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Olindiid freshwater jellyfishes of the genus Craspedacusta Lankester, 1880 are native to eastern Asia; however, some species within the genus have been introduced worldwide and are nowadays present in all continents except Antarctica. To date, there is no consensus regarding the taxonomy within the genus Craspedacusta due to the morphological plasticity of the medusa stages. The species Craspedacusta sowerbii Lankester, 1880 was first recorded in Italy in 1946, and until 2017, sightings of the jellyfish Craspedacusta were reported for 40 water bodies. Here, we shed new light on the presence of the freshwater jellyfishes belonging to the genus Craspedacusta across the Italian peninsula, Sardinia, and Sicily. First, we report 21 new observations of this non-native taxon, of which eighteen refer to medusae sightings, two to environmental DNA sequencing, and one to the finding of polyps. Then, we investigate the molecular diversity of collected Craspedacusta specimens, using a Bayesian analysis of sequences of the mitochondrial gene encoding for Cytochrome c Oxidase Subunit I (mtDNA COI). Our molecular analysis shows the presence of two distinctive genetic lineages: (i) a group that comprises sequences obtained from populations ranging from central to northern Italy; (ii) a group that comprises three populations from northern Italy-i.e., those from the Lake Levico, the Lake Santo of Monte Terlago, and the Lake Endine-and the single known Sicilian population. We also report for the first time a mtDNA COI sequence obtained from a Craspedacusta medusa collected in Spain.

In this study, we evaluated the microbiome and the resistome profile of water and fragments of polyethylene (PE) waste collected at the same time from a stream and the seawater in a coastal area of Northwestern Sicily. Although a core microbiome was determined by sequencing of the V3-V4 region of the bacterial 16S rDNA gene, quantitative differences were found among the microbial communities on PE waste and the corresponding water samples. Our findings indicated that PE waste contains a more abundant and increased core microbiome diversity than the corresponding water samples. Moreover, PCR analysis of specific antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) showed that PE waste harbors more ARGs than the water samples. Thus, PE waste could act as a carrier of antibiotic-resistant microbiota, representing an increased danger for the marine environment and living organisms, as well.

Turtles, a speciose group consisting of more than 300 species, demonstrate karyotypes with diploid chromosome numbers ranging from 2n = 26 to 2n = 68. However, cytogenetic analyses have been conducted only to 1/3rd of the turtle species, often limited to conventional staining methods. In order to expand our knowledge of the karyotype evolution in turtles, we examined the topology of the (TTAGGG) n telomeric repeats and the rDNA loci by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) on the karyotypes of two emydids: the Sicilian pond turtle, Emys trinacris, and the yellow-bellied slider, Trachemys scripta scripta (family Emydidae). Furthermore, AT-rich and GC-rich chromosome regions were detected by DAPI and CMA 3 stains, respectively. The cytogenetic analysis revealed that telomeric sequences are restricted to the terminal ends of all chromosomes and the rDNA loci are localized in one pair of microchromosomes in both species. The karyotype of the Sicilian endemic E. trinacris with diploid number 2n = 50, consisting of 13 pairs of macrochromosomes and 12 pairs of microchromosomes, is presented here for first time. Our comparative examination revealed similar cytogenetic features in Emys trinacris and the closely related E. orbicularis , as well as to other previously studied emydid species, demonstrating a low rate of karyotype evolution, as chromosomal rearrangements are rather infrequent in this group of turtles.