Temporal partitioning is reported as one of the main strategies adopted by coexisting mammal species to limit interspecific competition and behavioural interference. In the last decades, camera-trapping surveys have provided valuable insights in assessing temporal niche and activity rhythms of medium and large-sized mammalian species. Conversely, this method has been poorly applied to small rodents. In this work we aimed at assessing temporal niche partitioning between two species of forest-dwelling small rodents—Apodemus flavicollis and Clethrionomys glareolus—by means of intensive camera-trapping. Camera traps were placed in areas where previous genetic analyses have confirmed the only presence of A. flavicollis amongst wood mice species, to prevent misinterpretation of records. We collected 124 independent records of A. flavicollis and 67 records of C. glareolus over three years. The former was mostly nocturnal, with activity peaking after midnight, whereas the latter was mostly active at dawn and dusk. Therefore, a limited temporal overlap was observed, confirming the potential for interspecific competition. Intraguild interference competition between A. flavicollis and C. glareolus may play a pivotal role forcing C. glareolus to be more active in daylight hours where, the more strictly nocturnal A. flavicollis is present. Nocturnal activity of C. glareolus was limited and not influenced by moon phases, whereas A. flavicollis was mostly active in the darkest nights, avoiding bright moonlight nights.

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Biogeography and the occurrence of small mammals are usually hard to investigate due to the small size and secretive habits of these mammals. Available data are particularly insufficient on minor islands and at national borders, where research efforts are usually scarce. Here we briefly updated the knowledge on murid rodents on two remote Italian small islands (Lampedusa and Pantelleria) at the southernmost Italian borders. During summer 2019, house mice and rats were sampled in Lampedusa and Pantelleria and molecular markers were sequenced for species identification. The new sequences of Mus domesticus were also compared with samples from previous works collected in Lampedusa, Pantelleria, and several localities in the Mediterranean basin. Moreover, our analyses provided the first genetic evidence of the occurrence of Rattus norvegicus in Lampedusa. To conclude, R. rattus was confirmed to be present in Pantelleria. The newly collected haplotype of M. domesticus from Biogeographia 37: a013 2 Pantelleria is similar to those currently known for Sicily, whereas the new haplotype from Lampedusa partially diverges from the ones previously described, and clusters with haplotypes from North Africa and the Middle East.

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