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Italy entered the International Long Term Ecological Research Network (ILTER) in 2006, contributing a group of research sites in marine, freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems to the global network. Five forest sites are included in the Italian Network. They are representative of the main forest ecosystems in Italy and integrate 15 research stations managed by different institutes. Starting from LTER rationale and basic concepts, the first part of the paper reviews the status of LTER Italy forest sites, the strengths resulting from multidisciplinary expertise and site management, current activities and available datasets. Long term data series on key environmental parameters show the high scientific value of these sites, where monitoring and/or research is still ongoing. But two main LTER issues are currently arising in the international context: (1) overall consistency of datasets; (2) harmonization of sampling methods. For this reason, the second part of the paper investigates the suitability of Italian forest sites to address recommended long term research topics and ecological issues of global concern and to investigate the shift from in-site monitoring to cross-site cooperation and inter-site research.

We reply to the comments made by Benvenuti et al. (2022) about our paper on the Italian natural history museums and scientific collections and the need of a centralized hub and repository. While agreeing that digitization is a useful tool to valorize each museum and collection, we still believe that the suggestion of a centralized hub is valid and necessary. This would largely help in boosting coordination among museums, sharing personnel and resources, and in providing a place to deposit scientific collections that do not fit the scope of smaller museums., (Franco Andreone, Ferdinando Boero, Marco A. Bologna, Giuseppe M. Carpaneto, Riccardo Castiglia, Spartaco Gippoliti, Bruno Massa, Alessandro Minelli.)

In Italy, differently from other countries, a national museum of natural history is not present. This absence is due, among other reasons, to its historical political fragmentation up to 1870, which led to the establishment of medium-sized museums, mostly managed by local administrations or universities. Moreover, a change of paradigm in biological research, at the beginning of the 20 th century, contributed to privilege experimental studies in universities and facilitated the dismissal of descriptive and exploratory biology, which formed the basis of the taxonomic research carried out by natural history museums. Consequently, only a few museums have a provision of curatorial staff, space and material resources adequate to maintain their original mission of discovering the natural world, by conducting a regular research activity accompanied by field campaigns. The creation of a national research centre for the study of biodiversity, facilitating interconnections among the existing natural history museums could be a solution and is here supported, together with a centralised biorepository to host collections and vouchers, to the benefit of current and future taxonomic research and environmental conservation. Such an institution should find place and realisation within the recently proposed National Biodiversity Future Center (NBFC) planned within the National Plan of Recovery and Resilience (PNRR). Pending upon the creation of this new national centre, a network among the existing museums should coordinate their activities., (Franco Andreone, Ferdinando Boero, Marco A. Bologna, Giuseppe M. Carpaneto, Riccardo Castiglia, Spartaco Gippoliti, Bruno Massa, Alessandro Minelli.)

The aim of this study was to characterize the antennal morphology of Osmoderma eremita, a threatened scarab beetle inhabiting tree hollows. O. eremita males produce a sex pheromone, (R)-(+)-γ-decalactone, responsible mainly for the attraction of females but also other males. Gross and fine morphology of microstructures including sensilla, microsculpture and pores were analyzed using Scanning Electron Microscopy. The antenna of O. eremita showed the typical lamellicorn shape of scarab beetles, with a basal scape, a pedicel, a funicle composed of five antennomeres and a club composed of three lamellae. Six different subtypes of sensilla chaetica (Ch.1 - 6), Böhm sensilla (Bo), one subtype of sensilla basiconica (Ba.1), two subtypes of sensilla coeloconica (Co.1 - 2), two subtypes of sensilla placodea (Pl.1 - 2), pores and peculiar folds were described. The two sexes did not show any significant differences in the occurrence and number of the sensilla placodea, known to be responsible for the pheromone reception. Instead, some sexual differences were found on the occurrence and topology of three different microstructures: (1) one subtype of sensillum chaeticum (Ch.2) occurring on the pedicel only in males; (2) a characteristic pore occurring on the funicle only in males; (3) a peculiar fold occurring on different antennomeres of the funicle in the two sexes, on the fourth in males and on the fifth in females. A comparison between sensilla of O. eremita and those of other Scarabaeoidea is provided., (© 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Pygmy populations occupy a vast territory extending west-to-east along the central African belt from the Congo Basin to Lake Victoria. However, their numbers and actual distribution is not known precisely. Here, we undertake this task by using locational data and population sizes for an unprecedented number of known Pygmy camps and settlements (n = 654) in five of the nine countries where currently distributed. With these data we develop spatial distribution models based on the favourability function, which distinguish areas with favourable environmental conditions from those less suitable for Pygmy presence. Highly favourable areas were significantly explained by presence of tropical forests, and by lower human pressure variables. For documented Pygmy settlements, we use the relationship between observed population sizes and predicted favourability values to estimate the total Pygmy population throughout Central Africa. We estimate that around 920,000 Pygmies (over 60% in DRC) is possible within favourable forest areas in Central Africa. We argue that fragmentation of the existing Pygmy populations, alongside pressure from extractive industries and sometimes conflict with conservation areas, endanger their future. There is an urgent need to inform policies that can mitigate against future external threats to these indigenous peoples' culture and lifestyles.

