Bruno Massa

• retired at University of Palermo

The fortuitous discovery of Acheta pantescus Massa, Cusimano, Fontana, Brizio, 2022, born from the observation of an unknown cricket song during the review of passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) recordings, disclosed the potential of unsupervised recorders as tools for the assessment of orthopteran diversity. This case study, based on a one-month, ni...

According to the most recent updates on the occurrence of Saga pedo in Italy, including observations from San Marino, 92 findings have been reported. Of these, 12 were recorded between 2000 and 2020, 26 between 1971 and 1999, and 44 were before 1970 (1855–1969). The observations of this Saginae, listed in the annexes of the Habitat Directive, refer...

Questo contributo mira non solo a denunciare l'estre-mo degrado di buona parte degli ecosistemi dunali della Si-cilia, ma anche a suggerire strategie efficaci per una corretta salvaguardia e gestione sostenibile di ciò che ne rimane. Il paesaggio dei litorali sabbiosi è il frutto del complesso e delicato equilibrio dinamico fra i processi di erosio...

The grasshopper genus Italopodisma is strictly endemic to the central Appennines and includes nine species and five subspecies with scattered populations distributed from Sibillini Mountains to the Matese Massif. All populations are mainly present in ecosystems at high elevation (1600-2800 m-asl), such as grasslands, alpine meadows and rocky areas....

Overall coloration, size and thoracic morphology have formed the basis for taxonomic differentiation of taxa within the genus Eugaster at specific or subspecific levels over the years. The present study employs a range of methods to examine the morphology of 58 specimens (18♂♂ and 40♀♀) from Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, collected from altitudes va...

The authors present preliminary findings regarding the distribution and habitat selection of Brachytrupes megacephalus (Lefebvre, 1927) (Orthoptera Gryllidae) within the “Capo Rama” and “Torre Salsa” Nature Reserves (Sicily, Italy). This elusive species is closely associated with undamaged coastal ecosystems and appears to be in decline in Italy. I...

Lista dei taxa ospitati nel Museo Ornitologico di Mazara del Vallo. Citazione raccomandata: Graffeo D., Barbera A., Surdo S. & Massa B., 2024. Gli uccelli del museo ornitologico di Mazara del Vallo. Pp. 39-100 in: AA. VV., I cento anni dell'unione cacciatori di Mazara e del museo ornitologico 1924 - 2024. Grafiche Napoli s.r.l., Campobello di Maza...

The islet of Lampione, located in the archipelago of the Pelagie islands (Sicily channel), is known to be the Italian southernmost breeding site for the Scopoli’s Shearwater Calonectris diomedea. So far, there was little information on the number of Shearwaters attending the islet and on the status of this breeding population. Therefore, during an...

This paper deals with the study of the Orthoptera Tettigoniidae found in Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park (Republic of Congo) and the comparison of the results with those previously found in the neighbouring Dzanga-Ndoki National Park (Central African Republic). The study of specimens allowed for the description of a new tribe Myllocentrini, a new genu...

Plastic pollution is distributed patchily around the world’s oceans. Likewise, marine organisms that are vulnerable to plastic ingestion or entanglement have uneven distributions. Understanding where wildlife encounters plastic is crucial for targeting research and mitigation. Oceanic seabirds, particularly petrels, frequently ingest plastic, are h...

La Saga pedo è un ortottero Tettigoniidae specializzato nella predazione di altri insetti, in particolare ortotteri. Avendo una posizione apicale nella rete trofica, è per sua natura raro e al tempo stesso rappresenta un ottimo indicatore della qualità ambientale. Per tale motivo si trova elencato nell'Allegato IV della Direttiva Habitat e ne viene...

The life cycle of Andricus truncicolus (Giraud, 1869), a species previously known only from its asexual generation, is closed. Laboratory rearing and field sampling have revealed the sexual generation of this species, which develops in a hypertrophic degeneration of the terminal or lateral shoot buds appearing as a muddled agglomerate of leaves on...

The genus Finotia was established by Bonnet in 1884 and included in the subfamily Pamphaginae; later, in 1916 Bolívar described the tribe Finotiini to include the genus and differentiate it from the other of the subfamily Pamphaginae, tribe Pamphagini. Differently from previous authors, who agreed with this placement, the present authors examined t...

The genus Roeseliana presently includes 10 specific or subspecific taxa, but following different authors some of them are considered synonyms. However, the authors who have treated these taxa often did not agree with the synonymies, in particular, concerning some taxa, such as R. fedtschenkoi (Saussure, 1874) and R. roeselii (Hagenbach, 1822). The...

