Gianni Insacco

• Master's degree in Natural Sciences
• Scientific Curator at Museo Civico di Storia Naturale of Comiso

The wahoo, Acanthocybium solandri (Cuvier, 1832), an uncommon scombrid species for the Mediterranean, is hereby reported for the first time from Maltese waters. Details of this unusual capture, and characteristics of the specimens recovered are provided, as well as a brief discussion on dynamics of its introduction in the Mediterranean Sea, and its...

The island of Sicily is considered to be among the first occupied by humans in the European Upper Paleolithic. Studies to understand early occupation of the island are mostly concentrated on the northern shores. Our project, Early Occupation of Sicily (EOS), focuses on southeastern Sicily so to address questions regarding dispersal to Mediterranean...

The paper discusses the evidence of Greek water cults in the area between Ippari and Irminio rivers. It is divided in three sections. The first one is dedicated to the water cults which took place in the Greek polis of Kamarina; the second one focuses on the cultic revival, probably connected with water cults, that affected the prehistoric hypogeum...

A recently discovered fish specimen representing the family Diodontidae has been documented in the waters off Mazara del Vallo in southwest Sicily, Italy. A detailed description of the morphological and meristic characteristics of the specimen is reported. Molecular identification was performed through sequence analysis of the Cytochrome Oxidase su...

The knowledge of the life history traits of cetaceans, especially in the case of species that are difficult to observe in the wild, often benefits from the study of stranded individuals. The dwarf sperm whale (Kogia sima) is a vagrant cetacean species in the Mediterranean Sea, which is rarely sighted in water and occasionally is found stranded alon...

This study investigates the distribution and morphometrics of the little sleeper shark, Somniosus rostratus (Risso, 1827), in the Mediterranean Sea. Ten sharks caught as bycatch between 2009 and 2019 in the northern sectors of the Strait of Sicily, the south Tyrrhenian Sea, the northwestern Ionian Sea, and the south Adriatic Sea using drifting long...

Riassunto Il patrimonio culturale marino italiano ha per tradizione e storia un'imponente ricchezza di collezioni museali naturalistiche, con migliaia di reperti ossei e tassidermizzati di vertebrati marini, costruite in oltre due secoli di attività. I reperti museali rappresentano la conoscenza primaria ed unica della biodiversità organismica ed e...

This study describes the first fossils of Testudo hermanni hermanni from the island of Sicily (Late Pleistocene, Contrada Pianetti, Ragusa). They are among the most complete Pleistocene tortoise remains of Italy and by far the most informative ones from Sicily. The presence of two complete plastra permits the detection of a character typical of the...

The identity of a large sunfish, stranded in 1999 on a beach of the north-western Adriatic Sea, has been shifted from Mola mola (Linnaeus, 1758) to Mola alexandrini (Ranzani, 1839), considering the recent taxonomic revision of the family Molidae. The faithful fiberglass model of the specimen is displayed at the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Co...

Palaeoenvironmental data are fundamental in determining the manifold impacts of climate change. This paper argues that sessile barnacles are an excellent palaeoenvironmental proxy: they are present in nearly all nearshore environments, and their shell consists of diagenetically stable low-magnesium calcite and grows fast enough to record short-term...

The three sympatric angel shark species occurring in the Mediterranean – Squatina squatina (the angelshark), Squatina aculeata (the sawback angelshark), and Squatina oculata (the smoothback angelshark) – are all classed as Critically Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. There is a clear need to better qu...

To enrich spatio-temporal information on the distribution of alien, cryptogenic, and neonative species in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, a collective effort by 173 marine scientists was made to provide unpublished records and make them open access to the scientific community. Through this effort, we collected and harmonized a dataset of 12,64...

Simple Summary Several life-history traits of Mediterranean sperm whales are little explored. We present new original data on the relationships between age and body length and age at maturity of individuals stranded along the Italian coast. We found that Mediterranean male sperm whales attain sexual maturity at 10 years and for the same body length...

