Archophileurus spinosus Dechambre, 2006, a South American Scarabaeidae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae: Phileurini) is recorded for the first time in Europe (Apulia, Italy). This species, which may have colonized the Italian peninsula in recent past and that could still be in the acclimatization phase, represents the first record of tribe Phileurini in Europe and the second case worldwide of interception of this genus outside its area of origin. After a brief presentation of the site and collecting conditions of the specimens, we discuss the possible threats for local biodiversity and agriculture that the establishment of A. spinosus could cause.

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Findings of Lethocerus patruelis (Stål, 1855) in Southern Italy have become frequent in the last decades. We collected records of Lethocerus patruelis observations in Italy using scientific literature, citizen science programs, and social networks as data sources to create a complete and up-to-date dataset. This dataset is made of 59 Lethocerus patruelis observations from the Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria, and Abruzzi regions, 32 of which were previously unpublished, spanning from 1997 to 2020. Half of these records comes from biodiversity dedicated Facebook groups, citizen science programs and online forums, underlining the usefulness of unconventional data sources to gather data on species with poorly known distributions. The existence of Lethocerus patruelis viable populations in Italy remains unclear.

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