No city for wetland species: habitat associations affect mammal persistence in urban areas.

The fast rate of replacement of natural areas by expanding cities is a key threat to wildlife worldwide. Many wild species occur in cities, yet little is known on the dynamics of urban wildlife assemblages due to species' extinction and colonization that may occur in response to the rapidly evolving conditions within urban areas. Namely, species' ability to spread within urban areas, besides habitat preferences, is likely to shape the fate of species once they occur in a city. Here we use a long-term dataset on mammals occurring in one of the largest and most ancient cities in Europe to assess whether and how spatial spread and association with specific habitats drive the probability of local extinction within cities. Our analysis included mammalian records dating between years 1832 and 2023, and revealed that local extinctions in urban areas are biased towards species associated with wetlands and that were naturally rare within the city. Besides highlighting the role of wetlands within urban areas for conserving wildlife, our work also highlights the importance of long-term biodiversity monitoring in highly dynamic habitats such as cities, as a key asset to better understand wildlife trends and thus foster more sustainable and biodiversity-friendly cities.

Alien insects in Italy: comparing patterns from the regional to European level.

The introduction of species outside their native range contributes to the loss of biodiversity, alters the structure and functioning of ecosystems, and damages economy and human health. Insects are one of the taxa with the highest frequency of introduction due to their high diversity, biological properties, and close association with human activities. Here, the allodiversity of Italian entomofauna was analyzed, with a focus on Tuscany (Central Italy). A list of alien insects in Tuscany is included. The status of the alien entomofauna in Italy was updated. The number of alien insects amounts to 122 in Tuscany and 923 in Italy. An introduction rate of 98 species per decade was estimated in Italy. In Tuscany, alien insects belong to 10 orders, mostly Coleoptera (38%), Hemiptera (Sternorrhyncha and Auchenorrhyncha) (23%), and Hymenoptera (13%). They have been most often introduced through vegetable items (ornamental plants or crops). Most species come from the Nearctic region (26%) and are both phytophagous (63%) and amphigonic (80%). Differences and similarities in introduction patterns and in insect abundances across orders among regional, national, and European scales, also considering worldwide abundances, are discussed. Finally, a paucity of information regarding the negative impacts of many species, except for economic pests, phytosanitary threats, and vectors of disease, is underlined. A deeper understanding of the alien insects' ecological impact might help designate policies aimed at preventing further introductions and control the invasive populations of already established species.

The centipede fauna (Chilopoda) of the island of Cyprus, with one new lithobiomorph species.

The centipede (Chilopoda) fauna of Cyprus, which was almost unknown, has been analysed by examining more than 1,800 specimens sampled from 185 sites, besides revising critically the few published data. A total of 26 species are listed and discussed (1 Scutigeromorpha, 9 Lithobiomorpha, 3 Scolopendromorpha, 13 Geophilomorpha), 21 of which are new to the island, i.e. Scutigera coleoptrata (Linnaeus, 1758), Lithobius (Ezembius) parvicornis (Porat, 1893), L. (E.) pamukkalensis Matic, 1980, L. (E.) zeylanus (Chamberlin, 1952), L. (Lithobius) carinatus L. Koch, 1862, L. (L.) erythrocephalus C.L. Koch, 1847, L. (Lithobius?) anderssoni n. sp., L. (Monotarsobius) ferganensis Trotzina, 1880, Cryptops (Cryptops) kosswigi (Chamberlin, 1952), C. (C.) cf. trisulcatus Brölemann, 1902, Dignathodon microcephalus (Lucas, 1846), Henia (Meinertia) bicarinata (Meinert, 1870), Geophilus cf. alpinus Meinert, 1870, G cf. carpophagus Leach, 1815, Pachymerium ferrugineum (C.L. Koch, 1835), Schizotaenia sp., Stenotaenia naxia (Verhoeff, 1901), Thracophilus cilicius Attems, 1947, Nannophilus eximius (Meinert, 1870) and Schendyla cf. nemorensis (C.L. Koch, 1837), and another unidentified species of Schendylidae . As far as known, Lithobius anderssoni n. sp. is endemic to the island. Geographic distribution in Cyprus and ecological notes are given for each species. Taxonomic remarks are given for some species.

The centipedes of Peloponnisos and first records of genus Eurygeophilus in the East Mediterranean (Myriapoda: Chilopoda).

In this paper we summarize and critically revise the literature records of the centipedes of Peloponnisos in mainland Greece. Moreover, records on recently collected material in East Peloponnisos are included with a special focus on Mount Parnonas. Fifty centipede species are listed (1 Scutigeromorpha, 20 Lithobiomorpha, 6 Scolopendromorpha and 23 Geophilomorpha) belonging to 21 genera, 9 families and 4 orders. The species Eurygeophilus multistiliger (Verhoeff, 1899) is here reported for the first time not only from Greece but also from the East Mediterranean and the Balkan Peninsula. Additionally, the species Geophilus insculptus Attems, 1895, Stenotaenia rhodopensis (Kaczmarek, 1970) and Henia pulchella (Meinert, 1870) are newly recorded from Peloponnisos. Synonyms, general geographic distribution, patterns of distribution (chorotype), literature records, material examined from Mt. Parnonas, and ecological information (such as altitudinal ranges and habitat preferences) are given for each species. Remarks are additionally provided for some species and maps of species distribution in Peloponnisos are presented.

