Mattia Menchetti
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View article: All Across North Africa: The Non-Native Longhorn Crazy Ant Paratrechina longicornis (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in Libya and Tunisia
All Across North Africa: The Non-Native Longhorn Crazy Ant Paratrechina longicornis (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in Libya and Tunisia Open
The longhorn crazy ant Paratrechina longicornis (Latreille, 1802) is one of the most widespread ant species worldwide due to human-mediated introductions. It is particularly successful in tropical and subtropical regions across all contine…
View article: Newcomers and Old Friends: Long‐Distance and Bridgehead Introductions Both Contribute to the Recent Invasion of the Little Fire Ant in Southern Europe
Newcomers and Old Friends: Long‐Distance and Bridgehead Introductions Both Contribute to the Recent Invasion of the Little Fire Ant in Southern Europe Open
Aim Biological invasions result from the combination of (i) population dispersal opportunities and (ii) adaptations to the recipient environment. Identifying complex migration histories, made of long‐distance dispersal from the native rang…
View article: Unveiling the occurrence of new aliens in town: the case of conures from urban areas of Italy
Unveiling the occurrence of new aliens in town: the case of conures from urban areas of Italy Open
The global trade in parrots in recent years has led to the establishment of non-native conure populations outside their native range. In Italy, conures are poorly documented compared to other invasive parrot species. Here, we confirm the p…
View article: Crossing borders: Connectivity analyses reveal potential patterns of range expansion of the Northern raccoon in Europe
Crossing borders: Connectivity analyses reveal potential patterns of range expansion of the Northern raccoon in Europe Open
Identifying suitable areas and potential expansion corridors for alien species that can pose negative environmental and socio-economic impacts is essential to guide prevention, monitoring, and management activities. The Northern raccoon Pr…
View article: The genetic legacy of the Quaternary ice ages for West Palearctic butterflies
The genetic legacy of the Quaternary ice ages for West Palearctic butterflies Open
The interplay between geographic barriers and climatic oscillations over the past 2.6 million years structured genetic variation at the continental scale. The genetic legacy of the Quaternary ice ages (GLQ) hypothesis outlines this phenome…
View article: Alien ants spreading through Europe: Brachyponera chinensis and Nylanderia vividula in Italy
Alien ants spreading through Europe: Brachyponera chinensis and Nylanderia vividula in Italy Open
The number of known alien ant species throughout Europe has been steadily increasing during the last few decades and Italy has been no exception, with four new taxa reported in the last five years. Here, we document new data on the Asian n…
View article: A genetic atlas for the butterflies of continental Canada and United States
A genetic atlas for the butterflies of continental Canada and United States Open
Multi-locus genetic data for phylogeographic studies is generally limited in geographic and taxonomic scope as most studies only examine a few related species. The strong adoption of DNA barcoding has generated large datasets of mtDNA COI …
View article: Cardiocondyla obscurior, a new alien ant in Crete (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)
Cardiocondyla obscurior, a new alien ant in Crete (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) Open
Copyright 2024 by the author(s).This work is made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution License, available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
View article: First Record of the Introduced Ant Myrmica specioides In the Eastern United States
First Record of the Introduced Ant Myrmica specioides In the Eastern United States Open
The ant Myrmica specioides Bondroit, 1918 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) is first reported from the Eastern United States. This species is native to the West Palearctic region and has previously been known as an introduced species in Northweste…
View article: The Afrotropical breeding grounds of the Palearctic-African migratory painted lady butterflies (<i>Vanessa cardui</i>)
The Afrotropical breeding grounds of the Palearctic-African migratory painted lady butterflies (<i>Vanessa cardui</i>) Open
Migratory insects are key players in ecosystem functioning and services, but their spatiotemporal distributions are typically poorly known. Ecological niche modeling (ENM) may be used to predict species seasonal distributions, but the resu…
View article: Unrecognized for centuries: distribution and sexual caste descriptions of the West European Aphaenogaster species of the subterranea group (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)
Unrecognized for centuries: distribution and sexual caste descriptions of the West European Aphaenogaster species of the subterranea group (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) Open
There are only two Aphaenogaster species from the subterranea group in the western Mediterranean: A. ichnusa Santschi, 1925, from south-western Europe, and A. subterranea (Latreille, 1798), also occurring in central and eastern Europe. His…
View article: Migration ecology in insects: integrative approaches to trace long-distance movements of the Painted Lady butterfly (Vanessa cardui)
Migration ecology in insects: integrative approaches to trace long-distance movements of the Painted Lady butterfly (Vanessa cardui) Open
Migratory insects may move in very large numbers, even surpassing migratory vertebrates in biomass. However, the extent of aerial flows of insects circulating around the planet, as well as their impact on ecosystems and biogeography, remai…
View article: Discard butterfly local extinctions through untargeted citizen science: the interplay between species traits and user effort
Discard butterfly local extinctions through untargeted citizen science: the interplay between species traits and user effort Open
The detection of extinctions at local and regional scales in many biodiversity hotspots is often hindered by the lack of long-term monitoring data, and thus relies on time series of occurrence data. Citizen science has repeatedly shown its…
View article: Quantitative morphology and mtDNA reveal that Lasius maltaeus is not endemic to the Maltese Islands (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)
