Make it simple: mating behaviour of Euphydryas aurinia provincialis (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae)

Courtship in butterflies can vary among species, from simple to elaborate displays, which are thought to promote conspecific mating and drive a female, at first unreceptive, to eventually mate. In this paper, we studied the courtship behaviour of a population of E. aurinia provincialis (Nymphalidae) of the Italian region Latium, finding clear differences in acceptance/refusal of females and in consequent departure/persistence of males. Despite the presence of a period of female unreceptivity after eclosion, virgin females usually do not show resistance, and accept to mate after a simple courtship. Once males meet a female, they immediately try to copulate clasping female genitalia, and proceed in mating performing long copulations. They also secrete a mating plug to prevent subsequent matings. On the contrary, already-mated females can strongly reject any approaching male and they always display Wide Wing fluttering, which is a behavioural pattern usually followed by male departure. In case of persistent males, prolonged and energy demanding sexual interactions, as Carrousels, can occur, with rare final copulation. Here, we analyse the effects of female refusal on male sexual behaviour and discuss potential selective pressures that might be acting on such behavioural traits

Pleistocene evolutionary history of the Clouded Apollo (Parnassius mnemosyne): genetic signatures of climate cycles and a 'time-dependent' mitochondrial substitution rate

Genetic data are currently providing a large amount of new information on past distribution of species and are contributing to a new vision of Pleistocene ice ages. Nonetheless, an increasing number of studies on the 'time dependency' of mutation rates suggest that date assessments for evolutionary events of the Pleistocene might be overestimated. We analysed mitochondrial (mt) DNA (COI) sequence variation in 225 Parnassius mnemosyne individuals sampled across central and eastern Europe in order to assess (i) the existence of genetic signatures of Pleistocene climate shifts; and (ii) the timescale of demographic and evolutionary events. Our analyses reveal a phylogeographical pattern markedly influenced by the Pleistocene/Holocene climate shifts. Eastern Alpine and Balkan populations display comparatively high mtDNA diversity, suggesting multiple glacial refugia. On the other hand, three widely distributed and spatially segregated lineages occupy most of northern and eastern Europe, indicating postglacial recolonization from different refugial areas. We show that a conventional 'phylogenetic' substitution rate cannot account for the present distribution of genetic variation in this species, and we combine phylogeographical pattern and palaeoecological information in order to determine a suitable intraspecific rate through a Bayesian coalescent approach. We argue that our calibrated 'time-dependent' rate (0.096 substitutions/million years), offers the most convincing time frame for the evolutionary events inferred from sequence data. When scaled by the new rate, estimates of divergence between Balkan and Alpine lineages point to c. 19 000 years before present (last glacial maximum), and parameters of demographic expansion for northern lineages are consistent with postglacial warming (5-11 000 years before present)

Genetic differentiation and hybridization in two naturally occurring sympatric trout Salmo spp. forms from a small karstic lake.

In this study, multiple molecular markers [genotyping of 12 nuclear microsatellite loci and the protein-coding gene ldh-c1 * plus sequencing of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region] were employed to investigate the genetic structure of the two trout forms, Salmo cettii and Salmo fibreni , inhabiting Lake Posta Fibreno, central Italy. The two forms were found to share a unique mtDNA haplotype, belonging to a widespread Mediterranean haplogroup (AD). Bayesian clustering analyses showed that these two forms correspond to well-defined autochthonous gene pools. Genetic introgression between the two gene pools, however, was observed, whose frequency appears to correlate with the environmental features of the spawning sites. The interplay of selection for the spawning sites, philopatry and natural selection can be argued to maintain genetic differentiation despite the lack of complete reproductive isolation

A taxonomic revision of western Eupholidoptera bush crickets (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae): testing the discrimination power of DNA barcode.

