conservanti di nessun genere in quanto vengono impiegate tecniche di conservazione basate sull\u2019impiego oculato degli stessi microrganismi usati nelle fermentazioni; iv) le condizioni di cottura applicate limitano al minimo la formazioni di composti tossici

BIOLOGICAL CONTROL OF ACLEES SP. CF. FOVEATUS AND FIRST RECOVERY OF AN ASSOCIATE BEAUVERIA BASSIANA STRAIN

Aclees sp. cf. foveatus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is spreading in Central Italy, causing severe infestation on fig trees. There are very few information for this pest and no natural enemy is reported. Here, we report the first recovery of a natural enemy associated with this invasive weevil, a strain of the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana. The potential use of entomopathogenic fungi and nematodes as biocontrol agents was tested against adults in laboratory trials. In agree with the detection in nature, only treatments with B. bassiana were able to control the insects. This result opens new frontiers for the environmental friendly control strategies against this weevil

Alien insects on Eucalytpus spp.: an australian biocenosis in Tuscany

Despite the diffusion of eucalypts in Italy, the community of insects hosted by these trees is scantily studied, while information about the presence of these pests is crucial for their potential threats to economic activities. This study aims at investigating and evaluating the status of Australian insects hosted by eucalypts in Tuscany (Central Italy). We found six established species and, among them, two species recently discovered in the study area were noteworthy for their potential impacts and diffusion: Gonipterus scutellatus complex and Glycaspis brimblecombei. We provided a distribution map on Tuscan coast for both these species and revised data on biology and presence of these and other alien insects Eucalyptus-linked species

First report of Gonipterus scutellatus complex (Coleoptera Curculionidae) in Sicily (Italy).

During August 2015, the weevil Gonipterus scutellatus complex (Coleoptera Curculionidae), a pest of Eucalyptus spp., was found for the first time in Sicily. According to our surveys, Eucalyptus globulus was the only infested tree species

Nenteria extremica n. sp., a new Uropodina mites (Acari Mesostigmata) collected on Rhynchophorus ferrugineus in Italy, with notes on other Uropodina mites associated with the Red Palm Weevil

A new species of Uropodina mite was collected on the body and on the cocoons of the Red Palm Weevil Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier, 1790) in Italy. The new species (Nenteria extremica n. sp.) belongs to the genus Nenteria, but it differs from the other species in appendages of the gnathosoma, which are unique within this genus. The new species is described on the basis of females, males and nymphs. Some notes on the association of Uropodina with the Red Palm Weevils are given. Aegyptus rynchophorus Elbishlawi & Allam, 2007 and Aegypthus alhassa Al-Dhafar & Al-Qahtani 2011 are junior synonyms of Centrouropoda almerodai Hiramatsu & Hirschmann, 1992