No abstract

[The spring presence of two individuals of the Sea lamprey, Petromyzon marinus, in the River Mignone near Tarquinia (Northern Lazio) could highlight a new Italian reproductive site of this rare and endangered species. This exceptional possibility could certainly be favored by the good quality of both the waters of the Mignone, and the environmental context of the record, but would require the urgent equipment of the barrier of Le Mole with a fish ladder in order to allow the sea lamprey’s upstream migration towards the areas of the upper course, even more suitable for their reproduction].   [Article in Italian]

[The presence of the Bladetail, Lindenia tetraphylla, is reported in the Mignone River Valley, Tarquinia (VT) (ZSC IT6010035 “River Mignone - lower course”) reconfirming this gomphid for Lazio. This rare dragonfly is localized in Italy and is reported in a few locations in Tuscany, Campania, Umbria, Molise, Abruzzo, Puglia, Sicilia and Sardinia. Lindenia tetraphylla was previously reported for a locality in southern Lazio (Lago di Fondi, LT) on the basis of two preserved specimen in the Entomological Collection A. Costa of the Museum of Zoology of the Naples University in and dating back to the midnineteenth century. The habitat of the species is made up of the gravelly shore and the curtain of willows, poplars and tamarisks of one of the best-preserved rivers in Lazio].  [Article in Italian]

In order to investigate diversity patterns and similarities in the small mammal communities of an agroforestry landscape in western central Italy (Maremma of Lazio), we analyzed, in a multivariate setting (Cluster analysis, DCA-Detrended Correspondence Analysis), the prey content of barn owl Tyto alba pellets collected along one year in five sampling sites. Small mammal communities were composed by guilds typical of habitats included in agroforestry landscapes (croplands and mosaics, forests and ecotones, wet habitats and synanthropic ones). Since landscape matrices were characterized almost everywhere by croplands, typical agro-ecosystem species (Apodemus cfr. sylvaticus, Microtus savii, Mus domesticus and Soricidae) dominated in the majority of the collecting sites. The statistical analyses show how small changes in land use and cover can explain the faunal differences between sites, with the occasional presence of Arvicola italicus in wet habitats, and of Muscardinus avellanarius and Sorex samniticus in sites dominated by forest or agroforestry ecotones. Communities recorded in sites characterized by wet and forest habitats showed a higher distance from the others, dominated by croplands. Communities occurring in landscapes with the lowest habitat diversity showed also the lowest species diversity.