All three species of angelsharks that inhabit the Mediterranean Sea, Squatina aculeata Cuvier, 1829; Squatina oculata Bonaparte, 1840; and Squatina squatina (Linnaeus, 1758), are classified as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, since their populations have suffered severe decline and range reduction, mainly due to fis...

A single specimen of Halosaurus ovenii Johnson, 1864 was collected in 2013 in the Tyrrhenian Sea, western Mediterranean. The finding contributes to the knowledge on the geographical distribution of this rare species in the whole basin. The occurrence of H. ovenii is reported for the fifth time in the Mediterranean and for the third in the It alian...

The distinctive features and fossil content of some caves from eastern Sicily (San Teodoro, Donnavilla, Fulco, Taormina, Tremilia, Spinagallo), altogether spanning from the middle Pleistocene until the beginning of the Holocene, are discussed. Although dating on vertebrate and/or invertebrate remains is available in few instances, coastal notches a...

Copepods of the family Pandaridae are typically ectoparasites of elasmobranch fishes. They display a cosmopolitan distribution and limited host specificity. Published literature on their occurrence on pelagic sharks in the Mediterranean is scarce, often from the past century, or scattered through fish parasite surveys. Moreover, of the 64 valid pan...

The first finding of Halyomorpha halys in the island of Rhodes, Greece, is reported and the fast range expansion of this invasive species over the Aegean region is briefly discussed.

Two juveniles Luvarus imperialis, astrodermella stage, 97.4 mm and 90.6 mm in total length, were recorded on September 2016 and August 2017 respectively, the first caught by a bottom trawler off the south-eastern coast of Sicily, Strait of Sicily, Italy, the second found stranded on the beach in the nearby region. Biometrics data of this uncommon s...

Two juveniles Luvarus imperialis, astrodermella stage, 97.4 mm and 90.6 mm in total length, were recorded on September 2016 and August 2017 respectively, the first caught by a bottom trawler off the southeastern coast of Sicily, Strait of Sicily, Italy, the second found stranded on the beach in the nearby region. Biometrics data of this uncommon sp...

Considerable research effort has recently been invested into the reporting of Non- Indigenous Species (NIS) within the Mediterranean Sea, with species’ first records from the Basin holding most prestige within the biological community. This invariably leads to a discard of secondary, unpublished records, which represent a vast repository of informa...

Troballes de Notospermus geniculatus (Delle Chiaje, 1828) (Nemertea, Heteronemertea, Lineidae) a les illes mediterrànies de Sicília i Rodes Es documenten les troballes de Notospermus geniculatus a Sicília el 2019 i el 2020 i a Rodes el 2008, amb la qual cosa s’amplia el coneixement sobre la distribució d’aquest nemertí a la conca del Mediterrani.

An update of the geographical distribution of the sabellariid polychaete Sabellaria alveolata (Linnaeus, 1767) within the Mediterranean Sea is provided after checking the known literature. This shallow-water, reef-forming species is first recorded from new sites in southeastern Sicily, both along the Sicily Straits and the Ionian Sea, from where S....

Zava B., Insacco G., Corsini-Foka M., Serena F. 2020. Updating records of Squatina aculeata (Elasmobranchii: Squatiniformes: Squatinidae) in the Mediterranean Sea. Acta Ichthyol. Piscat. 50 (4): 401-411. Background. The decline of the populations of the three Critically Endangered species Squatina aculeata Cuvier, 1829, Squatina oculata Bonaparte,...

We here describe turtle remains from the late Miocene (Tortonian) of Cessaniti (Calabria, southern Italy), an area that recently has been palaeogeographically reconstructed as being, at that time of the Neogene, directly connected (or at least rather proximate) to northern Africa, instead of Europe. The material pertains to three different turtle c...

An update of the geographical distribution of the sabellariid polychaete Sabellaria alveolata (Linnaeus, 1767) within the Mediterranean Sea is provided after checking the known literature. This shallow-water, reef-forming species is first recorded from new sites in southeastern Sicily, both along the Sicily Straits and the Ionian Sea, from where S....

