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In conservation agriculture, slugs are considered significant pests and their monitoring is a key option in the integrated pest management framework. Together with molluscicide applications, predators such as ground beetles can offer a tool for slug control in the field. Through the evaluation of slug and ground beetle monitoring strategies, this work compared their presence in conventional and conservation agricultural plots. The invasive Deroceras invadens was the dominant slug species to occur in all sampling periods. Among Carabidae, Poecilus cupreus and Pterostichus melas were the most abundant species, and Bembidion spp., Brachinus spp., and Harpalus spp. were also common. Beer-baited pitfall traps, whatever their alcoholic content, caught more slugs and ground beetles than wooden boards used as shelters. Slugs were more abundant in conventional plots than in conservation plots, possibly due to the lower presence of natural enemies such as ground beetles. Despite possible impacts on Carabidae, beer-baited pitfall traps should be considered a useful tool for slug monitoring and for the planning of molluscicide applications. Soil management such as minimum- or no-tillage and the presence of cover crops are important elements influencing both slug and ground beetle presence, possibly playing a key role in the maintenance of natural enemy populations.

Gynandromorphism is a teratological condition consisting in the simultaneous presence of both male and female phenotypic characteristics, with a clear demarcation between one and the other, in the same individual of an animal species with separate sexes. To whatever degree, it is always a rather uncommon phenomenon; in the class of insects it is fairly widespread. The major or minor frequency at which this anomaly has been reported for different taxa of insects also derives from the presence (or lack thereof), in the different species, of more or less marked sexual dimorphism. For the Lepidoptera, in which in a relatively large number of taxa (mainly in Papilionoidea) a sometimes very pronounced sexual dichromatism is present and evident above all in the colouring of the two pairs of wings, over time many gynandromorph specimens have been reported (e.g. in Lycaenidae, Nymphalidae, Pieridae, Papilionidae, etc.). The case presented here concerns a specimen of the Meadow Brown butterfly, Maniola jurtina (Linnaeus, 1758) (Nymphalidae Satyrinae). The salient morpho-chromatic characteristics are illustrated, including the conformation of the final abdominal segments and the ectodermal genital structures, examined after clarification. Reports of gynandromorphs of Lepidoptera species presenting sexual dichromatism are often limited to the illustration of the habitus of the whole insect, without examination of genital morphology. M. jurtina has a wide distribution in the Palearctic region: it is common throughout almost all Europe and in the Mediterranean basin, from sea level up to about 2000 m, and it is found in Anatolia, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, the Urals and western Siberia. It is a univoltine species, which flies between late May and September, with a more or less long period of flight, characterized by proterandry; in the southernmost part of its range it has a prolonged aestivation. It frequents flowery meadows and pastures, grassy glades with bushes, forest edges, ga

The Angle Shades moth, Phlogophora meticulosa (Linnaeus, 1758) (Noctuidae), is a migratory species which is widespread in Europe, western and central Asia and north Africa; it is known throughout Italy, including on the two major islands. Sometimes it is also a crop pest. This contribution points out a very singular finding regarding this insect. On the evening of 20.05.2013, at Piacenza (northern Italy) on the campus of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, on the outside surface of a building, a specimen of Ph. meticulosa resting on the wall near an artificial light was collected by the author. The specimen at first sight had, at the tip of its abdomen, a rather showy, pendulous extension of an unclear nature. Examination in the laboratory showed that it was a male whose genital armature was holding another similar male armature, almost devoid of the typical covering of hairs and scales and, so to speak, ‘torn’ from another male abdomen. Also the tip of the abdomen of the specimen with this singular abdominal appendix was partially devoid of the covering of hairs and scales which normally characterizes the males of this species including on genital armature, so that all these structures were well in evidence. The specimen at the time of capture appeared hardly or not at all reactive: it was probably dying if not already dead but if the latter, it had died recently, because it was clinging to the wall with its legs and resting near an attractive light source, and under laboratory examination and subsequent preparation still retained some elasticity in the joints. A microscopic preparation and examination of the tip of the abdomen was set up. The two male genital armatures were similar and conspecific. The coupling between them was by means of the uncus of the male specimen collected, which was holding the right valve of the other armature tightly; this torn armature was therefore placed almost transversely with respect to the other and did not show other kinds

