Halyomorpha halys (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) as the major contributor to early olive drop in northern Italy.

In recent years, a new phenomenon of early olive drop is causing production losses in olive groves throughout northern Italy. To analyze the possible causes, field and laboratory trials were performed to assess the involvement of fungal pathogens and insect pests in this disease. External and internal symptoms of fungal infections or insect-feeding activities were researched.

Population ecology of a critically endangered gecko, endemic to north-eastern of Argentina.

Homonota taragui is an endemic gecko of the northeast of Argentina. We estimate demographic parameters: number of individuals by populations, sex and ontogenetic stage; sexual dimorphism; survival of this species; and describe the use of microhabitat and movement patterns. We measured 11 morphological variables, determined the sex and marked individually.

The isolated rocky outcrops of northeastern Argentina and their role on the herpetofauna conservation.

Isolated rocky outcrops represent biodiversity centers, refuges for endangered species, and favorable scenarios for endemism. Most studies in these ecosystems have been focused mainly on their flora and secondarily on different groups of animals. To highlight the value of rocky outcrops as ecosystems for biodiversity conservation, in the present study, we describe the diversity of herptiles of three isolated rocky outcrops of northeastern Argentina and compare it with that of other natural areas of the region.

Sixty years of work on Italy's Orthopteroids biodiversity, the big data of Galvagni collection.

Background: Historical natural history collections are very important for the study of nature and environmental protection of the environment, these being the depository of essential information. The Fondazione Museo Civico di Rovereto holds two major Orthopteroid insect collections that make this Museum a landmark on Italian and Mediterranean Orthoptera diversity. Databasing the Galvagni Collection allows considerations on geographic and taxonomic coverage by specialist researchers.

Can age and growth patterns explain the geographical variation in the body size of two toad species?

Determining both the age structure and growth pattern allows to establish the causal factors, environmental and/or genetic, that eventually may be responsible for the observed pattern of divergence. We examined the variation in age structure and growth pattern across populations of two toad species, Pelobates cultripes and Epidalea calamita that exhibit a geographic variation in body size in southern Spain. For both species, populations differed in mean age but age structure did not correlate with body size variation across populations.

Morphological responses of three persistent native anuran species after forest conversion into monoculture pine plantations: tolerance or prosperity?

Species loss by habitat replacement operating as an ecological filter is a well-known consequence of modern human activities. In contrast, the ecological and evolutionary response of species overcoming those filters in converted habitats has not been thoroughly explored. Species that persist are subject to novel and potentially stressful conditions that may induce certain morphological changes.

Contrasting life-histories in two syntopic amphibians of the Leptodactylus fuscus group (Heyer 1978).

We used skeletochronology to compare age, size, reproductive parameters and growth patterns of two related, anuran amphibians from Northern Argentina: Leptodactylus bufonius (n=69) and L. latinasus (n=56), in order to better understand their coexistence in syntopy. Previous studies showed that the two species overlap in their dietary requirements and utilize the same habitats for feeding and breeding.