Atlas of the Odonata of western Sicily

Given their sensitivity to environmental alterations, odonates act as reliable bioindicators of possible changes in freshwater ecosystems and associated terrestrial habitats. The geographical area spanning from Carini to Trapani and Sciacca (Provinces of Palermo, Trapani, and Agrigento - Sicily, It...

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Main Author: Salvatore Surdo
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: PAGEPress Publications 2025-04-01
Series:Natural History Sciences
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Online Access:https://sisn.pagepress.org/nhs/article/view/782
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author Salvatore Surdo
author_facet Salvatore Surdo
author_sort Salvatore Surdo
collection DOAJ
description Given their sensitivity to environmental alterations, odonates act as reliable bioindicators of possible changes in freshwater ecosystems and associated terrestrial habitats. The geographical area spanning from Carini to Trapani and Sciacca (Provinces of Palermo, Trapani, and Agrigento - Sicily, Italy) is largely urbanized, and its territory is heavily altered, especially in proximity to the seacoast at low altitude. Despite this pervasive anthropization, the area is still characterized by a variety of freshwater habitats, possibly harboring rich odonate assemblages that, however, have never been thoroughly investigated. This study, aimed at producing the first commented checklist of the Odonata of this area enriched by distribution maps, is based on 2951 records, derived from the literature (n=293), citizen-science projects (n=102), and unpublished data mainly collected by the author and spanning from 2015 to 2023 (n=2556). Despite being densely populated, strongly urbanized, agriculturally exploited, and characterized by scarce and altered heterogeneous freshwater habitats, the geographical area encompassed in this study still hosts a remarkable diversity of Odonata. Indeed, 39 species observed in the study area represent almost half (41%) of the species ever recorded in Italy (n=95) and 27% of those recorded in Europe (n=146). Despite extensive research, two species reported in the bibliography, namely Lestes dryas and Aeshna cyanea have not been contacted.
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spelling doaj-art-48e4b2b983a94825812fe4bb4247d0712025-08-20T02:16:09ZengPAGEPress PublicationsNatural History Sciences2385-04422385-09222025-04-0110.4081/nhs.2025.782Atlas of the Odonata of western SicilySalvatore Surdo0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0300-837XSAAF Department, University of Palermo Given their sensitivity to environmental alterations, odonates act as reliable bioindicators of possible changes in freshwater ecosystems and associated terrestrial habitats. The geographical area spanning from Carini to Trapani and Sciacca (Provinces of Palermo, Trapani, and Agrigento - Sicily, Italy) is largely urbanized, and its territory is heavily altered, especially in proximity to the seacoast at low altitude. Despite this pervasive anthropization, the area is still characterized by a variety of freshwater habitats, possibly harboring rich odonate assemblages that, however, have never been thoroughly investigated. This study, aimed at producing the first commented checklist of the Odonata of this area enriched by distribution maps, is based on 2951 records, derived from the literature (n=293), citizen-science projects (n=102), and unpublished data mainly collected by the author and spanning from 2015 to 2023 (n=2556). Despite being densely populated, strongly urbanized, agriculturally exploited, and characterized by scarce and altered heterogeneous freshwater habitats, the geographical area encompassed in this study still hosts a remarkable diversity of Odonata. Indeed, 39 species observed in the study area represent almost half (41%) of the species ever recorded in Italy (n=95) and 27% of those recorded in Europe (n=146). Despite extensive research, two species reported in the bibliography, namely Lestes dryas and Aeshna cyanea have not been contacted. https://sisn.pagepress.org/nhs/article/view/782ChecklistconservationdistributiondragonfliesmapTrapani
spellingShingle Salvatore Surdo
Atlas of the Odonata of western Sicily
Natural History Sciences
Checklist
conservation
distribution
dragonflies
map
Trapani
title Atlas of the Odonata of western Sicily
title_full Atlas of the Odonata of western Sicily
title_fullStr Atlas of the Odonata of western Sicily
title_full_unstemmed Atlas of the Odonata of western Sicily
title_short Atlas of the Odonata of western Sicily
title_sort atlas of the odonata of western sicily
topic Checklist
conservation
distribution
dragonflies
map
Trapani
url https://sisn.pagepress.org/nhs/article/view/782
work_keys_str_mv AT salvatoresurdo atlasoftheodonataofwesternsicily