With his work, De animalibus insectis (1602), Ulisse Aldrovandi occupies a prominent place in the history of entomology. Of particular interest in this volume are the many original descriptions and woodcuts of insects. Partly due to the ‘Tavole di animali’ [Tables of animals] − illustrations drawn and watercoloured by hand, made by the author previously for the realization of the woodcuts for the printed book − some of them can be identified at genus or species level. For a large number of insects, Aldrovandi’s descriptions and illustrations are the oldest in the entomological literature. Three adult antlions and one adult green lacewing are recognizable in the book and have already been studied; hypothetical larvae of green lacewings can be added and are recorded here. Among the butterflies and moths, there is another rather enigmatic insect, which could be an owlfly (ascalaphid), though there is some uncertainty due to discrepancies between its colouring in the ‘Tavole di animali’ and its description in the book. This paper deals with the possible identification of this insect as an ascalaphid and outlines the origin and meaning of the term ‘ascalaph’.

Gli autori recuperano una vecchia segnalazione, sfuggita a tutti gli studiosi successivi, relativa alla presenza del Coleottero Lucanide Sinodendron cylindricum nell'Appennino piacentino, e la integrano con dati più precisi relativi alle circostanze di raccolta dell'insetto sulla base del riesame dei reperti conservati nella collezione entomologica della Facoltà di Scienze Agrarie dell'Università Cattolica, sede di Piacenza..

Morphological, distributional and eco-ethological data on the carpet beetle Attagenus lobatus Rosenhauer (Coleoptera Dermestidae) are reported, based on original observations. A. lobatus is a household and stored product species with a primarily Palaearctic distribution, secondarily Holarctic due to passive dispersion by man. This species is not very common in temperate climates and is here recorded for the first time in northern Italy.

La quinoa, anche dove in passato non è mai stata coltivata, è oggetto di attacco da parte di gruppi di insetti polifagi che possono dar luogo a infestazioni anche importanti. Negli anni non sono state osservate differenze di attacchi fra le cultivar saggiate e si sono evidenziati gruppi di insetti differenti nelle diverse fasi fenologiche della coltura.

Recensione critica della traduzione italiana di un libro di successo, opera di un giornalista, scrittore ed entomologo svedese che tratta, con ampi cenni autobiografici, del suo interesse per i Ditteri Sirfidi e della sua passione per il collezionarli in un'isola della Svezia. Il libro accenna ampiamente anche all'entomologo svedese R. Malaise, ideatore di una trappola molto utile per la cattura di insetti volatori.

The pattern of egg deposition, the morphology of the eggs and particularly the fine structure of the chorion surface examined by means of the scanning electron microscope (SEM) can provide useful elements for discriminating subfamilies, genera and species in green lacewings (Neuroptera, Chrysopidae). Observations are now available in the world literature on the fine structure of the exochorion for various genera and at least a dozen green lacewing species. The present work deals principally with the surface structures (exochorion surface, micropylar area) of the egg – examined by means of SEM – of some species belonging to the genus Pseudomallada Tsukaguchi, 1995 (Chrysopinae), which in Europe includes about two dozen taxa of specific or subspecific rank, some of which are difficult to discriminate and problematic as regards their systematic level. The species considered are: P. prasinus (Burmeister, 1839), P. inornatus (Navás, 1901), P. clathratus (Schneider, 1845), and P. cf. picteti (McLachlan, 1880). To date, the observations available in the literature on the egg features in these species are quite limited or absent. The pattern of the exochorion sculpturing provides more or less evident discriminating features between at least some of the species examined. It seems to be more difficult to find easily recognizable differences between species in the structure of the micropylar area. Other differences are to be found in the length of the egg and its stalk and in the shape of the egg itself, which can nevertheless change a little in relation to embryonic development.

Cases of morphological abnormalities concerning Neuropterida have been published only rarely. If we neglect the deformities observable less rarely in the wings of the three orders of these insects (Megaloptera, Raphidioptera, Neuroptera), which result from defective adult emergence, or certain modest and recurrent anomalies in wing venation, it seems that these abnormalities are more rare than in other insects, such as Coleoptera, for which particularly striking teratological cases have been reported. The present contribution summarizes records of morphological anomalies in the literature concerning Neuropterida and illustrates three unpublished cases observed by the author in Neuroptera (Myrmeleontidae and Chrysopidae); of special interest is a case of unilateral antennal aplasia.