RIASSUNTO Il presente articolo riassume le informazioni storiche e recenti riguardanti la presenza della Foca monaca Monachus monachus nelle isole Eolie. Le notizie riportate nella letteratura di viaggio del XVIII e del XIX secolo e da fonti locali (relative alla prima metà del XX secolo) indicano che le Isole Eolie erano parte dell'areale pregress...

new data on the distribution of Eleonora's Falcon in the Aeolian Islands

Nel corso di prospezioni entomologiche condotte nell'ultimo decennio nella Sicilia nord-orientale e nell'Arcipelago Eoliano è stato possibile radunare alcuni dati faunistici relativi a varie specie di Ortotteri. Alcuni di essi risultano interessanti in quanto riguardano specie poco note per la Sicilia o non segnalate per le Eolie e/o per singole is...

Simple Summary Rapid results in genetic tests are often required, including in outdoor analyses. To date, the only fast technique is LAMP (loop-mediated isothermal amplification), which is overall less flexible than PCR. We have developed a PCR test in which very high DNA yields are achieved, allowing for direct in-tube detection of the products by...

We reply to the comments made by Benvenuti et al. (2022) about our paper on the Italian natural history museums and scientific collections and the need of a centralized hub and repository. While agreeing that digitization is a useful tool to valorize each museum and collection, we still believe that the suggestion of a centralized hub is valid and...

Our aim was to investigate the among-populations diversity of prey composition in Eurasian Reed Warblers’ diets via their droppings, both to assess the ecological validity of this sampling method and to test whether the prey species most abundant in fecal samples were also the most present in the Italian study site. We collected fecal samples at fo...

In late April 2022, while listening to audio files from an unsupervised bioacoustic assessment of the shearwater populations (Aves, Procellariiformes) on the coast of Pantelleria island (Sicily, Italy), a cricket song of unknown attribution was heard. The first bioacoustic analyses, including FFT-based spectrograms and sound pressure envelopes, con...

Monitoraggio e osservazioni ecologiche delle popolazioni di Brachytrupes megacephalus (Lefebvre, 1827) (Orthoptera Gryllidae) nelle Riserve Naturali Orientate “Capo Rama” (Terrasini, Palermo, Sicilia) e “Torre Salsa” (Siculiana, Agrigento, Sicilia).

In late April 2022, during the hearing of the audio files from an unsupervised bioacoustic assessment of the shearwater populations (Aves, Procellariiformes) on the coast of Pantelleria island (Italy, Sicily), a cricket song of unknown attribution was heard. The first bioacoustic analyses, including FFT-based spectrograms and sound pressure envelop...

The author reports the results of the study of specimens of Orthoptera collected in Côte d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone and Kenya; two new species are described: Eulioptera bartolozzii n. sp. from Kenya, and Mangomaloba excavata n. sp. from Sierra Leone. Mangomaloba latipennis Chopard, 1954 from Guinea is synonymized with Morgenia rubricornis Sjöstedt, 191...

Taxa belonging to the genus Odontura have been studied since the former half of the 19th century. Species of the group are distributed across the western Mediterranean Basin and the central Mediterranean area, including the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearics, Sardinia, the countries of the Maghreb that border the Basin, Sicily and Malta. The prese...

Insects are known to represent a critical part of the White Stork Ciconia ciconia diet throughout its breeding range. Yet, the composition of the diet in the storks breeding in the Mediterranean regions remains poorly explored. Here, we investigated the diet of a population of white storks from Sicily through pellets collected in 2003, 2007, and 20...

In Italy, differently from other countries, a national museum of natural history is not present. This absence is due, among the other reasons, to its historical political fragmentation up to 1870, which led to the establishment of medium-sized museums, mostly managed by local administrations or universities. Moreover, a change of paradigm in biolog...

Mediterranean Crossbills are as much differentiated as L. scotica and L. pytyopsittacus. They are sedentary, linked to pine trees and have evolved a thicker bill to extract the seeds from Pine cones. Their decolorization could be due to dietary causes. The authors studied biometrics, breeding phenology, and primary food of Italian populations livin...

Top marine predators are key components of marine food webs. Among them, long-distance migratory seabirds, which travel across different marine ecosystems over the year, may experience important year-round changes in terms of oceanographic conditions and availability of trophic resources. We tested whether this was the case in the Scopoli's shearwa...

