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530 PIETRO LO CASCIO

degree of isolation, and thus the species richness MATERIAL AND METHODS
should be greater on the continental islands rather
than on the oceanic. By contrast, these latter could Geographical setting
be more often characterized by processes of specia-
tion and adaptive radiation. 310 islands distributed between 55°N and 42°S
The first information on insular mutillids is where Mutillidae have been recorded are listed and
due to Fabricius (1775), who described Mutilla grouped in alphabetical order with in the respective
antiguensis from “insula Antigua” (Lesser Antilles, ecoregions in Table 1; another island (High Island)
Caribbean Sea), a species still considered as valid has been mentioned in Table 2 but not in Table 1
although included among the taxa incertae sedis by (see below).
Nonveiller (1990). Just few records were added Ecoregions follow the geographic boundaries
during the first decades of the 19th century by given by Olson et al. (2001) with the only exception
Spinola (1839, 1841), Ghiliani (1842), Westwood of Palearctic which is here subdivided in two dif-
(1843) and Lepeletier de Saint-Fargeau (1845), ferent regions (Western and Eastern), and are listed
while several are those published since the second in clockwise order from East of Greenwich and
half of this century, thanks to the significant from North to South (see also Fig. 1).
increase of the scientific expeditions to the islands As the boundary between Indo-Malay and
carried out, among others, by naturalists such as Australasia is still debated (see Simpson, 1977;
Alfred Russell Wallace. New, 2002; Halloway, 2009 and references therein),
More recently, several studies specifically in the present paper the Weber line was adopted
concerning the insular faunas of Mutillidae or that following the proposals given by Holt et al. (2013).
provide extensive faunal lists have been published According to Echenique-Diaz et al. (2009), all the
(Arnone & Romano, 1995; Brothers, 2012; Japanese islands that lie south of latitude 31° N
Brothers et al., 2011; Esaki, 1938; Hammer, 1950; (Ryūkyū or Nansei Archipelago) are assigned to the
Invrea, 1940, 1952c, 1955a, 1960, 1966; Krombein, Indo-Malay, while Ogasawara (or Bonin) Islands
1949a, 1971, 1972; Lo Cascio & Romano, 2004; Lo belong to the Oceania.
Cascio et al., 2012; McCallan, 1990, 1991a; Island’s name and localization have been checked
Mickel, 1928b, 1933, 1934, 1935; Nonveiller, 1972; using both the Island Directory provided by UNEP
Olsoufieff, 1938; Schembri, 1983; Strumia & (islands.unep.ch/isldir.htm) and the GeoNames
Pagliano, 2014; Strumia et al., 2008; Terayama, Search facility of the US National Geospatial-
2005; Terayama et al., 2011; Tsuneki, 1972a, Intelligence Agency (geonames.nga.mil/ggmagaz/).
1972b; Tsuneki et al., 1993, Turner, 1914; Turrisi, Some Japanese islands were named using al-
1999a), but a comprehensive and updated overview ternatively the suffix -shima or -jima. Asterisks
of all the available data, often scattered in papers after the name indicate *) that the island is artifi-
not eminently dealing with this hymenopteran cially connected to the mainland (or to the nearest
family, is still lacking. main island), **) it is composed by two sub-islands
The aim of the present paper is to provide a (data given in the next columns concern the overall
checklist of the faunal records of Mutillidae for the island), ***) the toponym quoted in literature
islands worldwide (including the estuarine but without further indications concerns an island
excluding fluvial and lacustrine ones). A wide liter- group (whose name is reported into square
ature has been therefore checked in order to achieve brackets), hence geographical data are referred to
a list as exhaustive as possible, even if cannot be its larger island.
excluded that some data may have been neglected, Two-letter code of the country is given accord-
hence reporting of any omissions or mistakes, ing to the International Organization for Standard-
as well as that of new records, is enthusiastically ization (www.iso.org). Surface and elevation are
2
welcomed. respectively indicated in Km (with 0.5 approxima-
In light of the available data, it was also possible tion) and in m a.s.l. Isolation index was calculated
to outline the main biogeographical traits of the according to the proposals given by Dahl (1991; see
island faunas, which are briefly analyzed and dis- also islands.unep.ch/isldir.htm) and successively
cussed in a separate paragraph. assigned to a numerical class (e.g. values ranging