Missing species among Mediterranean non-Siphonophoran Hydrozoa

Abstract

Hydrozoa of the Mediterranean Sea are well known and a recent monograph covers 457 species. Mediterranean non-Siphonophoran Hydrozoa comprises 398 species, an increasing number due to continuous updates, representing about 10 % of the 3,702 currently valid species reported in a recent world assessment of hydrozoan diversity. Many new records are non indigenous species, previously described species that occurred elsewhere and whose arrival was presumably caused by human activities. However, many species reported in the past are not recorded in recent times. Realistic assessments of species pools require addition of new species, but also subtraction of species not found since a certain period. With the confidence of extinction index, cases of putative extinction can be raised. Out of the 398 known species, only 162 (41 %) have been reported in the last decade, while 53 (13 %) are not recorded in the literature since at least 41 years. According to the confidence of extinction index, 60 % of the 53 missing species are extinct, and 11 % are putatively extinct from the basin. From a biogeographical point of view, the missing species are: 34 % endemic, 19 % boreal, 15 % Mediterranean-Atlantic,11 % Indo-Pacific, 11 % circumtropical, 4 % cosmopolitan, 2 % tropical-Atlantic, 4 % non-classifiable. Fluctuations in species composition into a certain area cause heavy variability in the expression of both structural and functional biodiversity. As consequence, the regional biodiversity should be analyzed through its temporal evolution, to detect changes and their possible causes. This approach has profound consequences on biodiversity assessments and also on the compilation of red lists.

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1 23
Biodiversity and Conservation
ISSN 0960-3115
Biodivers Conserv
DOI 10.1007/s10531-015-0859-y
Missing species among Mediterranean non-
Siphonophoran Hydrozoa
Cinzia Gravili, Stanislao Bevilacqua,
Antonio Terlizzi & Ferdinando Boero

1 23
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Missing species among Mediterranean
non-Siphonophoran Hydrozoa
Cinzia Gravili •Stanislao Bevilacqua •Antonio Terlizzi •
Ferdinando Boero
Received: 1 July 2014 / Revised: 3 November 2014 / Accepted: 18 December 2014
ÓThe Author(s) 2015. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com
Abstract Hydrozoa of the Mediterranean Sea are well known and a recent monograph
covers 457 species. Mediterranean non-Siphonophoran Hydrozoa comprises 398 species,
an increasing number due to continuous updates, representing about 10 % of the 3,702
currently valid species reported in a recent world assessment of hydrozoan diversity. Many
new records are non indigenous species, previously described species that occurred else-
where and whose arrival was presumably caused by human activities. However, many
species reported in the past are not recorded in recent times. Realistic assessments of
species pools require addition of new species, but also subtraction of species not found
since a certain period. With the confidence of extinction index, cases of putative extinction
can be raised. Out of the 398 known species, only 162 (41 %) have been reported in the last
decade, while 53 (13 %) are not recorded in the literature since at least 41 years.
According to the confidence of extinction index, 60 % of the 53 missing species are
extinct, and 11 % are putatively extinct from the basin. From a biogeographical point of
view, the missing species are: 34 % endemic, 19 % boreal, 15 % Mediterranean-Atlantic,
11 % Indo-Pacific, 11 % circumtropical, 4 % cosmopolitan, 2 % tropical-Atlantic, 4 %
non-classifiable. Fluctuations in species composition into a certain area cause heavy var-
iability in the expression of both structural and functional biodiversity. As consequence,
the regional biodiversity should be analyzed through its temporal evolution, to detect
changes and their possible causes. This approach has profound consequences on biodi-
versity assessments and also on the compilation of red lists.
Keywords Biodiversity Hydrozoa Extinction Confidence of extinction index
Communicated by Dirk Sven Schmeller.
C. Gravili (&)S. Bevilacqua A. Terlizzi F. Boero
Laboratory of Zoology and Marine Biology, Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche e
Ambientali, Di.S.Te.B.A., Universita
`del Salento, Via Prov.le Lecce-Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy
e-mail: cinzia.gravili@unisalento.it
F. Boero
CNR-ISMAR, Via de Marini, 6, 16149 Genoa, Italy
123
Biodivers Conserv
DOI 10.1007/s10531-015-0859-y

Introduction
The question ‘‘How many species are there in the oceans?’’ provides the key to discover
what we know and what we do not know about the life in the seas (Mora et al. 2011).
Conservation biologists try to identify the areas in the world where effective conser-
vation actions could protect as many species as possible. The knowledge of species,
however, is incomplete since many species are still unknown (Costello et al. 2013a,b)or
poorly known. Myers et al. (2000) claim that biodiversity hotspots, areas characterized
by high numbers of endemic species as well as high rates of habitat loss, are prioritary,
but a question remains: does the cumulative evaluation of biodiversity, in terms of
species additions through time, really represent the expression of biodiversity at a given
place?
Appeltans et al. (2012) compiled WoRMS, the World Register of Marine Species (about
226,000 eukaryotic marine species) and used it as a starting point for estimating how many
more species may still be discovered. WoRMS published online information on marine
species, but many nomenclatural and classification problems remain (Costello et al. 2013a,
b). The introduction rate of synonyms is expected to decline through updated taxonomic
revisions (Appeltans et al. 2012).
A further problem with the estimation of biodiversity is that local lists are usually
updated by adding new entries, but locally (or even finally) extinct species are seldom, if
ever, removed from the lists (Boero and Gravili 2013), a task that only taxonomists can
undertake through the critical analysis of species lists and the identification of putatively
extinct species.
The sea has been far less studied than the land, and our taxonomic knowledge of many
groups remains fragmentary (Hilchey 2003). Attempts to inventory all known species led
to cover about two-thirds of all marine species (Appeltans et al. 2012), and half of all
species (Bisby et al. 2009). Species lists and their distribution are basic to biodiversity
research (Costello et al. 2001). May (1994) and Hammond (1994) reviewed a variety of
approaches to predict the number of species that may exist on Earth. Moreover, Costello
and Wilson (2011) proposed to predict the number of known and unknown species in
European seas using rates of description. Biodiversity research has a long history the
Mediterranean Sea, one of the best-known seas globally (Coll et al. 2010; Gravili et al.
2013). In particular, the diversity of Mediterranean Hydrozoa is well known and has been
recently updated (Bouillon et al. 2004,2006; Schuchert 2005,2006,2008a,b,2009,2010;
Galea 2007; De Vito et al. 2008; Gravili et al. 2007,2008,2010,2013; Morri et al. 2009;
Mastrototaro et al. 2010). The biodiversity of the Mediterranean Sea is high due to eco-
logical, historical, and paleogeographic reasons (Sara
`1985; Bianchi and Morri 2000;
Bianchi 2007). The western Mediterranean has strong Atlantic affinities, due to the con-
tinued penetration of Atlantic species (Harmelin and d’Hont 1993). Conversely, after the
opening of the Suez Canal, the Eastern Mediterranean is receiving species from the Red
Sea (Galil 1993). The number of Lessepsian species, now acclimated in the Mediterranean
(Golani 1998), is so high that Por (1999) proposed a separate biogeographic province for
the Levant Sea.
Many tropical NIS became recently established even in the northwestern Mediterranean
waters (Coll et al. 2010; Lejeusne et al. 2010; Zenetos et al. 2012), forming stable pop-
ulations (Bianchi and Morri 1993) as a response to a warming trend (Sparnocchia et al.
1994; Astraldi et al. 1995).
Ecological and biogeographic theories, supported by significant data, predict that half of
all present species may be extinct within the next 100–300 years due to climate change,
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123