The genus Eupholidoptera includes 46 Mediterranean species distributed from Turkey to Greece, Italy and southern France. In the eastern part of its range, Eupholidoptera has been considered to consist of several distinct species, while in the Balkans and Italian peninsula only E. chabrieri has been recognized. However, the status of some Italian populations, confined to particular geographic areas, remains uncertain. To investigate the delimitation of the Italian taxa of Eupholidoptera, we performed both morphological and molecular analyses. Morphological analysis was carried out by considering diagnostic characters usually used to distinguish different taxa, such as the shape of titillators in males and the subgenital plate in females. Molecular analysis was performed by sequencing three mitochondrial genes: 12S rRNA, 16S rRNA, partially sequenced and the entire gene of cox1 . Molecular markers were used to infer phylogenetic relationships among the Italian Eupholidoptera species and to reconstruct the historical processes that shaped their current geographic distribution. Results from both morphological and molecular analyses were used to revise the taxonomic arrangement of species. On the whole we were able to distinguish nine lineages of Italian Eupholidoptera, of which E. tyrrhenica sp.n. from Corsica is described as a new species

Long and short term changes in abundance and distribution of butterflies: hints from the Lazio database

The DB on the occurrence data of the butterflies (Papilionoidea) of Lazio, at 14th February 2022 consisted of 36244 records including 154 species istributed throughout a total of 6719 sites. The data set included geoeferenced and chrono-referenced data collected from the literature, specialist-validated occurrences from websites (Forum Natura Mediterraneo, iNaturalist, Ornitho), as well as an important amount of original observations included in the database of the Lazio Biodiversity Observatory. All observations were used to create distribution maps. In order to evaluate any change in observations over time for the various species, all records were divided into three different periods: before 1980 (4425 records), 1980-2000 (6498 records) and post 2000 (25321 records). A finer subdivision was then examined within the post-2000 period: 2001-2007 (11888 records), 2008-2014 (4977 records), 2014-2021 (8456 records). Further analyses were carried out to highlight differences in the distribution of species as a function of altitude and / or changes in land use that have occurred in the last decades. The results show that qualitatively the species present in the region before 1980 are all still present today, however the abundance of related observations in several cases has changed considerably. Observations of an important portion of the species have significantly decreased in recent years. This trend is observed in the majority of mountain species and various habitat-specialist butterflies regardless of altitude. In some other species, often the most common or habitat-generalist butterflies, an increase was observed. The causes of these trends can be identified in the human land use and climate change, without excluding, however, the differences in data recording over time that could favor the most common species

Genotoxicity testing for radon exposure: Dolichopoda (Orthoptera, Rhaphidophoridae) as potential bio-indicator of confined environments

Abstract Radon represents the major source of natural radioactivity in confined environments. Despite the clear evidence of a direct association between residential exposure and human lung cancer provided by case-control studies, results relating indoor exposure and genotoxic/mutagenic effect induction are still contradictory. The present study attempts to estimate the genotoxic effects induced by exposure to radioactive radon in wild cricket populations sampled from caves where varying concentrations of radon are present. Cave crickets are also tested as possible bio-indicator organisms of genotoxic potential of contaminated residential and confined environments. Six caves in Central Italy are considered covering a broad spectrum of radon radioactivity concentration (221–26, 000 Bq/m3). Dolichopoda specimens were sampled from each cave; both haemocytes and brain cells taken from individuals were tested for responsiveness to DNA damage induced by radon through the Comet assay. Specimens from the least radioactive cave, housed in controlled conditions for 60 days before analysis, were used as control group. Statistically significant increase of DNA damage was found in all groups of individuals from each cave, for both cell types. Very low values of all Comet parameters were found in control group individuals, which gave indications of a good responsiveness of the organism to the variable environmental levels of radioactive contamination. Results indicate that cave crickets represent a reliable tool for the detection of genotoxic potential induced by radioactive contamination of confined environments and can be proposed as a possible bio-indicator system for air (-radioactive) pollution related to indoor exposure