Excavations conducted in 2006 inside San Teodoro Cave (north-eastern Sicily) retrieved remains of Hippopotamus pentlandi; of a medium-sized, dwarf Palaeoloxodon; and of Ursus cf. arctos. The specimens were found under a blackish phosphatic crust, dated to about 120 ky. This stratigraphic position sets an important constraint on the arrival time of...

This Collective Article presents information about 17 taxa belonging to four Phyla (one Cnidaria, two Arthropo-da, four Mollusca, and ten Chordata) and extending from the Western Mediterranean to the Levantine Sea. The new records were reported from nine countries as follows: Algeria: first published records of the clingfishes Apletodon dentatus an...

Abstract Good datasets of geo-referenced records of alien species are a prerequisite for assessing the spatio-temporal dynamics of biological invasions, their invasive potential, and the magnitude of their impacts. However, with the exception of first records on a country level or wider regions, observations of species presence tend to remain unpub...

Good datasets of geo-referenced records of alien species are a prerequisite for assessing the spatio-temporal dynamics of biological invasions, their invasive potential, and the magnitude of their impacts. However, with the exception of first records on a country level or wider regions, observations of species presence tend to remain unpublished, b...

We here describe turtle remains from the late Miocene (Tortonian) of Cessaniti (Calabria, southern Italy), an area that recently has been palaeogeographically reconstructed as being, at that time of the Neogene, directly connected (or at least rather proximate) to northern Africa, instead of Europe. The material pertains to three different turtle c...

The finding in 2017 of a female of Lethocerus patruelis, a species rarely collected in the Aegean Islands, is documented from Rhodes (Greece), more than 160 years after its first record in the same island. The general distribution of the giant water bug and its occurrence in the area are briefly discussed.Keywords: Belostomatidae, giant water bug,...

The three angelshark species living in the Mediterranean Sea, Squatina aculeata Cuvier, 1829, S. oculata Bonaparte, 1840 and S. squatina (Linnaeus, 1758), are listed as Critically Endangered Species for the basin. Alerted fishermen operating in the central and eastern Mediterranean waters provided information on the accidental capture of S. aculeat...

The three angelshark species living in the Mediterranean Sea, Squatina aculeata Cuvier, 1829, S. oculata Bonaparte, 1840 and S. squatina (Linnaeus, 1758), are listed as Critically Endangered Species for the basin. Alerted fishermen operating in the central and eastern Mediterranean waters provided information on the accidental capture of S. aculeat...

According to Boldrocchi et alii (2017) the information on the diet of white sharks in the Mediterranean inferred from stomach content analyses of 103 stomachs revealed among other prey items 45 bony fish and 5 cartilaginous fish. The most common teleost prey groups were tuna (Thunnus spp.) and swordfish (Xiphias gladius). In the Strait of Messina m...

The first findings of the anomuran Albunea carabus (Linnaeus, 1758) from the southeastern coa-sts of Sicily are documented, improving knowledge on the distribution of this poorly known species around the island and in the Mediterranean Sea. The distribution of records in the whole basin is updated.

The first findings of the anomuran Albunea carabus (Linnaeus, 1758) from the southeastern coasts of Sicily are documented, improving knowledge on the distribution of this poorly known species around the island and in the Mediterranean Sea. The distribution of records in the whole basin is updated.

Coronuloid barnacles are epibionts of several marine vertebrates (including cetaceans and sea turtles) as well as invertebrates, and are assigned to two families of turtle barnacles (Chelonibiidae Pilsbry, 1916 and Platylepadidae Newman & Ross, 1976) and one family of whale barnacles (Coronulidae Leach, 1817). Chelonibiids and coronulids have a sca...

A flourishing population of the Massawan mantis shrimp, Erugosquilla massavensis, an Erythraean species, is recorded off Sicily, Italy, one year after the very first specimen was collected off the eastern coast of the island. The species is already established as a minor, albeit valuable, fishery resource. Once its population increases, however, it...

BIR_2019_Gianguzza_etal_Table_S1.xlsx

We report on an isolated cetacean postcanine tooth that was collected close to the village of Melpignano (Lecce Province, Apulia region) from the Miocene "Pietra leccese" formation of southeastern Italy. This tooth exhibits a transversely compressed and roughly semi-circular crown featuring several large, broad-based accessory denticles that are ar...