pollution, over-harvesting, habitat fragmentation and loss (Chapin et al. 2000; Jackson
2008; Costello and Wilson 2011). It is often claimed that extinction rates are on the
increase both on land and in the oceans (Carlton et al. 1999; Dulvy et al. 2003; Costello
and Wilson 2011), and that chances are good that species might go extinct even before a
formal description (Costello et al. 2013a,b). Boero et al. (2013) stressed how well doc-
umented marine extinctions usually concern conspicuous species (e.g., the Caribbean
monk seal Monachus tropicalis, the great auk Pinguinus impennis, and the Steller’s sea
cow Hydrodamalis gigas), and that the number of proven marine extinctions is very low, if
compared with the alarming predictions of most review. This is not due to lack of
extinction risks but, instead, to poor knowledge of the conservation status of most species
(Roberts and Hawkins 1999;Re
´gnier et al. 2009). Boero et al. (2013), however, claimed
that the analysis of the history of the records of each species in space and time might be
conducive to roughly assess their state of conservation.
Changes in both the abundance and the distribution of species commonly happen due to
the arrival of new species, the rarefaction of common species, or the increase in the
abundance of formerly rare species (Boero 1994,1996; Bonsdorff et al. 1997). These
changes are a natural feature of all systems but the rate of change can become alarmingly
fast (Boero and Bonsdorff 2007). Biotic assessments are increasingly carried out to detect
NIS (Gravili et al. 2013; Katsanevakis et al. 2013), and might be used also for the purpose
of testing hypotheses of putative extinctions.
The aim of this paper is to review the knowledge of the diversity of Mediterranean Non-
Siphonophoran Hydrozoa (NSH), to detect species that are absent since decades, the
‘‘missing species’’, so as to assess current estimate of the species pool-size and raise cases
of either regional or local extinction.
Methods
The choice of 41 years as a threshold to consider a species as missing was decided based on
the rather intense study of hydrozoan species in the Mediterranean in the last four decades,
with the establishment of the Hydrozoan Society in 1985 (Boero 2007) that gathered a rather
substantial scientific community focusing on the Mediterranean. Due to intensive sampling,
thus, if a previously reported species fails to be recorded chances are good that, at least, it is
more rare than before. The knowledge about each species is stored in the scientific literature.
Every known species has been described in a taxonomic paper, and the date of its first
finding is the beginning of the history of its knowledge. The type locality is the centre of
origin of that species, even though it might not be representative of the core of its actual
distribution. After the original description, species are usually recorded again in other
taxonomic, faunistic, or ecological papers. Analyzing the temporal and spatial distribution
of species, as recorded by the scientific literature, we can reconstruct maps of their recorded
presence in both space and time. We examined current estimates of the size of the Medi-
terranean species pool, to detect species that might have gone locally or regionally extinct.
Picard (1958a) produced the first modern list of Mediterranean NSH. Since then, the number
of species almost doubled due to addition of new records to the new ones. To assess the
current state of the Mediterranean species pool with the state of the fifties, we compared
Picard’s list with the list of the species recorded in the last decade.
Our list of non-Siphonophora Hydrozoan ‘‘Missing’’ species (NSHMs) of the Medi-
terranean Sea is based on a recent monograph (Bouillon et al. 2004), on taxonomic revi-
sions (e.g. Schuchert 2007,2008a,b,2009,2010), and on an assessment of Mediterranean
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123