An update to the distribution records of the Moroccan Pamphagidae is presented. One new species to science, Euryparyphes minor sp. n., is described, and one new combination is proposed.

We demonstrated the life cycle closure of Cynips conificaHartig, 1843 (presently Andricus conificus), previously supposed on the basis of molecular data, and the identity of the sexual generation, through laboratory experiments. As a consequence, Andricus cydoniae Giraud, 1859 became a junior synonym of A. conificus (Hartig, 1843). We provide illus...

A public proposal of a group of naturalists and researchers about the major goals which should be pursued and hopefully achieved to boost the conservation of Italian biodiversity. This should be obtained by identifying crucial and focal arguments, such as protected areas, faunal management, commercial fishing, commercial breeding, agricultural envi...

AGGIORNAMENTO SULLA DISTRIBUZIONE DEL SUCCIACAPRE CAPRIMULGUS EUROPAEUS (Aves Caprimulgidae) IN SICILIA RIASSUNTO In questi ultimi anni sono state compiute numerose osservazioni di Succiacapre in aree dove in precedenza non era mai stato osservato. In qualche caso può trattarsi di una maggiore esplorazione ma in altri casi certamente ha avuto luogo...

ESPANSIONE DELLA RONDINE MONTANA PTYONOPROGNE RUPESTRIS (SCOPOLI) IN SICILIA (Aves Hirundinidae) RIASSUNTO I dati raccolti durante gli ultimi quindici anni sulla distribuzione della Rondine montana in Sicilia e il loro confronto con quelli riportati in letteratura mostrano una chiara espansione territoriale. Nelle aree di recente colonizzazione la...

The authors summarize the results obtained over a period of about 150 years by various authors on the taxonomic position of Sparrows present in southern Italy, Sicily and Malta, identified on several occasions as Passer italiae, P. hispaniolensis or as hybrids of the two species. Based on the latest research and the analysis of the genome of the sp...

The present paper has two aims: 1) to present the results of the study of selected species of Orthoptera Tettigoniidae collected in the Guinean forests of West Africa and in the important hotspot of Dzanga-Ndoki National Park (Central African Republic); 2) to carry out a check-list of six subfamilies of Tettigoniidae (Pseudophyllinae, Conocephalina...

Parent-offspring recognition (POR) is fundamental in colonial birds when the potential intermingling of chicks is higher due to the large number and proximity of nests. In species with isolated nests, where chick presence in the nest is strong contextual evidence of kinship, there might be circumstances when the parent might doubt the identity of t...

Introduction. Depuis 2015, l’Association Catharsius (http://www.catharsius.fr) et l’African Natural History Research Trust (ANHRT. https://www.anhrt.org.uk) effectuent régulièrement des missions de recherche en Côte d’Ivoire et accumulent les données sur la faune entomologique du pays, en particulier sur la forêt classée du Mont Tonkoui. Dès 2016 n...

The author describes Phaneroptera abdita n. sp., characterized by only two apical spurs; two new species of Eulioptera, E. iolandae n. sp. with unarmed fore coxae, E. atypica n. sp., with atypical opaque tegmina; and Scolocerca thomasi n. sp., all from West Tropical Africa. In addition, he discusses on the probable only African distribution of Phan...

Neuroterus apenninus Trotter, 1923 associated with a Cerris section oak, Quercus cerris L., was rediscovered in Italy in 2017. Alessandro Trotter (1903) described a leaf gall collected on Q. cerris from the Italian Apennines; he did not obtain the gall inductor and ascribed the galls to the genus Neuroterus, based on morphological similarity with o...

A new complete check-list of Birds of Sicily is presented in this paper, with a comparison with previous lists for a period of one hundred and fifty years. Further, an unknown manuscript by Joseph Whitaker “Birds of Sicily”, dated back to ca. 1920, has been transcribed and is here presented integrally. Thus, lists of birds here presented have been...

The genera Cestromoecha and Poreuomena of the tribe Poreuomenini in Phaneropterinae are revised and new generic characters are given for both genera, and six new species are described in Poreuomena . The newly described species are P. biaculeata sp. nov. , P. eala sp. nov. , P. gracilicercata sp. nov. , P. ivoriana sp. nov. , P. matthaei sp. nov. ,...

The present study is based on a significant sample of Orthoptera, mainly Tettigonoidea, collected by the African Natural History Research Trust in four African countries; a total of 109 taxa was found, of which 32 were in Zambia, 37 in Cameroon, 76 in Gabon and only four in the island of São Tomé. The complete list of species is annotated and comme...