Lithobius (Ezembius) multispinipes n. sp., a new species of centipede from NorthWest China (Lithobiomorpha: Lithobiidae).

The centipede subgenus Lithobius (Ezembius) Chamberlin, 1919 comprises a group of about 60 species known from the Near East across Siberia and Central Asia to China, and Japan, and Southwards into the Northern Indian subcontinent and the Northern part of the Oriental region (Eason 1992, Zapparoli 1999). It is also known from Alaska in Western North America (Zapparoli & Edgecombe 2011). Although the subgenus was formally proposed as new and described in 1923 (Chamberlin 1923), according to Jeekel (2005) its name had been already validated in 1919 (Chamberlin 1919). Ezembius is characterized by the presence of 2+2 or 3+3 coxosternal teeth, antennal articles fixed at 20 or thereabouts, tergites generally without posterior triangular projections and tarsal articulation of legs 1-13 distinct (Chamberlin 1923, Zapparoli & Edgecombe 2011).

Eupolybothrus cavernicolus Komericki & Stoev sp. n. (Chilopoda: Lithobiomorpha: Lithobiidae): the first eukaryotic species description combining transcriptomic, DNA barcoding and micro-CT imaging data.

We demonstrate how a classical taxonomic description of a new species can be enhanced by applying new generation molecular methods, and novel computing and imaging technologies. A cave-dwelling centipede, Eupolybothrus cavernicolus Komericki & Stoev sp. n. (Chilopoda: Lithobiomorpha: Lithobiidae), found in a remote karst region in Knin, Croatia, is the first eukaryotic species for which, in addition to the traditional morphological description, we provide a fully sequenced transcriptome, a DNA barcode, detailed anatomical X-ray microtomography (micro-CT) scans, and a movie of the living specimen to document important traits of its ex-situ behaviour. By employing micro-CT scanning in a new species for the first time, we create a high-resolution morphological and anatomical dataset that allows virtual reconstructions of the specimen and subsequent interactive manipulation to test the recently introduced 'cybertype' notion. In addition, the transcriptome was recorded with a total of 67,785 scaffolds, having an average length of 812 bp and N50 of 1,448 bp (see GigaDB). Subsequent annotation of 22,866 scaffolds was conducted by tracing homologs against current available databases, including Nr, SwissProt and COG. This pilot project illustrates a workflow of producing, storing, publishing and disseminating large data sets associated with a description of a new taxon. All data have been deposited in publicly accessible repositories, such as GigaScience GigaDB, NCBI, BOLD, Morphbank and Morphosource, and the respective open licenses used ensure their accessibility and re-usability.

A common terminology for the external anatomy of centipedes (Chilopoda).

A common terminology for the external morphological characters of centipedes (Chilopoda) is proposed. Terms are selected from the alternatives used in the English literature, preferring those most frequently used or those that have been introduced explicitly. A total of 330 terms are defined and illustrated, and another ca. 500 alternatives are listed.

The centipede genus Eupolybothrus Verhoeff, 1907 (Chilopoda: Lithobiomorpha: Lithobiidae) in North Africa, a cybertaxonomic revision, with a key to all species in the genus and the first use of DNA barcoding for the group.

The centipede genus Eupolybothrus Verhoeff, 1907 in North Africa is revised. A new cavernicolous species, Eupolybothruskahfi Stoev & Akkari, sp. n., is described from a cave in Jebel Zaghouan, northeast Tunisia. Morphologically, it is most closely related to Eupolybothrusnudicornis (Gervais, 1837) from North Africa and Southwest Europe but can be readily distinguished by the long antennae and leg-pair 15, a conical dorso-median protuberance emerging from the posterior part of prefemur 15, and the shape of the male first genital sternite. Molecular sequence data from the cytochrome c oxidase I gene (mtDNA-5' COI-barcoding fragment) exhibit 19.19% divergence between Eupolybothruskahfi and Eupolybothrusnudicornis, an interspecific value comparable to those observed among four other species of Eupolybothrus which, combined with a low intraspecific divergence (0.3-1.14%), supports the morphological diagnosis of Eupolybothruskahfi as a separate species. This is the first troglomorphic myriapod to be found in Tunisia, and the second troglomorph lithobiomorph centipede known from North Africa. Eupolybothrusnudicornis is redescribed based on abundant material from Tunisia and its post-embryonic development, distribution and habitat preferences recorded. Eupolybothruscloudsley-thompsoni Turk, 1955, a nominal species based on Tunisian type material, is placed in synonymy with Eupolybothrusnudicornis. To comply with the latest technological developments in publishing of biological information, the paper implements new approaches in cybertaxonomy, such as fine granularity XML tagging validated against the NLM DTD TaxPub for PubMedCentral and dissemination in XML to various aggregators (GBIF, EOL, Wikipedia), vizualisation of all taxa mentioned in the text via the dynamically created Pensoft Taxon Profile (PTP) page, data publishing, georeferencing of all localities via Google Earth, and ZooBank, GenBank and MorphBank registration of datasets. An interactive key to all valid species of Eupolybothrus is made with DELTA software.