NSH (Gravili et al. 2013). To determine historical series and distributions, we consulted
749 faunistic studies published between 1850 and 2014. A database with 8,158 records was
organized so as to provide the following information: species, family, author, life-cycle
phase, reproductive state, location, date of collection e/o year of publication of the article,
water depth, substrate type, synonymy, and cited references. Taxonomic records (i.e.
records of each taxon, in any kind of report) are reported on a time scale from the original
description to the last citation in the literature. The number of faunistic articles on Med-
iterranean Hydrozoa since 1850 was organized by decade (Fig. 1). The total number of
articles (within the same time range) was then referred to each biogeographic sectors (A–M)
identified by Bianchi (2007) (Fig. 2).
We identified NSHMs (not recorded since 41 years or more) examining records from
the nineteenth century to 2014, to trace the origin, first and last Mediterranean records,
current Mediterranean distribution, and global distribution of each species. With few
exceptions, we named taxa according to Bouillon et al. (2006). The date and location of the
first observation of each NSHMs in the Mediterranean Sea were extracted from the lit-
erature. Whenever possible, the actual date of first record was reported, along with its
publication date, since the two dates coincide only in a few cases. Strauss and Sadler
(1987,1989) introduced the confidence of extinction index in paleobiology (Marshall
1990), as a method to calculate confidence intervals within local stratigraphic ranges.
Boero et al. (2013) adapted this method to analyse cases of putative extinction in recent
species. The confidence of extinction index was calculated for each species uncited since
41 years by using the following formula on historical taxonomic data:
C¼1G=Rþ1ðÞ
ðH1Þ
C is the confidence of extinction, G is the number of years since last sighting, R is the
number of years between original description and the last sighting, H is the number of
individual years in which there is a record, C C95 % postulates a case of extinction;
80 % BCB94 % raises a case of putative extinction.
Fig. 1 Number of total articles about Mediterranean Hydrozoa since 1850-today by decade: general trend
(thin line), with mobile average over 2 year periods (thick line). Vertical lines separate five main periods
within the trend
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All records were organized in a presence/absence data matrix of species (NSHMs
included) in each biogeographic sector (A–M) for each historical period [[40 years ago
([40 years), from 40 to 31 years ago (40 years), from 30 to 21 years ago (30 years), from
20 to 11 years ago (20 years), and from 10 years ago to nowaday (10 years)]. A distance
matrix based on Jaccard’s distance among sector 9period centroids was then obtained. A
canonical analysis of principal coordinates (CAP) (Anderson and Robinson 2003;
Anderson and Willis 2003) based on the distance matrix was then performed for the factor
period, in order to portray temporal changes in the whole Mediterranean species pool of
NSH. Distinctness among locations was assessed using leave one-out allocation success
(Anderson and Robinson 2003). Species most contributing to group differences in the CAP
plot were investigated by calculating product–moment correlations (r) of original variables
(species) with canonical axes (Anderson and Willis 2003). Only species with correlation
values exceeding an arbitrarily chosen value of correlation rC0.2 were considered.
The ‘average taxonomic distinctness’ (D
?
) (Clarke and Warwick 1998) and ‘variation
in taxonomic distinctness’ (K
?
) (Clarke and Warwick 2001), complementing D
?
, were
employed to explore temporal changes in the taxonomic structure of NSH species pool in
Fig. 2 Number of articles that include faunistic studies about Mediterranean Hydrozoa since 1850-today by
decade for biogeographic sectors (A–M) according to Bianchi (2007). See map legend (Fig. 3) for
abbreviations
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the whole Mediterranean basin. D
?
represents the average taxonomic path length between
two randomly chosen species in the taxonomic tree, whereas K
?
reflects the unevenness in
the taxonomic tree of a given species’ list and represents the variance of these pair-wise
path lengths. The indices are independent of the number of species in a sample and thus
represent useful tools for analysing historical data (Bevilacqua et al. 2009). A reference
list, from species to subclass, was made including all NSH species recorded. The list
coupled with the presence/absence data matrix was used to calculate the values of D
?
and
K
?
of Mediterranean NSH species pool in each period. The same step length (equal to 1)
was used in weighting all distances between hierarchical taxonomic levels (Clarke and
Warwick 1999). For both taxonomic distinctness indices, the 95 % confidence funnel was
generated (Clarke and Warwick 1998,2001) in order to test temporal departures from
expectations of D
?
and K
?
(under the null hypothesis that the species pool in each period
was a random subsets of the full NSH species list).
Results
The updated list of NSH species, after an accurate systematic revision, sums up to 398
species, representing about 11 % of the 3,702 nominal known species of the superclass
Hydrozoa reported by Bouillon et al. (2006). The species recorded from the Mediterranean
Sea in the last decade sum up to 162, and 118 of them (73 %) are present in Picard’s
(1958a) list of 191 species (180 valid species if cleaned up by synonyms); 53 species
(13 %) are not recorded in the literature since at least 41 years (Table 1).
The assessment of the status of the unrecorded NSHMs with the Confidence of
Extinction Index (C) shows that 32 species (60 %) have C C95 % so representing cases of
extinction; 30 of these have C equal to 100 %; 6 species (11 %) have 80 % BCB94 %
and represent cases of putative extinction; the remaining 15 species (28 %) have C \80 %.
The largest contingent of the missing species is endemic to the Mediterranean (18 species,
34 %), followed by boreal ones (10 species, 19 %), 15 % (8 species) is Mediterranean-
Atlantic; the Indo-Pacific and circumtropical contingents are represented by 6 species each
(11 %), followed by the cosmopolitan contingent (2 species, 4 %), 1 tropical-Atlantic
species (2 %), and 4 % (2 species) are non-classifiable.
Of the 18 endemic NSHMs of Mediterranean Sea, 10 have C C95 % so representing
cases of extinction (Merga galleri,Acauloides ilonae,Staurocladia portmanni,Bran-
chiocerianthus italicus,Coryne caespes,Siphonohydra adriatica,Melicertissa adriatica,
Eucheilota maasi,Plumularia syriaca,Cunina polygonia), the remaining eight ones (Lizzia
octostyla,Tregoubovia atentaculata,Coryne fucicola,Hydranthea aloysii,Orchistomella
graeffei,Octogonade mediterranea,Tiaropsidium mediterraneum,Cunina proboscidea),
having 80 % BCB94 %, represent cases of putative extinction (see Table 1).
Moreover, there are difficulties to assess the validity of several NSHMs. It is the case, for
example, of S. adriatica whose gonophores, as well as the fully-grown animal, remain
unknown (for more details see Schuchert 2010). Kramp (1961) reported another case, where
Picard (1958a) refers doubtfully M. adriatica to the Tiaropsidae as O. mediterranea Zoja
1896.Hydranthea aloysii is an insufficiently described species that could be any haleciid or
lovenelliid (Bouillon et al. 2004). Bougainvillia multicilia is considered a doubtful species
(see Kramp 1955; Schuchert 2007). Schuchert (2007) retained that new Mediterranean
material is needed for a further evaluation of the status of the species Amphinema turrida.
Concerning the species Protiara tetranema, recorded by Pell (1918,1938) from the Adriatic
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Table 1 Non-Siphonophoran Hydrozoa Missing species (NSHMs) in the Mediterranean Sea
Taxa Type locality and
original description
Distribution 1st Mediterranean record Other records in
Mediterranean
Confidence
of extinction
index
Remarks
Class Hydroidomedusae
Subclass Anthomedusae
Bougainvillia
multicilia
(Haeckel, 1879)
Algeciras (Gibraltar):
1867 (Haeckel
1879)asLizusa
multicilia
Mediterranean-
Atlantic
See original description – 100 % Doubtful species [see Kramp
(1955), Schuchert (2007)]
Lizzia octostyla
(Haeckel, 1879)
Corfu: 1877 [(Haeckel
1879)as
Dysmorphosa
octostyla]
Endemic of the
Mediterranean
Sea
See original description Trieste [Neppi and Stiasny (1911)
as Podocoryne octostyla; Neppi
and Stiasny (1913)];
Villefranche: 1954 Kramp
(1957a)asKoellikerina
fasciculata juv.
78 % Northern driatic Sea
(Benovic
´and Luc
ˇic
´1996)
reported as last record in
Adriatic Sea: (Neppi and
Stiasny 1913)
Eudendrium
arbuscula
Wright, 1859
Queensferry (close to
Edinburgh), Firth of
Forth, Scotland:
1858 (Wright 1859)
Boreal (North
Atlantic,
Mediterranean)
France, Algeria, Syria
(Marinopulos 1992) (but gives
no records: in the absence of
reliable data relating to the
records, it has been hypothesized
that the records in France,
Algeria and Syria had occurred
in three individual years)
– 26 % The Mediterranean records
Marinopulos (1992) are
likely misidentifications
[see Schuchert (2008b)]
Podocoryna
borealis (Mayer,
1900)
Eastport Harbor,
Maine, USA: 1898
(Mayer 1900a)as
Lymnorea borealis
Boreal (North
Atlantic,
Mediterranean)
Mediterranean Sea Tre
´gouboff and
Rose (1957)asPodocoryne
borealis but give no records;
Naples: 1952 (Riedl 1959)as
P. borealis (uncertain reports)
– 100 % The Mediterranean records
are unreliable [Schuchert
(2008a)asHydractinia
borealis]; genus transfer
by Schuchert (2013)
Amphinema turrida
(Mayer, 1900)
Tortugas, Florida,
USA: 1897–1899
(Mayer 1900b)as
Dissonema turrida
Circumtropical
(Atlantic. Indo-
Pacific,
Mediterranean)
Villefranche-sur-Mer: 1964 (Goy
1973)
– 100 % New Mediterranean material
is needed for a further
evaluation of the status of
this form [see Schuchert
(2007)]
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Table 1 continued
Taxa Type locality and
original description
Distribution 1st Mediterranean record Other records in
Mediterranean
Confidence
of extinction
index
Remarks
Merga galleri
Brinckmann,
1962
Mergellina Harbour,
Naples: 1960
(Brinckmann 1962)
Endemic of the
Mediterranean
Sea
See original description – 100 %
Octotiara russelli
Kramp, 1953
Great Barrier Reef,
Southwestern
Pacific: 1929
(Australia) (Kramp
1953)
Indo-Pacific,
Mediterranean
Bay of Villefranche-sur-Mer: 1954
(Goy 1973)asOctotiara
violacea
– 100 % The presence of this species
in the Mediterranean is
uncertain [see Schuchert
(2007)]
Protiara tetranema
(Pe
´ron and
Lesueur, 1810)
Coast of The
Netherlands: 1809
Pe
´ron and Lesueur
(1810)asOceania
Tetranema
Mediterranean-
Atlantic
Adriatic (Pell 1918) Adriatic: 1913–1914 (Pell 1938) 49 % Doubtful, unrecognizable
species [for more details
see Schuchert (2009)]
Tregoubovia
atentaculata
Picard, 1958
Villefranche-sur-Mer:
1955 (Picard 1958b)
Endemic of the
Mediterranean
Sea
See original description Villefranche-sur-Mer: 1966 (Goy
1973)
81 % Very rare species: only two
or three specimens have
been reported in the
literature [see Schuchert
(2009)]
Protohydra
leuckarti Greeff,
1869
Ostende (Greeff 1869) Boreal
(circumglobal in
temperate
brackish waters
of the northern
hemisphere),
Mediterranean
Canet Plage, Southern France:
1950 (Nyholm 1951)
– 100 %
Acauloides
ammisatum
Bouillon, 1965
Roscoff, English
Channel Bouillon
(1965)
Boreal
(Northeastern
Atlantic,
Mediterranean)
Banyuls-sur-Mer: 1961 (Monniot
1962)as?Psammocoryne
(invalid nomen nudum).
– 100 % It is unclear whether A.
ammisatum occurs in the
Mediterranean [for more
details see Schuchert
(2006)]
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Table 1 continued
Taxa Type locality and
original description
Distribution 1st Mediterranean record Other records in
Mediterranean
Confidence
of extinction
index
Remarks
Acauloides ilonae
(Brinckmann-
Voss, 1966)
Gulf of Pozzuoli,
Naples
Brinckmann-Voss
(1966)asAcaulis
ilonae
Endemic of the
Mediterranean
Sea
Gulf of Pozzuoli, Naples:
1960–1961
(Brinckmann-Voss 1966)
– 100 % The occurrence of this
species outside the
Mediterranean is uncertain
[for more details see
Schuchert (2006)]
Psammohydra
nanna Schulz,
1950
Western Baltic Sea:
1948 (Schulz 1950)
Boreal (Western
Baltic,
Northeastern
Atlantic,
Mediterranean)
Marseille, Western Mediterranean
(Swedmark 1956)
Rovigno, Adriatic Sea: 1965
(Salvini-Plawen 1966)
74 % The taxonomic position of
this animal is unclear
(Schuchert 2006)
Eleutheria
claparedii
Hartlaub, 1889
Tahitou near St. Vaast
la Hogue
(Normandy, France)
(Hartlaub 1889)
Mediterranean-
Atlantic
Naples (Hartlaub 1889) Naples: Pavesi in a letter to
Spagnolini, published 1877 [see
Mayer (1910c), Brinckmann-
Voss (1970)]
100 % The polyp has not yet been
identified in the sea and
only the young polyp
without medusae buds is
known from cultivation
experiments [see
Schuchert (2006)]
Staurocladia
portmanni
Brinckmann,
1964
Gulf of Sorrento
(polyp stage),
Ischia, Naples
(medusa stage):
1963 (Brinckmann
1964)
Endemic of
Mediterranean
Sea
See original description Gulf of Naples: 1963 Brinckmann-
Voss (1987); 1963 [see Bouillon
et al. (1995)]
100 % For more details about its
behaviour see
Brinckmann-Voss (1970)
Corymorpha
forbesii (Mayer,
1894)
Nassau Harbour,
Bahamas: 1893
(Mayer 1894)as
Hybocodon forbesii
Circumtropical
(Atlantic, Indo-
Pacific, Red
Sea,
Mediterranean)
Gulf of Pozzuoli, Naples: 1962
(Brinckmann-Voss 1967)
– 100 % For more details about this
species see Brinckmann-
Voss (1970), Schuchert
(2010)
Branchiocerianthus
italicus Stechow,
1921
Gulf of Naples: 1905
[Lo Bianco (1909)
as
Branchiocerianthus
sp.]
Endemic of
Mediterranean
Sea
See original description – 100 % Stechow (1921) introduced
the name B. italicus for Lo
Bianco’s material [for
more details see Schuchert
(2010)]
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123

