Faunistic and zoogeographic aspects of central Apennines centipede fauna (Chilopoda)

Abstract

Biogeographia vol. XX V/// - 2007 (Pubblicato il 30 dicembre 2007) Biogeografia dell ’Appennino centrale e settentriona/es trenfanni dopo Faunistic and zoogeographic aspects of central Apennines centipede fauna (Chilopoda) MARZIO ZAPPAROLI Dipzzrtimmto (Ii Proteziorze zlelle Pitmte, Unit/er5z'rz‘z degli Studi ale!/rz Tuscizz, via Srm Camilla die Lellzk 5.715., 01100 Viterbo (Italy); e—mrzi[: zzzppa7‘o[@zz7zitus. it Keywords: Chilopoda, zoogeography, faunistic, central Apennines, Italy SUMMARY Sixty—seVen species of centipedes (1 Scutigeromorpha, 31 Lithobiomorplm, 8 Scolopendromorpha, 27 Geophilomorpha) have been recorded in the area of peninsular Italy between the valleys of Ombrone and Foglia Rivers to the north and Volturno and Fortore Rivers to the south (Apenninic and Anti—Apenninic limestone ranges. hilly and flatlands areas along the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic coasts: nearly 52,700 km: wide). This number is equal to about the 42% ofthe total Centipede species recorded in Italy (160) and to about the 14% ofthose present in Europe (486). The species recorded, apart from those excluded because of uncertain taxonomic identity (3 species) or introduced (2 species), belong to the Following main chorotypes (pattern of distribution) of the western Palearctic fauna: chorotypes ofspecies widely spread in the I-Ioloarcric Region (4: W—Palearctic, 1 species; Sibero—European, 1 species; Centralasiatic—European, 1 species; Turano—European, 1 species), 6.5%; chorotypes of species more or less widely spread in Europe (26: European, 8 species; Centraleuropean, 7 species; S—European, 10 species; \X/—European, 1 species), 41.9%; chorotypes ofspecies more or less widely spread in the Mediterranean countries (16: Mediterranean, 10 species; \X/—Mediterranean, Sspecies; E—Mediterranean, 1 species), 25.8%; endemics (16: Italian, 1 species;Alpino— Apenninic, 2 species; W—Alpii1o—Apenninic, 1 species; Apenninic, 11 species; Tyrrhenian, 1 species), 25.8%. The Mediterranean geophilomorph Centipede SC/.'7¢’77l{}/[(1 rtrm/Itrz (Brolemann, I901), previously known in Italy from Sardinia and Tuscany, was recorded for the first time in central Italy. INTRODUCTION The central Apennines is one of the more explored and better studied areas in Italy fiom faunistic and zoogeographic points of View (Ruffo, 1957; AA.VV., 1971 ; Vigna Taglianti, 1980; Ruffo and Vigna Taglianti, 1988; Ruffo and Stoch, 2006). However, there has been insufficient research focused in this region about centipedes, a group of terrestrial arthropods of reliable faunistic, biogeographic and ecological interest (Zapparoli and Minelli, 2006). Only recently a catalogue of the species has been published (Zapparoli, 2006a) in which, besides offering a critical synthesis of the published information, is reported a conspicuous num- ber of unpublished faunistic records. This catalogue, together with some recent