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48 SALVATORE PASTA ET ALII

The second half of PRE, more exposed to south- Adriani 1962, the base of the rocky and steep inland
ern winds and, thus, to salt-spray, is less disturbed is colonized by several species of the class Crithmo-
by seagulls and it is covered by a species-poor Limonietea, and the cliffs host some perennial grass-
chenopod halo-xero-nitrophilous scrubland domi- land species, truly rupicolous species such as
nated by Suaeda vera (SE) or by Arthrocnemum Dianthus rupicola subsp. rupicola and even a little
macrostachyum (SW and S) and referred to the nucleus of low, scattered and extremely simplified
class Sarcocornietea fruticosae Br.-Bl. et R. Tx. ex maquis with Chamaerops humilis, Pistacia lentis-
A. et O. de Bolòs 1950 em. O. de Bolòs 1967. cus and Asparagus acutifolius.

ROT is characterized by a low halophilous Notes on the invertebrate fauna
shrubland ascribed to Crithmo-Limonietea Br.-Bl.
in Br.-Bl., Roussine et Nègre 1952 and dominated As concerns PRE, a remarkable number of ani-
by Limbarda crithmoides and Limonium aegusae mals was collected and/or recorded during A & JS
(Fig. 7). 1 visit on the islet. Except from Cantareus apertus
(Born, 1778), all the other (8 species) collected spe-
Due to its extremely low elevation and its even cies of terrestrial Mollusca still await identification.
topography, no plant communities could be detec- So goes for three species of Lepisma Linnaeus,
ted on GAL, except from a little Arthrocnemum 1758 and for four species of Hymenoptera. Two spec-
macrostachyum halophilous scrub. It worths to be imens of one species of Formicidae were also col-
emphasized the local frequency of Hyoscyamus lected. Moreover, several individuals of Orthoptera,
albus, a plant which is normally associated with shel- like Calliptamus barbarus (Costa, 1836), Aiolopus
tered/shaded nutrient-rich ruderal communities, a pat- strepens (Latreille, 1804), Anacridium aegyptium
tern also observed at Maraone (S. Pasta pers. obs.). (Linnaeus, 1758), Eyprepocnemis plorans (Charpen-
tier, 1825) and Acrida sp. (Acrididae) were ob-
Probably due to its shape and elevation FLE served. Among the few collected Coleoptera it has
shows the highest richness in terms of number been possible to identify the narrow endemic
of plant communities. In fact, its bare and rocky Otiorhynchus (Arammichnus) aegatensis (Solari et
coasts host a mosaic-like vegetation dominated by Solari, 1913). More detailed information on the ani-
halophilous species-poor chenopod scrubland re- mals observed/collected at PRE is provided in Table 3.
ferred to Sarcocornietea fruticosae intermingled
with little spots of therophytic vegetation ascribed
to Saginetea maritimae Westhoff, Van Leeuwen et

Phylum Order Family Species Nr ind. Status

Mollusca Gastropoda Helicidae Cantareus apertus 53 A

Arthropoda Orthoptera Acrididae Calliptamus barbarus c. 15 A

Arthropoda Orthoptera Acrididae Aiolopus strepens 3A

Arthropoda Orthoptera Acrididae Anacridum aegyptium 7 B

Arthropoda Orthoptera Acrididae Eyprepocnemis plorans 73 A

Arthropoda Coleoptera Curculionidae Otiorhynchus (Arammichnus) 11 A
aegatensis

Table 3. Prospect, number of individuals and status of the identified terrestrial invertebrates observed and/or collected by
A&JS during their visit to PRE. Abbreviations concerning the “status” column: A = living and B = living and/or migratory.