Table 1 continued
Taxa Type locality and
original description
Distribution 1st Mediterranean record Other records in
Mediterranean
Confidence
of extinction
index
Remarks
Coryne caespes
Allman, 1871
Gulf of La Spezia
(Allman 1871–
1872)
Endemic of
Mediterranean
Sea
See original description – 100 % C. caespes could belong to
C. pintneri or
C. muscoides Schuchert
(2001)
Coryne fucicola (De
Filippi, 1866)
Turin (in an
aquarium): 1864
[De Filippi (1866)
as Halobotrys
fucicola]: no type
locality specified
Endemic of
Mediterranean
Sea
See original description Villefranche-sur-Mer, Balaguir,
France (Du Plessis 1888)
84 % For a complete redescription
based on field collected
material [see Schuchert
(2005)]
Siphonohydra
adriatica
Salvini-Plawen,
1966
Rovigno: 1965
(Salvini-Plawen
1966)
Endemic of
Mediterranean
Sea
See original description – 100 % The gonophores of this
animal must be known to
assess the validity of the
genus and species [see
Schuchert (2010)]
Tricyclusa
singularis
(Schultze, 1876)
Bay of Muggia,
Trieste: 1875
(Schulze 1876)as
Tiarella singularis
Boreal
(Northeastern
Atlantic,
Mediterranean)
Bay of Muggia, Trieste: 1875
(Schulze 1876)
– 100 % After its discovery, it has
never been found again in
the Mediterranean Sea [for
more details see Schuchert
(2006)]
Ectopleura
sacculifera
Kramp, 1957
Pacific coast of
Ecuador:
1926–1937 (Kramp
1957b)
Indo-Pacific,
Mediterranean
Near Naples: 1963 (Brinckmann-
Voss 1970)
– 100 % For more details about this
species see Schuchert
(2010)
Tubularia indivisa
Linnaeus, 1758
Northeastern Atlantic
(Linnaeus 1758)
Boreal (Northern
Atlantic and
Pacific, Arctic
Sea,
Mediterranean)
Cap de Creus, Spanish coast:
1902–1904 Motz-Kossowska
(1905)
Naples (Stechow (1923) 35 % The Mediterranean records
need reconfirmation [for
more details see Schuchert
(2010)]
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Table 1 continued
Taxa Type locality and
original description
Distribution 1st Mediterranean record Other records in
Mediterranean
Confidence
of extinction
index
Remarks
Rosalinda
incrustans
(Kramp, 1947)
Off Southwestern of
Portugal (Kramp
1947)
Atlantic Ocean,
West of
Gibraltar;
Western
Mediterranean
(Costa Brava
and Corsica)
Rosas, Spain: 1958 [see Bouillon
et al. (1995)]
West of Corsica (42.355°N
09.611°W): 1958 [see Schuchert
(2010)]
100 % For more details about this
species [see Schuchert
(2010)]
Subclass Leptomedusae
Aequorea pensilis
(Haeckel, 1879)
? Mediterranean
Eschscholtz (1829)
as Mesonema
pensile
Indo-Pacific,
Mediterranean
See original description – 100 % Mediterranean record is
doubtful [see Bouillon
et al. (2004)]
Zygocanna vagans
Bigelow, 1912
Philippines Bigelow
(1912)
Non classifiable
(mainly Indo-
Pacific),
Mediterranean
Split Canal, Adriatic Sea (Babnik
1948)asZygocanna sp.
– 100 %
Calycella syringa
(Linnaeus, 1767)
No type locality
specified (Linnaeus
1767)asSertularia
syringa
Boreal (occurs
North to Arctic
Ocean,
Mediterranean)
Rovigno [Pieper (1884)—Heller’s
collection]
– 100 % For more details about this
species [see Cornelius
(1978,1982,1995)]
Eutonina scintillans
(Bigelow, 1909)
Pacific coast of
Mexico: 1904–1905
(Bigelow 1909)as
Eutimalphes
scintillans
Indo-Pacific,
Mediterranean
Gulf of Trieste: 1910 (Neppi and
Stiasny 1911)
Gulf of Trieste: 1910 (Neppi and
Stiasny 1913)asEutimium
scintillans; Ligurian Sea: 1963
(Goy 1973)
50 %
Helgicirrha cari
(Haeckel, 1864)
Nice, France (Haeckel
1864)asTima cari
Mediterranean-
Atlantic
See original description Naples: 1876 [Spagnolini (1877)
as Tima cari; Mayer (1910c)as
Eirene viridula]; Tunis:
1923–1924 [Ranson (1925)asE.
viridula]
90 %
Laodicea neptuna
Mayer, 1900
Tortugas, Florida:
1898 (Mayer 1900b)
Mediterranean-
Atlantic
Gulf of Naples: 1962
(Brinckmann-Voss 1987)
– 100 % Doubtful status [see
Bouillon et al. (2004)]
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123