A new Mediterranean species of antlion, Myrmeleon mariaemathildae n. sp., is described on material from Sardinia (Italy) and Tunisia. The new species, small in size with a relatively pale habitus, can be distinguished from all the other known species of Myrmeleon in the West Palearctic area on the basis of a set of chromatic characteristics, external morphological features, and the morphology of the internal male genitalia. The characteristics which differentiate it from Myrmeleon inconspicuus Rambur 1842, the only other species with which it could be confused, are discussed in detail. A preliminary description of the third instar larva is also provided. From a bio-ecological point of view, M. mariaemathildae n. sp. is associated with coastal dune environments colonized almost exclusively by grassy vegetation in which the larvae often build their pits close to Ammophila plants. The new species, where present, shows a perfect differentiation of its coastal dune habitat with other species: M. inconspicuus and Myrmeleon hyalinus Olivier 1811 in Sardinia; these and others are being studied in Tunisia.

L'autore fornisce un resoconto del X Simposio "La difesa antiparassitaria nelle industrie alimentari e la protezione degli alimenti", svoltosi a Piacenza dal 20 al 22 settembre 2017, focalizzando l'attenzione sui contributi di argomento entomologico. N.B.: Questo articolo è stato pubblicato anonimo.

Introduction. Medical treatment in chronic constipation is not always successful. Surgery is indicated in unresponsive selected severe cases. This study presents the distal venous colic ligation in rat as a novel surgical approach. Materials and Methods. 16 rats (study group) were evaluated in 3 phases of 6 days each: A (normal conditions), B (loperamide-induced constipation), and C (colic vein legation) and compared with rats treated in phase C with PEG 4,000 (control group). Blood biochemical and physiological parameters, daily fecal water content (FWC), and histological analysis were performed in all study phases. Results. No biochemical and physiological parameters changes were observed. FWC decreased in phase B and increased in phase C in both groups with a grow up to 2.3-fold in study group compared to control (P < 0.0001). Moreover, in study group, a high number of colonic goblet cells were detected (phase C versus phase B: P < 0.001) while no differences were registered in control. Conclusion. By ligature of the colic vein in constipated rats, an increase in FWC and goblet cells higher than in PEG treated rats was detected. The described surgical procedure appeared effective, simple, and safe; further studies in animal models, however, are necessary to assess its clinical applicability.

Due to the importance of intestinal transport in pharmacological studies and the emerging role of intestinal signalling activity in the gut-liver axis, we have developed a new method to investigate intestinal transport and liver signalling using cell and serum free mesenteric perfusion system in the rat. The method regarding bile acid active absorption was validated, then, the portal venous content was examined for fibroblast growth factor 15(FGF15), a putative signalling protein produced by the ileal enterocytes following bile acid absorption. After isolation and cannulation of the relevant vessels (abdominal aorta and portal vein), the abdominal aorta and the terminal ileum were infused with respectively Krebs-Ringer solution and tauroursodeoxycholate (TUDCA) and the absorption was assessed by its recovery in the portal vein. After immunoblot, liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry analysis were performed both on gel bands digestion products and on portal outflow samples in order to evaluate if negligible amounts of FGF15 were present in the portal circulation. TUDCA absorption was efficient, intestinal morphology and oxygen consumption were normal. Despite accurate analysis, we could not find FGF15. Our method proved to be reliable for studying the active bile acid absorption. It is also suitable to identify molecules produced by enterocytes and transferred to the portal circulation in response to absorption of different substances such as nutrients or drugs. Since FGF15 was not recovered we suggest the possibilities that this protein is produced in very little amounts, poorly transferred outside the cell, or that it is extremely unstable and rapidly degraded.

Intestinal bile acid absorption is mediated by a sodium-dependent transporter located in the brush border apical membrane of ileocytes. The transmembrane topology and the role of individual amino acid residues in the bile acid transport process have been investigated by means of various experimental approaches, leading to multiple hypotheses. We raised a monoclonal antibody against a segment of the transporter comprising vicinal cysteine residues, in order to evaluate its functional role. A 14 amino acid peptide, corresponding to amino acids 104-117 of the transporter, was synthesized, and a monoclonal anti-peptide antibody was raised. In vitro uptake-inhibition studies in the presence of the monoclonal anti-peptide antibody were performed using ileal brush border membrane vesicles. Rabbit ileum was perfused in vivo with 5 mM taurocholic acid in the presence of the monoclonal antibody, and bile acid absorption inhibition was evaluated. The anti-peptide monoclonal antibody significantly reduced the in vitro uptake and in vivo absorption of taurocholic acid. The present data demonstrate the functional relevance of the 104-117 peptide segment and report the generation of a novel antibody against the apical sodium-dependent bile acid transporter (ASBT) that may be used as a therapeutic agent in hypercholesterolemia and in cholestatic pruritus.