Un refuge forestier menacé : la forêt d’altitude à Parinari du Mont Tonkoui en Côte d’Ivoire. Évaluation de la biodiversité entomologique, botanique et ornithologique. Valeurs de conservation du site Introduction. Depuis 2015, l’Association Catharsius (http://www.catharsius.fr) et l’African Natural History Research Trust (ANHRT. https://www.anhrt....

https://www.lifewatchitaly.eu/en/initiatives/checklist-fauna-italia-en/checklist/

The integration and synthesis of the data in different areas of science is drastically slowed and hindered by a lack of standards and networking programmes. Long‐term studies of individually marked animals are not an exception. These studies are especially important as instrumental for understanding evolutionary and ecological processes in the wild...

The grasshopper species of the genera Dorsthippus Donskoff, 1977 (D. baleensis) and Aethiopiacris La Greca, 1994 (A. parva) of the Ethiopian highlands are very poorly known. Little information is available on their taxonomy and distribution. After comparing newly collected material with the type specimens and illustrations of both species, we propo...

The representation in the Maltese Islands of the Order Orthoptera, including the Tettigonioidea, Grylloidea, Gryllotalpoidea, Tetrigoidea, Pyrgomorphoidea and Acridoidea, is reviewed for the first time in almost fifty years. A total of fifty-five species are treated, of which forty-six are accepted and nine are rejected on the basis of re-evaluated...

The authors report the first data of an Afrotropical and Mediterranean grasshopper, Brachycrotaphus tryxalicerus, for the Italian peninsula. In the Mediterranean area this species had been previously found only in Spain, Sicily and Egypt. A basic habitat description with details on the dominant vegetation is given for each locality of the Italian p...

RIASSUNTO Scopo del presente contributo è raccogliere, prevalentemente sulla base di segnalazioni da parte di appassionati, turisti o occasionali osservatori, le segnalazioni di ovodeposizione di Caretta caretta avvenute nei due anni 2017 e 2018 in Sicilia. Essendo Caretta una specie bandiera, tutte le misure attuate per la sua conservazione determ...

We studied the relationship between temperature and the coexistence of great tit Parus major and blue tit Cyanistes caeruleus, breeding in 75 study plots across Europe and North Africa. We expected an advance in laying date and a reduction in clutch size during warmer springs as a general response to climate warming and a delay in laying date and a...

The integration and synthesis of the data in different areas of science is drastically slowed and hindered by a lack of standards and networking programmes. Long-term studies of individually marked animals are not an exception. These studies are especially important as instrumental for understanding evolutionary and ecological processes in the wild...

Specimens belonging to the genus Leiodontocercus are rare or even absent in natural history museum collections; this is likely due to at least two reasons, notably, their relatively small size, and, the sheer difficulty in finding them in dense Afrotropical forests. Until recently, three species from less than fifteen specimens were known from this...

This paper is a contribution to the distribution, taxonomy and phenology of Orthoptera Tettigoniidae of Central African Republic. Thanks to scientific expeditions and entomological missions, 2155 Orthoptera belonging to 118 species of five subfamilies of Tettigoniidae have currently been studied. Examined material is here listed with its known dist...

This paper discusses on the possible future extinction of Turnix sylvaticus (formerly sylvatica), being by that time restricted to a small area of Morocco. Because it belongs to an endemic subspecies to Mediterranean area, its extinction means the disappearence of the taxon forever. Some biometrics of different subspecies are reported.

The variation and isolation of mediterranean populations of crossbills Loxia curvirostra linked to different species of coniferous trees.

Taxonomic status of Passer italiae; according to the author it is a valid species present mainly in Italy but also in Crete Is. and some oases of North Africa.

The author reports about the results of a study of Porthetinae (Pamphagidae) and other Acridoidea preserved in some European museums. The taxonomy of African Porthetinae is still poorly known; some genera were established on variable characters (e.g.: the number of the flagellum segments, the shape of the hind femora or the prosternal tubercle) and...

The sexual generation of Dryocosmus destefanii Cerasa & Melika, 2018 that emerges from galls on Q. suber L. in Italy is described for the first time, establishing its heterogonic life cycle. We provide observations on its distribution, illustration of adults and galls and information on its biology as supported by morphological and molecular data....

At present no research has demonstrated that Epinephelus sicanus is a synonym of another species of Epinephelus or related genera, only hypotheses have been formulated. Epinephelus sicanus was overlooked by most fish catalogues or reported as uncertain synonym of other species. It is here proposed to include this taxon in all fish catalogues as val...