Table 1 continued
Taxa Type locality and
original description
Distribution 1st Mediterranean record Other records in
Mediterranean
Confidence
of extinction
index
Remarks
Melicertissa
adriatica Neppi,
1915
Adriatic Sea:
1913–1914 (Neppi
1915)
Endemic of
Mediterranean
Sea
See original description Adriatic Sea [Neppi (1922) about
the Najade Expeditionn results]
100 % Picard refers this species to
Octogonade mediterranea
[see Addenda in Kramp
(1961)]
Eucheilota maasi
Neppi and
Stiasny, 1911
Trieste, Adriatic Sea:
1910 (Neppi and
Stiasny 1911)
Endemic of
Mediterranean
Sea
See original description Trieste: 1910 (Neppi and Stiasny
1913); Adriatic: 1913–1914
(Pell 1918,1938)
96 %
Eucheilota
maculata
Hartlaub, 1894
Heligoland, North Sea
Hartlaub (1894)as
Euchilota maculata
Non classifiable Illes Medes: 1977–1982 Gili
(1982)asCampanulina
Illes Medes: 1977–1982 (Gili et al.
1984); North coast of Cape of
Creus (Northeastern Spain):
1980–1981 (Gili and Castello
´
1985) all as Campanulina
hincksi
26 % Hydroid doubtfully reported
from Mediterranean;
medusa never collected in
Mediterranean Sea [see
Bouillon et al. (2004)]
Hydranthea aloysii
(Zoja, 1893)
Naples: 1891 (Zoja
1893)as
Umbrellaria aloysii
Endemic of
Mediterranean
Sea
See original description Trieste [Hadzi (1914)as
Georginella diaphana];
Marseille: 1953 (Huve
´1954)
74 % This species is insufficiently
described (could be any
haleciid or lovenelliid,
probably a juvenile of H.
margarica) [see Bouillon
et al. (2004)]
Orchistomella
graeffei (Neppi
and Stiasny,
1911)
Trieste: 1910 (Neppi
and Stiasny 1911)
Endemic of
Mediterranean
Sea
See original description Ligurian Sea: 1966 (Goy 1973)46%
Plumularia syriaca
Billard, 1931
Gulf of Alexandrette,
Syria coast: 1929
(Billard 1931)
Endemic of
Mediterranean
Sea
See original description – 100 %
Sertularella tenella
(Alder, 1856)
No type locality was
given by Alder
(1856), probably
Northumberland,
England [see
Cornelius (1979)]
Cosmopolitan
(Northern
Atlantic,
Caribbean Sea,
North Pacific
Ocean,
Mediterranean)
Monaco: 1929 by Leloup [see
Bouillon et al. (1995)]
– 100 % Doubtful species, probably
conspecific with
Sertularella rugosa [see
Cornelius (1995)]
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123

Table 1 continued
Taxa Type locality and
original description
Distribution 1st Mediterranean record Other records in
Mediterranean
Confidence
of extinction
index
Remarks
Thyroscyphus
fruticosus
(Esper, 1793)
Type locality
unknown (Esper
(1793)asSpongia
fruticosa
Indo-Pacific,
Mediterranean
Adriatic: 1885 Marktanner-
Turneretscher (1890)as
Campanularia fruticosa
– 100 % Schmidt (1973) considered
the migration of this
species through the Suez-
Canal
Octogonade
mediterranea
Zoja, 1896
Messina, Sicily: 1894
(Zoja 1896)
Endemic of
Mediterranean
Sea
See original description Dalmatian coast, Adriatic Sea:
1913–1914 (Pell 1918)
83 %
Tiaropsidium
mediterraneum
(Metschnikoff,
1886)
Messina, Sicily: 1883
(Metschnikoff
1886a)asTiaropsis
mediterranea
Endemic of
Mediterranean
Sea
See original description Kvarnerola, Adriatic Sea (Hadzi
1916), 1914 as Camella vilae-
velebiti
and Tiaropsis mediterranea; Gulf
of Marseille (Picard 1951b)
73 % Doubtful record in the South
Adriatic Sea, Otranto
Channel, Apulia, Italy:
2003 (Piraino et al. 2013)
Hartlaubella
gelatinosa
(Pallas, 1766)
Belgian coast,
specimen not
located (Pallas
1766)asSertularia
gelatinosa
Mainly boreal:
Northeastern
Atlantic,
Western
Atlantic and
Indo-Pacific
(New Zealand),
Mediterranean
Lesina Adriatic Sea) [Heller
(1868)] as Laomedea gelatinosa
Naples (Du Plessis 1881)as
Obelia gelatinosa; Trieste
(Adriatic Sea) (Graeffe 1884)as
Obelia gelatinosa; Naples: 1905
Lo (Bianco 1909)asObelia
gelatinosa; Gulf of Rapallo
(Ligurian Sea): 1948 (Rossi
1950)asLaomedea gelatinosa
70 %
Laomedea neglecta
Alder, 1856
Cullercoats and
Tynemouth, UK
(Alder 1856)
Boreal
(Northeastern
Atlantic,
Mediterranean)
Rovigno (Adriatic Sea): 1896
(Schneider 1898)as
Campanularia neglecta
Kotora; Jablanac (Adriatic Sea):
1907 (Babic 1910)as
Campanularia neglecta; Canale
della Corsia, Quarnerolo: 1911
(Broch 1912); Split, Adriatic
Sea: 1931 (Broch 1933)as
Laomedea (Gonothyrea)
neglecta
89 %
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123