Quantitative morphology and mtDNA reveal that Lasius maltaeus is not endemic to the Maltese Islands (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) Open
Lasius maltaeus Seifert, 2020 was recently described as a Maltese endemic ant based on quantitative morphology, after decades of uncertainties over the identity of the local population, which has a phenotype resembling L. emarginatus (Oliv…
View article: Revisiting the morphological species groups of West-Palearctic Aphaenogaster ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) under a phylogenetic perspective: toward an evolutionary classification
Revisiting the morphological species groups of West-Palearctic Aphaenogaster ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) under a phylogenetic perspective: toward an evolutionary classification Open
The West-Palearctic region is a diversity hotspot for the ant genus Aphaenogaster . Species in this region are characterized by high morphological variation, which has led to their subdivisioninto different infrageneric groups. The very fi…
View article: Climate change may cause the extinction of the butterfly Lasiommata petropolitana in the Apennines
Climate change may cause the extinction of the butterfly Lasiommata petropolitana in the Apennines Open
Climate change represents a threat to narrow-ranged mountain species living in low-altitude massifs. We studied the disjunct Apennine population of Lasiommata petropolitana (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae) in the Gran Sasso and Monti della Laga …
View article: The atlas of mitochondrial genetic diversity for Western Palaearctic butterflies
The atlas of mitochondrial genetic diversity for Western Palaearctic butterflies Open
Motivation Butterflies represent a model in biology and a flagship group for invertebrate conservation. We provide four new resources for the Western Palaearctic butterflies: (1) an updated checklist comprising 552 species; (2) a curated d…
View article: Climate change may cause the extinction of the butterfly Lasiommata petropolitana in the Apennines
Climate change may cause the extinction of the butterfly Lasiommata petropolitana in the Apennines Open
Climate change represents a threat to narrow-ranged mountain species living in low-altitude massifs. We studied the disjunct Apennine population of Lasiommata petropolitana (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae) in the Gran Sasso and Monti della Laga …
View article: The worrying arrival of the invasive Asian needle ant Brachyponera chinensis in Europe (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)
The worrying arrival of the invasive Asian needle ant Brachyponera chinensis in Europe (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Open
Support for this research was provided by ”la Caixa” Foundation (ID 100010434) to Mattia Menchetti (grant LCF/BQ/DR20/11790020).
View article: Accelerated avian invasion into the Mediterranean region endangers biodiversity and mandates international collaboration
Accelerated avian invasion into the Mediterranean region endangers biodiversity and mandates international collaboration Open
Despite posing a serious threat to global biodiversity, national and international management efforts have not been able to limit the spread of most invasive species. In highly dispersive species, local invasions may be followed by regiona…
View article: Following the Apennines: updating the distribution of Formica clara and Formica rufibarbis in Italy (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)
Following the Apennines: updating the distribution of Formica clara and Formica rufibarbis in Italy (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) Open
Formica clara is an ant species that was historically confused with other congeneric species such as F. rufibarbis until recent taxonomic developments. Due to such misunderstanding, while F. clara is known to occur across a very large Eura…
View article: Morphology and phenology of sexuals and new distribution data on the blind Mediterranean ant Hypoponera abeillei (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)
Morphology and phenology of sexuals and new distribution data on the blind Mediterranean ant Hypoponera abeillei (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) Open
Hypoponera abeillei is the sole member of the otherwise exclusively Afrotropical abeillei group to occur in the West-Palearctic and since its first description on the basis of two Corsican workers in 1881, it remained little-known. Workers…
View article: The isolated <i>Erebia pandrose</i> Apennine population is genetically unique and endangered by climate change
The isolated <i>Erebia pandrose</i> Apennine population is genetically unique and endangered by climate change Open
Climate change is causing shifts in the distribution of many species and populations inhabiting mountain tops are particularly vulnerable to these threats because they are constrained in altitudinal shifts. Apennines are a relatively narro…
View article: CHECKLIST OF MACRO-INVERTEBRATES OF THE SPECIAL CONSERVA-TION AREA “POGGI DI PRATA” (GROSSETO, CENTRAL ITALY)THROUGH A CITIZEN-SCIENCE AND EXPERT-BASED APPROACH
CHECKLIST OF MACRO-INVERTEBRATES OF THE SPECIAL CONSERVA-TION AREA “POGGI DI PRATA” (GROSSETO, CENTRAL ITALY)THROUGH A CITIZEN-SCIENCE AND EXPERT-BASED APPROACH Open
The assessment of species composition in a certain area may become outdated over time due to community dynamics including species range expansion, but also to local extinctions, species introductions and taxonomic redefinition. Therefore, …
View article: New distributional data for the Mediterranean medicinal leech Hirudo verbana Carena, 1820 (Hirudinea, Hirudinidae) in Italy, with a note on its feeding on amphibians
New distributional data for the Mediterranean medicinal leech Hirudo verbana Carena, 1820 (Hirudinea, Hirudinidae) in Italy, with a note on its feeding on amphibians Open
Scarce data are currently available about the distribution of the Mediterranean medicinal leech Hirudo verbana in Italy, and most of the known occurrence localities are based on records collected in the nineteenth and the first half of the…
View article: No association between candidate genes for color determination and color phenotype in<i>Hierophis viridiflavus,</i>and characterization of a contact zone
No association between candidate genes for color determination and color phenotype in<i>Hierophis viridiflavus,</i>and characterization of a contact zone Open
Genetic and phenotypic differentiation in allopatric conditions can be explained either by neutral phenomena or adaptative processes driven by selection. In reptiles, coloration can affect aspects directly related to their survival, repres…