The ant Lasius illyricus Zimmermann, 1935, a West-Palearctic member of the Lasius emarginatus-complex, was initially described as a subspecies of L. alienus (Foerster, 1850). Twenty years later, it became a junior synonym of L. alienus and then a junior synonym of its sibling species L. emarginatus (Olivier, 1792). Only recently its status as bona...

The Orthoptera are one of the most important and interesting orders of the great class of insects. They include crickets and grasshoppers, which play a fundamental role in terrestrial ecosystems. In this complete and updated publication all the 382 taxa (species and subspecies) of Orthoptera known today in Italy are treated; of these, 162 are ende...

In Sicilia in due aree studio caratterizzate da sistemi agricoli estensivi sono stati condotti dei censimenti per valutare lo status della popolazione di Gheppio Falco tinnunculus e Barbagianni Tyto alba confrontandola con la situazione rilevata oltre venti anni prima. I rilievi mostrano un crollo della popolazione dei nidificanti, pur in presenza...

Durante il progetto "Nuova Oasi", la Stazione Ornitologica di Palermo ha monitorato gli uccelli acquatici nella R.N.O. "Oasi del Simeto" (Catania) nel biennio 2017-2018. Questo contributo si concentra su sette specie connesse agli ambienti umidi, le cui popolazioni nidificanti hanno registrato un forte declino rispetto ai dati in letteratura.

Morphological and genetic data allowed the authors to resurrect the name Tettigonia krugeri Massa, 1998 as a valid species. It is currently known only from two specimens (one male and one female) collected in Cirenaica (Libya).

Natural regeneration of vegetation is a frequent outcome of land abandonment, although the rate and diversity of such regeneration may be severely restricted by seed dispersal limitation, amongst other factors. In spite of this, studies aiming to quantify seed rain and test methods to enhance it, such as artificial perches, are still underrepresent...

Oedipoda cynthiae n. sp. (Orthoptera: Acrididae: Oedipodinae) is described from Apulia (South Italy). In the past, the same population here considered had been assigned to O. miniata and later to O. charpentieri. Morphological features, biogeographical considerations, and a preliminary molecular analysis confirm that this population must be assigne...

During a joint ecological project of the Institute of Forest Ecology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Zvolen, Slovakia, and the University of Antananarivo, Madagascar, eight species (10 specimens) of phaneropterine bush-crickets were collected. Among them, two species were found as new to science (Mimoscudderia longicaudata n. sp., Paraphyrrhicia leuca...

Recent findings of the Sardinian endemic Bushcricket Uromenus annae (Targioni Tozzetti, 1881) allowed the authors to retrace the nomenclatorial history of the species. The rearing of living specimens resulted in the recording of the male song, previously unknown. Since the Neotype previously established by Fontana & Buzzetti (2001) is lost, a new N...

Invasive alien species, once introduced, may affect local biodiversity, both directly (e.g. by predation) and indirectly (e.g. by reducing the vegetation cover). Among those, rats (Rodentia, Muridae) are listed among the most invasive species, exerting strong impacts particularly when introduced to island ecosystems. Accordingly, black rats Rattus...

Since 1994 BirdLife International embarked on a very important initiative by producing and updating (in 2004 and 2017) a list of Species of European Conservation Concern (SPECs). Notwithstanding, the present authors noted some flaws in the compilation of data and propose improvement to the methodology followed by BirdLife. In particular, the import...

Authors examined the autumn-winter diet of the woodcock Scolopax rusticola from 407 gizzard samples originating from Crimea and Italy, resulting in a high number of millipedes (Diplopoda) in all the samples; this prey item was particularly important in terms of weight percentage. The authors consider that calcium, highly present in millipedes, shou...

Orthoptera,Vengono riportati nuovi dati sulla distribuzione in Italia di 10 specie di Ortotteri (5 Tettigoniidae, 2 Gryllidae e 3 acrididae), non segnalate in precedenza per alcune regioni o poco note.

Honey bees are pollinators that play a key-role in plant biodiversity conservation and crop production. This unique insect species has been managed in hives by beekeepers for millennia, even though such a peculiar animal production system never resulted in the domestication of the western honey bee. The western honey bee was originally distributed...

Species currently considered belonging to the tribe Poreuomenini Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1878 are here separated; only Poreuomena Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1878 and Cestromoecha Karsch, 1893 remain in the tribe Poreuomenini, while Zeuneria Karsch, 1889 and Gravenreuthia Karsch, 1892 are transferred to the new tribe Zeuneriini Karsch, 1890. Morgenia Kar...