Table 1 continued
Taxa Type locality and
original description
Distribution 1st Mediterranean record Other records in
Mediterranean
Confidence
of extinction
index
Remarks
Subclass Limnomedusae
Armorhydra
janowiczi
Swedmark and
Teissier, 1958
Roscoff, France
(Swedmark and
Teissier 1958)
Mediterranean-
Atlantic
Rovigno: 1965 (Salvini Plawen
1966)
Ischia (Clausen 1971)76%
Class Automedusa
Subclass Actinulidae
Halammohydra
octopodides
Remane, 1927
Kieler Bucht (Baltic
Sea): 1924 (Remane
1927)
Cosmopolitan Marseille (Swedmark 1956) Rovigno: 1965 (Salvini Plawen
1966)
54 %
Subclass Narcomedusae
Cunina polygonia
(Haeckel, 1879)
Corfu and Messina:
1877–1878
(Haeckel 1879)as
Cunoctantha
polygonia
Endemic of
Mediterranean
Sea
See original description – 100 % Doubtful status [see
Bouillon et al. (2004)]
Cunina proboscidea
(E. & L.
Metschnikoff,
1871)
Messina (Gegenbaur
1857)asCunina
vitrea
Endemic of
Mediterranean
Sea
See original description Mediterranean (E. and L.
Metschnikoff 1871); Naples
[Mayer (1910c)asCunina
vitrea =C. proboscidea];
Spanish Mediterranean coast
(Ranson 1936); Naples: 1962
[see Bouillon et al. (1995)]
80 %
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123

Table 1 continued
Taxa Type locality and
original description
Distribution 1st Mediterranean record Other records in
Mediterranean
Confidence
of extinction
index
Remarks
Pegantha
rubiginosa
(Ko
¨lliker, 1853)
Messina: 1852
Ko
¨lliker (1853)as
Eurystoma
rubiginosum
Circumtropical
(Atlantic, Indo-
Pacific,
Mediterranean)
See original description Messina (Gegenbaur 1857)as
Aegineta prolifera;
Villefranche-sur-Mer, Nice
(Haeckel 1864); Naples
(Spagnolini 1871), Pavesi
(1878)asAegineta prolifera;
Naples: 1859 Keferstein and
(Ehlers 1861), (Spagnolini 1871)
as Aegineta gemmifera; (Carus
1884); Capri: 1902 (Lo Bianco
1903)asCunina rhododactyla;
Eolie 1902 (Lo Bianco 1903)as
Cunina rhododactyla; Naples
[Lo Bianco (1909)asCunina
rhododactyla; Ebbecke (1957)
as C. rhododocatylos; Vannucci
(1966)]; Adriatic Sea
(Expedition ‘Najade’) Grobben
(1915); Neppi (1915)asCunina
prolifera); Villefranche-sur-Mer
(Caziot 1921 as C. prolifera);
Balearic Sea,
Tyrrhenian Sea,
Strait of Messina, weastern
Mediterranean: 1910-1911
(Kramp 1924 as C. rubiginosa);
Villefranche-sur-Mer: 1954
(Kramp 1957b);
Strait of Gibraltar:
1967 (Casanova 1980); Naples:
1956–1962 (see Bouillon et al.
1995); Ligurian Sea: 1963 (Goy
1973)
99 %
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123

Table 1 continued
Taxa Type locality and
original description
Distribution 1st Mediterranean record Other records in
Mediterranean
Confidence
of extinction
index
Remarks
Pegantha triloba
Haeckel, 1879
Zanzibar, East Africa
(Haeckel 1879)
Circumtropical
(Atlantic, Indo-
Pacific,
Mediterranean)
Balearics
(Vanho
¨ffen 1913)
– 100 % For more details about its
records [see Kramp
(1961)]
Solmaris corona
(Keferstein and
Ehlers, 1861)
Naples: 1859
(Keferstein and Ehlers
1861)
as Aegineta corona
Circumtropical
(Atlantic, Indo-
Pacific,
Mediterranean)
See original description Naples
(Haeckel 1879 as Solmaris
corona and S. coronantha);
Balearics: 1909 (Ranson 1936);
Strait of Gibraltar:
1967 (Casanova 1980)
66 %
Subclass Trachymedusae
Petasus atavus
Haeckel, 1879
Izmir (Smyrna),
Turkey: 1873
(Haeckel 1879) and
Canary Islands as
Petasus tetranema
Mediterranean-
Atlantic
See original description – 100 %
Amphogona pusilla
Hartlaub, 1909
Djibuti, East Africa:
1904 (Hartlaub
1909)
Indo-Pacific,
Mediterranean
Villefranche-sur-Mer (Ligurian
Sea): 1964 (Goy 1973)
– 100 %
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123