Two specimens of the uncommon calappid crab Calappa tuerkayana Pastore, 1995 are reported from the central Mediterranean. One juvenile individual was caught in a trawl net at about 105 m depth on a detritus bottom, and one adult male was caught in a trammel net at 50 m depth in a similar habitat. Details about carapace ornamentation and fresh color...

Two specimens of the uncommon calappid crab Calappa tuerkayana Pastore, 1995 are reported from the central Mediterranean. One juvenile individual was caught in a trawl net at about 105 m depth on a detritus bottom, and one adult male was caught in a trammel net at 50 m depth in a similar habitat. Details about carapace ornamentation and fresh color...

Invasive species can cause significant changes in local and regional ecologies, especially in freshwater ecosystems. It is thus important to monitor and document the spread of non-indigenous species to such habitats as such information can be critical to preserving habitats and species. We document the spread of the red swamp crayfish Procambarus c...

Two new tubeworms, “Serpula” calannai sp. nov. and “Serpula” prisca sp. nov. are described from the Permian limestone of the Sosio Valley, western Sicily. Both species possess large tubes with long free anterior portions circular in cross-section. All morphological characters, such as tube shape and ornamentation, as well as inner structure of the...

Seven specimens of the northern brown shrimp Penaeus aztecus, a western Atlantic species, were collected in December 2016 and in November 2017 by bottom trawlers off Termoli, on the central Adriatic coast of Italy. The various colonization scenarios put forward as explanations for the species' sudden, near concurrent presence in distance sites with...

Diurnal nesting activity is an uncommon event for Loggerhead Sea Turtles (Caretta caretta). In this short report is described a unusual deposition in Sicily Island.

Diurnal nesting activity is an uncommon event for Loggerhead Sea Turtles (Caretta caretta). In this short report is described a unusual deposition in Sicily Island.

Deidun A., Zava B., Insacco G., Corsini-Foka M. 2018. First record of the Por's goatfish Upeneus pori (Actinopterygii: Perciformes: Mullidae) from Italian waters (western Ionian Sea). Acta Ichthyol. Piscat. 48 (1): 93-97. Abstract. During May 2017, two specimens of the Lessepsian fish species, Upeneus pori Ben-Tuvia et Golani, 1989, were recorded f...

We report on three shells of whale barnacle (Cirripedia: Coronulidae) collected from Pleistocene shallow-marine deposits exposed at Cinisi (northwestern Sicily, southern Italy). These specimens are identified as belonging to the extinct species Coronula bifida BRONN, 1831. Calcareous nannoplankton analysis of the sediment hosting the coronulid rema...

Stable isotope analysis is a useful tool for studying the ecology of marine consumers, as carbon (δ¹³C) and nitrogen (δ¹⁵N) isotope ratios may reflect individuals’ patterns of diet and habitat use. Knowledge of foraging strategies has significant implications for the conservation of endangered loggerhead turtles Caretta caretta (Linnaeus, 1758). In...

The pygmy right whale, Caperea marginata, is the most enigmatic living whale. Little is known about its ecology and behaviour, but unusual specialisations of visual pigments, mitochondrial tRNAs, and postcranial anatomy suggest a lifestyle different from that of other extant whales. Geographically, Caperea represents the only major baleen whale lin...

Abstract: Three female specimens of Trachysalambria palaestinensis (Steinitz, 1932), a Lessepsian species, were unexpectedly caught by trammel nets off Marina di Ragusa and off Donnalucata, Ragusa, Sicily, Italy. This is the first record of the species for the Italian waters. Data and measurements of the captured specimens are given. Résumé : Trach...

This Collective Article presents information on 37 taxa belonging to 6 Phyla and extending from the western Mediterranean to the Levantine Sea. The new records were found in 10 countries as follows: Algeria: first reports on the presence of the fish species Lesueurigobius sanzi, L. friesii, L. suerii and Luvarus imperiali; France: first record of t...