Coexistence between great tits Parus major and blue tits Cyanistes caeruleus , but also other hole‐nesting taxa, constitutes a classic example of species co‐occurrence resulting in potential interference and exploitation competition for food and for breeding and roosting sites. However, the spatial and temporal variations in coexistence and its con...

The authors revised the genus Morgenia Karsch, 1890 which now consists of eight species, of which three are here newly described (Morgenia plurimaculata Massa & Moulin, sp. n., M. angustipinnata Massa, sp. n., and M. lehmannorum Heller & Massa, sp. n.). Six of the eight species occur in the Tri National Sangha (TNS) comprising Dzanga-Sangha Special...

The authors revised the genus Morgenia Karsch, 1890 which now consists of eight species, of which three are here newly described (Morgenia plurimaculata Massa & Moulin, sp. n., M. angustipinnata Massa, sp. n., and M. lehmannorum Heller & Massa, sp. n.). Six of the eight species occur in the Tri National Sangha (TNS) comprising Dzanga-Sangha Special...

Madagascar is a well-known hotspot of biodiversity. However, many Or- thoptera, and especially the Tettigonioidea, belong to little-studied groups. Here we describe a new genus and species of bush-cricket reared from field- collected eggs. Paraplangia sinespeculo gen. nov., sp. nov. belongs to Phanero- pterinae and shares diagnostic characteristics...

To find a mate, male and female bush-crickets of the family Phaneropteridae typically engage in duets. The male sings and the female responds. For mutual recognition, the amplitude pattern of the male song and the species-specific timing of the female response have been shown to be very important. In the seven studied species, belonging to the gene...

Specimens of the two taxa Terpnistriella bredoi Massa, 2017 and Pseudogoetia constanti Massa, 2017 from Democratic Republic of Congo were certainly erroneously labeled, because they resulted synonymous with neotropical taxa Vellea cruenta (Burmeister, 1838) and Philophyllia guttulata Stål, 1873.

Human disturbances are increasingly becoming a conservation concern for many populations of colonial seabirds. Colonially reproducing species are particularly vulnerable to localised disturbances because detrimental elements can simultaneously affect the entire population. Studies of petrels and shearwaters have shown that light pollution, in parti...

A new species, Dryocosmus destefanii Cerasa & Melika n. sp. associated with a Cerris section oak, Quercus suber L., is described from Italy. Description, diagnosis, host associations and biology for the new species and an illustrated identification key to the Western Palaearctic Dryocosmus species are given. The description is supported by morpholo...

In memory of Pietro Doderlein (2nd February 1809-28th March 1895). The authors retrace the activities of Pietro Doderlein during his long life. Professor of Zoology, first at the University of Modena (1839-1862), and later at the University of Palermo (1862-1894), soon after the unification of Italy. He contributed remarkably to the increase of the...

Two new species, Holochlora mauritiana and H. ingrischi from the island of Mauritius and Zimbabwe, respectively, are described. Along with a third species, H. biloba Stål, 1874 from Madagascar, they are the sole African representatives of the mostly Oriental genus Holochlora Stål, 1873, including ca. 60 taxa distributed from India to China. Prelimi...

Only five species of the genus Tetraconcha Karsch, 1890 have been previously known; they inhabit tropical forests of central and western Africa. Generally, specimens belonging to this genus are scarcely represented in museum collections, probably due to the difficulty in finding them, but also for the fragility of their body and legs. During some r...

The genus Arantia is reviewed, the distribution and distinguishing characters given. The three species of Goetia are assigned as subgenus to Arantia. Arantia gestri Griffini is transferred to this new subgenus and synonymized with G. dimidiata Bolívar. Other species synonymized are: A. accrana Karsch with A. rectifolia Brunner von Wattenwyl; A. gab...

The results of the study of the rich material of Orthoptera Phaneropterinae at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Bruxelles, are reported. The following new taxa are described: Dithela longicaudata n. sp. from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Terpnistriella bredoi n. gen. n. sp. from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mimoscudderia pa...

The avifauna of some green areas in the outskirts and in the urban centre of Palermo (Parco della Favorita, Fondo hlicciulla, Orto Bo-tanico, Valle dell'oreto) was investigated. Several censusing procedures were used: 1) mapping with direct search of nests in sample areas; 2) point counts for survey of the frequency of each species (E.F.P.). Mappin...