Table 1 continued
Taxa Type locality and
original description
Distribution 1st Mediterranean record Other records in
Mediterranean
Confidence
of extinction
index
Remarks
Arctapodema ampla
(Vanho
¨ffen, 1902)
Bouvet Island (South
Atlantic): 1898
(Vanho
¨ffen 1902)as
Homoeonema
amplum
Circumtropical
(Antarctic,
southern and
tropical
Atlantic,
Mediterranean)
Algeria coast, off Mostaganem:
1908 (Ranson 1936)as
Arctapodema amplum
Adriatic Sea: 1913-1914 (Pell
1938)asIsonema najadis
Villefranche-sur-Mer: 1963-1964
(Goy 1971); Nice, Corsica: 1963
(Goy 1973)
69 %
Pantachogon militare
(Maas, 1893)
North of Bermudas:
1889 (Maas 1893)
Tropical-Atlantic Capri: 1902 (Lo Bianco 1903)as
Homoeonema militare
– 100 %
Taxa Class, subclass, species
CConfidence of extinction index (C C95 % to postulate a case of extinction; 80 % BCB94 % to raise a case of putative extinction)
? Psammocoryne Monniot, 1962 (invalid nomen nudum). Monniot (1962) identified it as Psammocoryne. This name is not a valid genus as it was not associated with a valid
nominal species. Furthermore, Monniot’s hydroid could easily also be referred to A. ilonae and it is therefore also somewhat unclear whether A. ammisatum also occurs in the
Mediterranean (Schuchert, 2006)
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Sea, based on unclear criteria, Schuchert (2009) suggested that it is a doubtful, unrecog-
nizable species. Finally, Bouillon et al. (2004) listed C. polygonia as doubtful.
Uncertain records concern species as Eudendrium arbuscula, whose Mediterranean
records are likely misidentifications (Schuchert 2008b); the records of Podocoryna bore-
alis are unreliable according to Schuchert (2008a). The presence of Octotiara russelli in
the Mediterranean Sea is uncertain. Goy (1973) published the only European record of this
species, as Octotiara violacea, but this reporting should be re-examined due to the state of
preservation of the specimen that impedes certain identification (Schuchert 2007). Tia-
ropsidium mediterraneum was recorded for the first time in Messina (Metschnikoff 1886a)
as Tiaropsis mediterranea, whereas its record in the South Adriatic (see Piraino et al. 2013)
is doubtful.
Moreover, particular problems are related to records of the micro-meiobenthos NSH
species that might be underestimated due to paucity of research in this field, namely:
Acauloides ammisatum (whose presence in Mediterranean Sea is unclear; see Schuchert
2006), A. ilonae,Psammohydra nanna (whose taxonomic position is unclear; see Schuc-
hert 2006), Armorhydra janowiczi, and Halammohydra octopodides. A particularly sig-
nificant example of species that is absent since a very long time is Tricyclusa singularis
(Schulze 1876). This species of boreal affinity and, since its original description from
Trieste, the sole Mediterranean record, it has never been recorded again from the Medi-
terranean Sea. Its disappearance represents not only a case of Mediterranean extinction of a
species, but also of the whole family Tricyclusidae that comprises only this species and
genus (Boero and Bonsdorff 2007).
Studies of the Mediterranean Hydrozoa suffered several temporal gaps during the
considered period (Fig. 1). The whole trend, expressed in number of papers per decade, can
be divided into five periods, marked by changes in the patterns of scientific production
(Fig. 1):
– 1850s–1870s, with an average of over 10 papers/decade;
– 1880s–1910s, with an average of about 30 papers/decade: about 20 papers/decade in
the sub-period 1880s–1890s, and about 40 papers/decade in 1990s–1910s, with an
increase of scientific production until a peak in the 1910s (51 papers) followed by a
sharp decrease due to First World War;
– 1920s–1940s, (average of over 25 papers/decade) with a marked decrease coinciding
with Second World War;
– 1950s–2000s, with an average of almost 80 papers/decade;
– 2010s–2014s, with an average of about 55 papers/decade, but monitoring of the entire
decade (2010–2020) is still incomplete.
Figure 2shows that since the 19th century many studies were carried out at the Zoo-
logical Station of Naples (biogeographic sector C). Messina also attracted high attention
(biogeographic sector M), due to the strong currents of its Strait characterized by animals
of deep waters. Ko
¨lliker (1853), Keferstein and Ehlers (1861), Metschnikoff (1886a,b),
worked extensively at Messina contributing to the knowledge of the Hydrozoa. Other
Mediterranean places where research on Hydrozoa became prominent were Trieste and
Rovinj (biogeographic sector F), Split (biogeographic sector G) and, in France, Villef-
ranche-sur-Mer, Endoume, and Banyuls (biogeographic sector E). In particular, a long
series of papers mainly by Picard (1951a,b,1958b) and Goy (1973) gave a great contri-
bution to the knowledge of the Hydrozoa. Moreover, between the years 1960s and 1970 s
several researchers (among these, Bouillon, Brinckmann-Voss, Haeckel, Tardent, Uchida,
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Vannucci, Yamada) worked at the Naples Zoological Station to describe the life cycles of
Hydrozoan species.
Numbers of Non-Siphonophoran Hydrozoa Missing species (NSHMs) in each biogeo-
graphic sector within the Mediterranean Sea is shown in Fig. 3reporting percentages of
missing species/total number species for each sector. It is clear that the highest percentage
of disappearance is linked to the colder biogeographic sectors of the Mediterranean basin:
11 % in the deep waters of the Strait of Messina (biogeographic sector M), 8 % in the Gulf
of Lions and Ligurian Sea (biogeographic sector E), 7 % both in the Northern and Central
Adriatic Sea (respectively, biogeographic sectors F and G).
CAP analysis showed a clear separation of points of [40 years (left down corner of the
plot) from those of 10 years (right down corner), with intermediate position of points of 40,
30, and 20 years (Fig. 4), indicating a temporal gradient of species composition of NSH in
the Mediterranean. A total of 171 NSH species showed a correlation value [0.2 with
canonical axes, the 35 % of them being NSHMs (20 %) or NIS (15 %).
Results form analyses on taxonomic distinctness highlighted a decrease of both D
?
and
K
?
of the Mediterranean NSH species pool through time (Fig. 5). The species pool of
[40y showed significantly higher values (P\0.05) of D
?
and K
?
, indicating a higher
breadth and heterogeneity of taxonomic structure. In contrast, the species pool in the last
decade (10 years) exhibited values of D
?
and K
?
significantly below random expectation,
indicating that Mediterranean NSH species were more closely related than expected by
chance, with a significant reduction of taxonomic distinctness (Fig. 5).
Discussion
The scarcity of well-documented cases of extinction in the marine environment shows how
difficult it is to deal with the conservation status of marine invertebrates (Boero et al. 2013).
Fig. 3 Disappearance of Non-Siphonophoran Hydrozoa Missing species (NSHMs) within the Mediterra-
nean Sea. aAlbora
´n Sea; bAlgeria and North Tunisia coasts; cSouthern Tyrrhenian Sea; dBalearic Sea to
Sardinia Sea; eGulf of Lions and Ligurian Sea; fNorthern Adriatic; gCentral Adriatic; hSouthern Adriatic
Sea; iIonian Sea; jNorthen Aegean Sea; kSouthern Aegean Sea; lLevant Sea; mStrait of Messina (marked
by asterisk). Biogeographic sectors according to Bianchi (2007). For each sector, NSHMs percentage and
NSHMs number/non-Siphonophoran Hydrozoa (NSH) total number are shown
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Boero and Bonsdorff (2007) wondered if this is the consequence of low global risks of
extinction in the sea or, rather, if we fail to notice that species become extinct. According to
Roberts and Hawkins (1999), there might have been numerous extinctions in recent times
that we failed to realise. Fontaine et al. (2007) addressed the problem of the current indi-
cators that do not cover the species at risk of extinction, as most of rare species are not
considered in the European Union’s 2020 target. Alternative indicators about rare species
must be developed, in addition to the existing ones that provide information on biodiversity
trends (Butchart et al. 2005; De Heer et al. 2005). Indeed, the choice of indicator species
should be expanded through a rigorous assessment based on various parameters which take
into account also rarity (Fontaine et al. 2007). Moreover, the fundamental question is how
soon such changes will occur (Hughes 2000), as well as the particular time ranges chosen for