Enlarged weapons and ornamental traits under sexual selection often show a positive allometric relationship with the overall body size. The present study explores the allometry of mandibles and their supporting structure, the head, in males of the European stag beetle, Lucanus cervus. This species shows a remarkable dimorphism in mandible shape and size that are used by males in intraspecific combats. Stag beetles were captured, measured, weighed, and released in the framework of a capture-mark-recapture study. The relationship of mandible length (ML) and head width in respect to the overall body size was described by a segmented regression model. A linear relationship was detected between ML and head width. The scaling relationships for both ML and head width identified the same switchpoint, highlighting the advantages of using combined results of weapons and their supporting structures in such analysis. These results led to a more consistent distinction of males in two morphologies: minor and major. The survival probability of individuals was dependent on the morphological class and was higher for minor males than for major. Elytron length and body mass of the individuals did not show any significant variation during the season. Differences in predatory pressure were detected between morphs by the collection and analysis of body fragments due to the predatory activity of corvids. Morphological differences and shift in demographic and ecological parameters between the two classes suggested that selection continues to favor intrasexual dimorphism in this species throughout a trade-off mechanism between costs and benefits of carrying exaggerated traits., (© 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Fauna Europaea provides a public web-service with an index of scientific names (including synonyms) of all living European land and freshwater animals, their geographical distribution at country level (up to the Urals, excluding the Caucasus region), and some additional information. The Fauna Europaea project covers about 230,000 taxonomic names, including 130,000 accepted species and 14,000 accepted subspecies, which is much more than the originally projected number of 100,000 species. This represents a huge effort by more than 400 contributing specialists throughout Europe and is a unique (standard) reference suitable for many users in science, government, industry, nature conservation and education. Coleoptera represent a huge assemblage of holometabolous insects, including as a whole more than 200 recognized families and some 400,000 described species worldwide. Basic information is summarized on their biology, ecology, economic relevance, and estimated number of undescribed species worldwide. Little less than 30,000 species are listed from Europe. The Coleoptera 2 section of the Fauna Europaea database (Archostemata, Myxophaga, Adephaga and Polyphaga excl. the series Elateriformia, Scarabaeiformia, Staphyliniformia and the superfamily Curculionoidea) encompasses 80 families (according to the previously accepted family-level systematic framework) and approximately 13,000 species. Tabulations included a complete list of the families dealt with, the number of species in each, the names of all involved specialists, and, when possible, an estimate of the gaps in terms of total number of species at an European level. A list of some recent useful references is appended. Most families included in the Coleoptera 2 Section have been updated in the most recent release of the Fauna Europaea index, or are ready to be updated as soon as the FaEu data management environment completes its migration from Zoological Museum Amsterdam to Berlin Museum für Naturkunde.

In the Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda, we compared the scarab beetle assemblages in the dung of three wild ungulates (African buffalo, a ruminant foregut fermenter; hippopotamus, nonruminant foregut fermenter; and warthog, nonruminant hindgut fermenter). Dung was collected from two sandy-clay soils with different percentage of coarse sand. We aimed at investigating habitat resource selection by dung beetle species within a savanna natural contest with abundant and diverse food availability. Analyses were performed to detect differences for dung beetle assemblages in abundance, diversity, functional groups. Species richness in the three dung types and in the two soil types was similar. However, warthog dung and sandy-rich soil appeared the preferred habitat resources, in terms of abundance and biomass, while hippopotamus dung hosted the lowest values for these parameters. The analysis of functional groups revealed that slow-burying tunnellers held the major role, both in terms of abundance and biomass, and were mainly found in warthog dung., (© 2010 Entomological Society of America)

Germarostes (Haroldostes) rugiceps (Germar) and Germarostes (Haroldostes) diffundus (Petrovitz) (Ceratocanthinae) are recorded for the first time for Argentina from Misiones and Corrientes, respectively. This brings to thirteen the total number of the Ceratocanthinae species recorded for Argentina up to now. Some remarks on the type series of G. diffundus and on the collecting circumstances of the Argentine specimens in here discussed are included.