ROMA (ITALPRESS) – A team of researchers from CREA Foreste e Legno, within the national project NBFC (National Biodiversity Future Center) and with the collaboration of the municipality of Polia (VV), has discovered a new species of microliter: Agonopterix calavrisella sp. nov., belonging to the Depressariidae family. The discovery was published in the international scientific journal Zootaxa.
The new species has been identified in the course of a long campaign of monitoring the night lepidopter in the forests of Calabria, an area known for the high value of biodiversity. Agonopterix calavrisella has distinctive morphological characteristics and a significant genetic divergence compared to the most similar species, Agonopterix liturosa.
“This discovery confirms once again how the territories of southern Italy host a unique biodiversity, which we are only beginning to know – says Stefano Scalercio, the researcher of CREA Foreste and Wood that coordinated research and monitoring activities. – Integration between genetic analysis and morphological study has proved fundamental to recognize this species as unpublished for science.”.
The moth was found in hilly and mountain forests of the central-southern Calabria, in fresh and humid environments with dense vegetation and was abundant above all in the Vallone Milo of the municipality of Polia (VV), an area characterized by a shady hole and well preserved mixed woods, where there is also the rare Jura fern Woodwardia radicans (L.) Sm.
“These discoveries have a value that goes beyond the taxonomic interest – adds Sara La Cava, the first author and co-descriptor of the species –. Knowing biodiversity accurately, in fact, is essential to design effective strategies for conservation and management of forest ecosystems.” “The discovery of our researchers – says President CREA, Andrea Rocchi, – confirms the incredible biodiversity of our country and the need to study it in order to protect and value it, for the benefit of all.”.
– CREA press office photos –
(ITALPRESS).