The Red Sea stomatopod Erugosquilla massavensis was detected for the first time in Italian waters, along the eastern coast of Sicily, in the western Ionian Sea. This finding suggests that a further population expansion, from the Tunisian coasts to a wider area within the central Mediterranean, of one of the most successful Lessepsian migrants is on...

The scarid sh Chlorurus rhakoura Randall & Anderson, 1997, of eastern Indo-Pacic origin, is recorded for the first time from the Mediterranean Sea. A small school of six individuals of this species were caught off Portopalo, Sicily, Italy in February 2017. Morphometric measurements and meristic traits are provided based on four specimens, and the p...

This Collective Article presents information on 22 species belonging to 5 Phyla, arranged geographically from west to east. The new records were found in 8 countries as follows: Spain: first record of the two scarcely known nemerteans Baseodiscus de-lineatus and Notospermus geniculatus in Formentera; Malta: second record of the alien fish Lagocepha...

Some tubular fossils attributable to sabellids and serpulids, and a serpulid operculum are described for the first time from the Wordian to upper Permian “Pietra di Salomone”, “Rupe di San Calogero”, and “Rupe di San Benedetto” limestones (Sosio Valley, western Sicily, Italy). Tubes are attached to skeletons of sponges, crinoids, brachiopods and st...

Ocypode cursor (Linnaeus, 1758) is the only Ocypode species present in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the nine marine crustacean species protected in the basin. It is widely distributed in the eastern Mediterranean, but knowledge about its presence in the central Mediterranean is very limited so far. We hereby first document the established pres...

Sea turtles' reproductive disorders are underdiagnosed; but potentially several diseases may affect gonads, genitalia, and annexes. Viruses, bacteria, and parasites may cause countless disorders; but more frequently the cause is traumatic or linked to human activities. Furthermore, veterinary management of the nest is of paramount importance as wel...

Four specimens of the northern brown shrimp Penaeus aztecus Ives, 1891, a West Atlantic species, were unexpectedly caught by bottom trawlers along the South coast of Sicily between Porto Empedocle and Mazara del Vallo (Central Mediterranean). The dispersal and transport of shrimp eggs and larvae via surface water circulation is suggested as the lik...

We report a new record of the Dwarf Sperm Whale Kogia sima (Owen, 1866) (Cetacea Kogiidae) in the Mediterranean Sea, following the stranding of a dead female of this species occurred on 4th February 2017. The specimen was found at the Trentova seaside near Agropoli (Salerno Province, Southern Italy) within the area of the Cilento, Vallo di Diano an...

The nesting activity of the sea turtle Caretta caretta in Sicily (southern Italy) has long been declining but in the latest years a substantial resumption of nesting occurred there, related to several factors. Recently, nests were found more frequently, leading to reconsider the importance of this reproductive area for the species in Italy. We anal...

Four specimens of the northern brown shrimp Penaeus aztecus Ives, 1891, a West Atlantic species, were unexpectedly caught by bottom trawlers along the South coast of Sicily between Porto Empedocle and Mazara del Vallo (Central Mediterranean). The dispersal and transport of shrimp eggs and larvae via surface water circulation is suggested as the lik...

Our knowledge about the evolutionary history of coleoid cephalopods is mainly based on a few evolutionary windows. In particular, palaeogeographical data is strongly limited; every new fossil locality yielding coleoid remains is therefore of exceptional interest. Here, we describe the first coleoids from the Upper Cenomanian of Sicily (southern Ita...

In this Collective Article on “New Mediterranean Biodiversity Records”, we present additional records of species found in the Mediterranean Sea. These records refer to eight different countries throughout the northern part of the basin, and include 28 species, belonging to five phyla. The findings per country include the following species: Spain: C...

The presence of a population of the Javelin sand boa Eryx jaculus in Sicilia is here reported for the first time. Observations of live snakes and road-killed individuals have been obtained from the region of Licata (Province of Agrigento), in the southern part of Sicily. Data on the distribution and pholidosis from four specimens are presented. The...