The first annotated checklist of Pentatomoidea (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) fauna of Alta Murgia National Park (Apulia region, Southern Italy).

Information regarding Pentatomoidea is scarce in Southern Italy, and in particular concering the Apulia region (Sourthern Italy), an area of high biodiversity potential. We conducted an extensive survey of Pentatomoidea fauna in the Alta Murgia National Park, a Site of Community Importance, and neighbouring areas located in central part of Apulia region. The survey was carried out in 2016, 2017 and 2020, sampling different habitat types. We found 55 species, with five new records for Apulia: Solenosthedium bilunatum, Acrosternum millierei, Sciocoris homalonotus, Cyphostethus tristriatus and Holcogaster fibulata. The polyphagous pest Halyomorpha halys was found only in urban areas, whereas Ventocoris falcatus, Ellipsocoris kalashiani and Tholagmus flavolineatus, considered rare species, were collected in dry grasslands, confirming the crucial role of natural habitat for biodiversity conservation.

Correlations between As in Earthworms' Coelomic Fluid and As Bioavailability in Highly Polluted Soils as Revealed by Combined Laboratory X-ray Techniques.

Combined X-ray-based spectroscopy techniques were applied to investigate arsenic (As) bioaccumulation in earthworms (Eisenia andrei) exposed to six field-collected polluted soils (58-13 330 mg As kg-1). After 14 days of exposure to the arsenious soils, the As distribution in earthworms was examined by micro-X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (µXRF), after epoxy resin embedding and preparing thin sections. Similar to µXRF data, XRF-computed tomography (XRF-CT) confirmed As accumulation in the coelom of intact earthworms. Therefore, total-reflection XRF was used to determine total As within both the whole earthworm's body (AsE) and coelomic fluid extracts (AsF). Bioaccumulation data (AsE and AsF) were thereafter evaluated in relation to total As concentration in soils (AsT) and to As mobile fraction in soils. A significant linear correlation (R2 = 0.97) was found between AsE and AsF, indicating that the As sequestrated into the coelomic fluid may reflect the total body concentration. Therefore, we may conclude that the As concentration in the coelomic fluid can be used as an index of As availability. This paper demonstrates that by combining different laboratory X-ray analytical techniques, compartmentalization and bioavailability of potentially toxic elements can be visualized and quantified within indicator-living organisms, thus contributing to an improved risk assessment for contaminated soils.

Influence of the erineum strain of Colomerus vitis (Acari: Eriophyidae) on grape (Vitis vinifera) defense mechanisms.

Grape (Vitis vinifera) is commonly affected by the erineum strain of Colomerus vitis (GEM) in Iran and the susceptibility of grape cultivars to GEM is poorly understood. In order to evaluate the impact of GEM on grape and its defense mechanisms against the mite, an exploratory study was carried out on 19 cultivars (18 Iranian and the non-native Muscat Gordo). The differential susceptibility of cultivars to GEM was compared on the basis of the area of leaf damage induced by GEM. The cultivars White Thompson seedless of Bovanat, Atabaki Zarghan, Koladari Ghoochan and Sahebi Uroomie were less susceptible to GEM, whereas Ghalati Dodaj, Rishbaba, Muscat Gordo and Neyshaboori Birjand appeared to be the most affected by the mite. In a no-choice setup, plants of selected cultivars of these two groups were infested by GEM and assayed for 10 biomarkers usually related to plant stress mechanisms against plant feeders: the activity of defense enzymes-peroxidase (POX), polyphenol oxidase (PPO), superoxide dismutase (SOD), phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), catalase (CAT), the amount of total polyphenolics, total flavonoids, total soluble carbohydrates, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and malondialdehyde (MDA) expressing lipid peroxidation. The biomarkers were assessed in grape leaves 7 days before releasing the mites, as well as 7, 14 and 28 days after infestation (DAI). The activity of the enzymes and the amount of the compounds usually increased in percentage after mite infestation. A significant negative correlation was found between the area of leaf damage and PPO, POX, SOD, MDA and H2O2 for all sampling dates. The area of leaf damage showed a significant positive correlation with total soluble carbohydrates at 28 DAI, and significant negative correlations with CAT (at 14 and 28 DAI), PAL and total flavonoids (at 7 DAI). No correlation was observed between area of leaf damage and total polyphenolics. The biomarkers PPO, SOD, CAT activity and H2O2 provided the best explanation for the response of grape cultivars to GEM infestation.