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Conference Abstract
Subterranean fauna in two protected caves in the Hyblean area (Syracuse, Sicily)
expand article infoGiuseppe Nicolosi‡, Elena Amore§, Salvatore Costanzo§, Alberto Sendra|,, Rosolino Cirrincione#, Giovanni Signorello#, Giorgio Sabella#
‡ Centro Speleologico Etneo, Catania, Italy
§ Centro Universitario per la Tutela e la Gestione degli Ambienti Naturali e degli Agroecosistemi, University of Catania, Catania, Italy
| Museu Valencià d'Història Natural, Colecciones Entomológicas Torres-Sala; Servei de Patrimoni Històric, Ajuntament de València, Valencia, Spain
¶ Research Team on Soil Biology and Subterranean Ecosystems. Department of Life Sciences. Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Environmental Sciences. University of Alcalá (UAH), Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain
# Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, section Animal Biology, University of Catania, Catania, Italy
Corresponding author: Giorgio Sabella (sabellag@unict.it)
Received: 16 Sep 2019 | Published: 17 Sep 2019
© 2019 Giuseppe Nicolosi, Elena Amore, Salvatore Costanzo, Alberto Sendra, Rosolino Cirrincione, Giovanni Signorello, Giorgio Sabella
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation: Nicolosi G, Amore E, Costanzo S, Sendra A, Cirrincione R, Signorello G, Sabella G (2019) Subterranean fauna in two protected caves in the Hyblean area (Syracuse, Sicily). ARPHA Conference Abstracts 2: e46626. https://doi.org/10.3897/aca.2.e46626
Open Access

Abstract

Extensive fieldwork has been carried out in two protected caves (Villasmundo and Monello) in eastern Sicily in 2018–2019. The caves, located respectively within the Strict Nature Reserves “Complesso Speleologico Villasmundo-S. Alfio” and “Grotta Monello”, are two of the most important karst systems of the Hyblean area. They are both remarkably developed and possess speleothem specimens of great scientific value such as stalactites, stalagmites, and columns. The study has further increased our knowledge about the existing cave fauna, and focused on the optimization of good conservation practices of hypogean environments. Systematic investigations have confirmed the presence of a rich arthropod community, and, above all, have highlighted species of great importance, including ones new to science. In particular, two pselaphids (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) of the genus Tychobythinus Ganglbauer, 1896 and a dipluran (Entognatha) of the genus Plusiocampa Silvestri, 1912 have been identified and described.

Presenting author

Giorgio Sabella

Presented at

Vth International Congress on Biodiversity: „Taxonomy, Speciation and Euro-Mediterranean Biodiversity“

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