the data sets can greatly affect apparent trends (Hughes 2000). Carlton et al. (1999)
observed that the processes of species extinction run at different paces, involving several
mechanisms working at different spatial scales. In general, the three main changes in
response to environmental stress of the marine communities consist in regression to dom-
inance by opportunist species, reduction of the dominating species resulting in lower
diversity (Pearson and Rosemberg 1978; Gray 1989). The features of species that have gone
extinct or are nearly extinct (population turnover, reproduction, capacity for recovery, range
and distribution, commonness and/or rarity, trophic level) often contribute to their disap-
pearance (Dayton et al. 1995; Roberts and Hawkins 1999).
The Mediterranean Sea is predisposed to local extinction because it is almost closed and
much smaller than the open ocean, responding more quickly to environmental change and,
furthermore, has a high rate of endemism (Boero and Gravili 2013). This sea is charac-
terized by a particular biota made of highly seasonal species, tropical and boreal
Fig. 4 Canonical analysis of principal coordinates (CAP) for the factor period based on the distance matrix
(Jaccard’s distance) among sector 9period points. Open triangle [40 years, open diamond 40 years, open
square 30 years, open circle 20 years, asterisk 10 years
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contingents being present respectively in the summer, and in the winter (Bavestrello et al.
2006). The Mediterranean marine ecosystem, being subjected to a period of temperature
increase that is tropicalizing its biota, represents a model basin for oceans and other seas
(Bianchi 2007; Boero and Bonsdorff 2007; Lejeusne et al. 2010).
It is very difficult to confirm the disappearance of a species in the marine environment,
mostly due to lack of taxonomist and the existence of synonyms in the species lists
(different names attributed to the same species). Therefore, simple lack of suitable sam-
pling or of expertise in recognizing synonyms in previous samplings, might determine their
absence from subsequent records. It is debatable whether lack of records is due either to
changing of abiotic or biotic factors, or to low sampling efforts or, eventually, to the
combination of these causes. Surely, the Mediterranean Sea is going through a radical
change that is almost unparalled in respect to any other part of the world (Boero 2014;
Templado 2014).
The absence of a species, furthermore, might be only apparent, due to the existence of
resting stages that can remain dormant for long periods and that, when activated, are
responsible for the so-called ‘‘Lazarus effect’’ (Jablonsky 1986).
As expected by Boero et al. (2008), global warming is favouring the tropical contingent,
whereas the boreal one is in distress. If global warming can damage species, the potential
sufferers are Mediterranean endemic species (34 % of the NSHMs), those of cold water
affinity (19 %) or Mediterranean Atlantic ones (15 %). Indo-Pacific and circumtropical
contingents represent each 11 % of the total NSHMs, extinctions in the Mediterranean
being probably linked to lack of establishment of species that recently reached the basin.
The results of this study confirm the trend characterized at a first time by the abiotic
change, induced by increasing temperatures, and followed, at a later time, by biotic change,
since the arrival of aliens of tropical affinity (Zenetos et al. 2012; Gravili et al. 2013;C¸ inar
et al. 2014), or the prevalence of the summer contingent that competes against the species
of cold water affinity (Puce et al. 2009).
The results of this study, as well as the data analyzed over the long term by Puce et al.
(2009), suggest that the regional species pools tend to remain stable in terms of species
numbers but not in terms of species identity. In fact, the number of present-day Medi-
terranean NSH species (162) matches closely the number of species (180 valid species)
that Picard (1958a) recorded in his first assessment, cumulating all previous knowledge on
the group. However, our finding showed that the composition of the species pool at basin
scale changed through time, with changes heavily driven by NSHMs and NIS. Moreover,
we detected a progressive contraction of the taxonomic width of NSH, imputable to the
loss of taxa poor in species or monotypic, which raises concerns about potential ensuing
depletion of taxonomic and functional diversity.
The tropical NIS, colonising the Mediterranean Sea, are probably filling the ecological
spaces of species that are becoming rare or are locally extinct. Bianchi (2007) predicted
that the northern areas of the Mediterranean Sea will be invaded by warm-water native
species, while the southern areas of the basin will be occupied by tropical exotic species.
Furthermore, the warming of the Mediterranean Sea might probably cause a decrement of
native cold-water species, or even their disappearance (Bianchi 2007).
Boero et al. (2008) proposed the so-called ‘cold engines’ (the northernmost part of the
Western Mediterranean, the Northern Adriatic, and the Northern Aegean) as the areas with
greater probability of presence of putatively extinct species in a period of global warming.
These places, the drivers of the vertical remixing of Mediterranean waters, are significantly
colder than the rest of the basin. They are inhabited by many species of cold-water affinity.
The compilation of lists of species for all significant taxonomic groups that live only in
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these areas might provide a tool for creating lists of putatively extinct species, and allow
the programming of surveys to ascertain their conservation state (Boero and Gravili 2013).
The results shown here suggest that species lists are dynamic, requiring continual updating
(introduced species) and putative subtractions of missing species. Without these subtrac-
tions, biodiversity is always on the rise due to the arrival of NIS and the species lists will
never show possible biodiversity crises at the level of species pools.
Mendelson et al. (2006) required an unprecedented conservation response to stop the
loss of species and populations. The rates of marine species description, driven by the
increasing ability to explore previously unknown geographic areas, have never been
higher, as well as the challenge to estimate the diversity of cryptic species through
molecular studies (Appeltans et al. 2012). The rapid influx of NIS and the disappearance of
the species of cold-water affinity are heavily influencing the rich but vulnerable Medi-
terranean ecosystem, heavily affected already by a host of multiple impacts (Claudet and
Fraschetti 2010; Boero 2014).
The application of the present analysis to all other taxa will allow for a better assess-
ment of the state of biodiversity in all seas and oceans.
Fig. 5 Average taxonomic distinctness (a) and variation in taxonomic distinctness (b) of Mediterranean
NSH species pool in each of the five periods ([40, 40, 30, 20, 10 years) plotted against the corresponding
total number of species characterizing each period. For both indices, the expected mean (dotted line) and the
95 % confidence limits (solid lines) were also plotted from 1,000 independent simulations drawn randomly
from the full list of Mediterranean NSH species
Biodivers Conserv
123

Acknowledgments Work supported by Ministero dell’Universita
`e della Ricerca Scientifica e Tecnologica
(COFIN, PRIN and FIRB projects), by the CONISMA-CMCC project ‘The impacts of biological invasions
and climate change on the biodiversity of the Mediterranean Sea’ and by the European Commission Seventh
Framework Programme (FP7) projects ‘Vectors of Change in Oceans and Seas Marine Life, Impact on
Economic Sectors’ (VECTORS), ‘Towards coast to coast networks of marine protected areas (from the
shore to the high and deep sea), coupled with seabased wind energy potential’ (COCONET), and ‘Poli-
cyoriented marine Environmental Research in the Southern European Seas’ (PERSEUS). The publication of
this paper is supported by CONISMA, the Italian National Interuniversity Consortium for Marine Sciences
and the Flagship project RITMARE.
Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License
which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the
source are credited.
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