The Italian natural history museums are facing a critical situation, due to the progressive loss of scientific relevance, decreasing economic investments, and scarcity of personnel. This is extremely ...alarming, especially for ensuring the long-term preservation of the precious collections they host. Moreover, a commitment in fieldwork to increase scientific collections and concurrent taxonomic research are rarely considered priorities, while most of the activities are addressed to public events with political payoffs, such as exhibits, didactic meetings, expositions, and talks. This is possibly due to the absence of a national museum that would have better steered research activities and overall concepts for collection management. We here propose that Italian natural history museums collaborate to instate a "metamuseum", by establishing a reciprocal interaction network aimed at sharing budgetary and technical resources, which would assure better coordination of common long-term goals and scientific activities.
Aim
Determine the evolutionary origin of the heretofore poorly characterized contemporary Great White Shark (GWS; Carcharodon carcharias) of the Mediterranean Sea, using phylogenetic and dispersal ...vicariance analyses to trace back its global palaeo‐migration pattern.
Location
Mediterranean Sea.
Taxon
Carcharodon carcharias.
Methods
We have built the largest mitochondrial DNA control region (CR) sequence dataset for the Mediterranean GWS from referenced historical jaws spanning the 19th and 20th centuries. Mediterranean and global GWS CR sequences were analysed for genetic diversity, phylogenetic relationships and divergence time. A Bayes factor approach was used to assess two scenarios of GWS lineage divergence and emergence of the Mediterranean GWS line using fossil records and palaeo‐geographical events for calibration of the molecular clock.
Results
The results confirmed a closer evolutionary relationship between Mediterranean GWS and populations from Australia–New Zealand and the North‐eastern Pacific coast rather than populations from South African and North‐western Atlantic. The Mediterranean GWS lineage showed the lowest genetic diversity at the global level, indicating its recent evolutionary origin. An evaluation of various divergence scenarios determined the Mediterranean GWS lineage most likely appeared some 3.23 million years ago by way dispersal/vicariance from Australian/Pacific palaeo‐populations.
Main conclusion
Based on the fossil records, phylogeographic patterns and divergence time, we revealed that the Mediterranean GWS population originated in the Pliocene following the Messinian Salinity Crisis. Colonization of the Mediterranean by GWS likely occurred via an eastward palaeo‐migration of Australian/eastern Pacific elements through the Central American Seaway, before the complete closure of the Isthmus of Panama. This Pliocene origin scenario contrasts with a previously proposed scenario in which Australian GWS colonized the Mediterranean via antipodean northward migration resulting from navigational errors from South Africa during Quaternary climatic oscillations.
The genus Atractus Wagler 1828 comprises almost 150 currently recognized species of cryptozoic snakes widespread in the Neotropics, occurring from Panama to northeastern Argentina (Passos et al. ...2016a). Despite the publication of the descriptions of several new species within the last decade, the taxonomy of the genus is unclear in some instances. This is mainly due to the fact that a number of poorly delimited taxa still exist (Passos et al. 2018). The most frequent problem faced by taxonomist working with the genus Atractus is the lack of specimens available for several species, most of them only still being known from their types, a situation that considerably weakens the definition of species boundaries between closely related taxa (Passos et al. 2010a, 2013). More importantly, many of the previously recognized species may represent aberrant individuals with unusual or abnormal scale counts, anomalous azygous or fused cephalic plates, infrequent polychromatic patterns, or any combination of these states (see Passos et al. 2016b). In the course of a thorough taxonomic review of the genus (Passos 2008; Passos et al. 2018), an effort has been made to examine all of the available types (including those apparently lost or misplaced in collections) and material of historical importance that was previously referred to the genus in the literature, and these were then compared to newer samples collected more recently. During the examination of the collections of the Natural History Museum of London and the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale of Genova, we found important specimens of Atractus from Bolivia. However, in order to better understand all the problems related to these old and "forgotten" Bolivian snakes, we need to examine their history.
Abstract
Skull shape analysis provides useful information on wildlife ecology and potential local adaptations. Common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) often differentiate between coastal and ...offshore populations worldwide, and skull shape analyses can be particularly useful in this context. Here we quantify skull shape variation between coastal populations from the Gulf of Guayaquil (Ecuador) and the Mediterranean Sea, compared to offshore specimens from multiple oceans. We analysed skull shape differences using 3D models from museum specimens through geometric morphometrics (3DGM). Two complementary landmark approaches included single-point semi-landmarks in homologous features, as well as pseudo-landmarks placed automatically. Results show skull shape distinction between both coastal populations and offshore specimens. Offshore specimens showed little differentiation between distinct locations. Skull shape patterns mostly diverged in the shape and length of rostrum, as well as the shape of the ascending processes of the maxilla, pterygoids, and occipital bones. However, both coastal populations differed in the patterns and direction of change of those features and were also morphologically distinct. Our results are consistent with local data on site fidelity and social structure in the coastal populations. Skull shape changes suggest divergent feeding and sound production patterns are potential drivers, probably specific to the local environment of each community.
In the city of Genoa (NW Italy) three breeding species of Psittaciformes are known to occur: Psittacula krameri, Amazona ochrocephala and Amazona aestiva. We planned to update the knowledge of these ...alien species involving citizens in a project coordinated and managed by professional scientists and technicians from the Genoa University, the Natural History Museum “G. Doria”, the Municipality of Genoa and the Ligurian Environmental Protection Agency (ARPAL). The aims of the research are to highlight and quantify the impact on the urban environment of parrots and parakeets and evaluate which aspects of their presence are most perceived (negatively or positively) by citizens. The data obtained so far, on the basis of 227 observations, have allowed us to outline some aspects of the biology and habits of local Psittaciformes. We have related these characteristics to the impact that these species have on citizens, in terms of hygienic problems and levels of appreciation. The results, if confirmed by further data, will help us to develop targeted management measures but also to improve communication strategies for the future involvement of citizens in data collection.
Natural history museums are irreplaceable tools to study and preserve the biological diversity around the globe and among the primary actors in the recognition of species and the logical repositories ...for their type specimens. In this paper we surveyed the consistency of the preserved specimens of amphibians and reptiles housed in the major Italian scientific collections, and verified the presence of threatened species according to the IUCN Red List, including the Extinct (EX), Extinct in the Wild (EW), Critically Endangered (CR), Endangered (EN), and Vulnerable (VU) categories. Altogether, we analyzed 39 Italian zoological collections. We confirmed the presence of one extinct reptile (Chioninia coctei) and five extinct or extinct in the wild amphibian species (Atelopus longirostris, Nectophrynoides asperginis, Pseudophilautus leucorhinus, P. nasutus, and P. variabilis). Seven CR amphibians, fourteen CR reptile species and the extinct skink C. coctei are shared by more than one institution. Museums which host the highest number of threatened and extinct amphibian species are respectively Turin (17 CR and 1 EX), Florence (13 CR and 1 EX), and Trento (15 CR and 1 EW), while for reptiles the richest museums are those from Genoa (15 CR and 1 EX), Florence (11 CR and 1 EX), and Pisa (7 CR). Finally, we discussed the utility of natural history museums and the strategies to follow for the implementation of their functionality.
We report about the rediscovery of the holotype of the Southeast Asian striped skink Lipinia vittigera and provide a detailed redescription together with photographs and drawings. The species was ...first described by George Albert Boulenger in 1894 as Lygosoma vittigerum based on a specimen collected by Elio Modigliani on the island of Sereinu (= Sipura), west of Sumatra. The original type specimen was considered to be lost for more than a century and was recently rediscovered in the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale “Giacomo Doria” (MSNG) in Genova, Italy.
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