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Papillifera papillaris (O.F. Müller, 1774) is a door snail (Gastropoda, Pulmonata, Clausiliidae) with Graciliaria clausilial apparatus, autochthonous in southern Italy, Sicily and Maltese Islands, but that has been widespread in the western Mediterranean region. In Sicily, P. papillaris is widely distributed and relatively diverse and this led in the 1800s to the description of numerous taxa. Some of these taxa are considered valid subspecies, while other taxa have not been revised in recent times. In the present work the taxa described for the genus Papillifera W. Hartmann, 1842 in Sicily are re-examined and the distribution of the subspecies is redefined.

Osmoderma cristinae Sparacio, 1994 is an endemic beetle of Sicily (Coleoptera: Cetoniidae). It is a saproxylic species and has a very important role in the forest ecosystems. It is included in multiple national and international “Red Lists" as Endangered species (Audisio et al. 2014, Cálix et al. 2018). At the larval stages O. cristinae participes in the degradation of “dead wood” in old trees, in their cavities, and in downed logs. In this work, the larval morphology of O. cristinae is described.

Saproxylic insects associated with old trees are seriously threatened in Europe and their habitat is severely decreased. Usually, old trees harbour a very diverse fauna of beetles with many rare species and red-listed saproxylic insect species. These insects live in the dead wood outside the tree (in branches or parts of the trunk), inside the tree hollows, in the debris, and in fungal fruit bodies. During 2019 we collected saproxylic beetles near Monte Carbonara (Madonie Mountains, Sicily, Italy) at 1800 meters above sea level. Particularly, we studied a very old still standing beech (Fagus sylvatica L.), t with numerous cavities and parts of the trunk fallen to the ground. Samples were collected by visually looking for beetles, on the ground and under leaves near the old beech, in its cavities and sifting the debris in the laboratory. Up to date the results include interesting beetle species such as Osmoderma cristinae Sparacio, 1994 (Cetoniidae), Byrrhus numidicus Normand, 1935 (Byrrhidae), Rosalia alpina (Linnaeus, 1758) and Morimus asper Sulzer, 1776 (Cerambycidae).

Piana degli Albanesi (Sicily, Italy) is a mountain locality (800 meters above sea level) near Palermo. It is situated in a valley surrounded by four mountains (Pizzuta, Kumeta, Maganoce, Xeravulli) that ends at the lake of Piana degli Albanesi. Piana degli Albanesi and its surroundings are very important localities in the Sicilian entomological history with numerous records. In this work, we show the Carabidae populations that live in this study area, with particular attention to the total number of species present and to their ecological and biogeographical characteristics. Carabids are useful bioindicators, often used to identify habitat alterations; research focused on them allows obtaining different information on the environments studied.