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Boll. Soc. Entomol. 136/3 29-11-2004 17:56 Pagina 228

228 LO CASCIO & ROMANO

occurrence on the same island of potentially complementary taxa, previously regarded
as different species, increases the probability of a correct sex association, even in ab-
sence of mating observations. Moreover, several species show restricted distributions
and low dispersal ability, due to apterogyny.

In the last few years we had the opportunity to examine a large number of speci-
mens collected on the Italian minor islands, preserved in both private and public
collections, and to carry out field investigations on the Mutillid wasps of Tuscan, Aeo-
lian, Egadi, and Sicily Channel islands. The aim of the present paper is to attempt a
synthesis of the relevant current faunal knowledge. Systematics and nomenclature fol-
low the recent “Catalogue of the Mutillidae of the Palaearctic Region” (Lelej, 2002),
with the exception of the placement of S. fasciaticollis (Spinola, 1843), recently raised
to specific rank by Turrisi (1999). Detailed data related to the specimens collected on
the Sicily Channel islands were published in a previous paper by Arnone & Romano
(1995) and are omitted from the Species list of the present work.

The following abbreviations have been used: MSNB = Museo Civico di Storia Na-
turale “E. Caffi”, Bergamo; MSNG = Museo Civico di Storia Naturale “G. Doria”, Genoa;
MZUF = Sezione di Zoologia “La Specola”, Museo di Storia Naturale, Florence; RA = R.
Alliata collection, kept at the Museo Regionale di Scienze Naturali, Terrasini (PA); AC =
A. Carapezza collection, Palermo; PL = P. Lo Cascio collection, Lipari (ME); MM = M.
Mei collection, Rome; MR = M. Romano collection, Capaci (PA); CS = C. Sala collec-
tion, Modena; FT = F. Terzani collection, Florence; CV = C. Violani collection, Milan.

SYNOPSIS OF THE INVESTIGATIONS ON THE MUTILLID WASPS OF ITALIAN MINOR ISLANDS

The earliest records of Mutillid wasps from the Italian minor islands are due to
the pioneering research carried out in the late 19th century. Costa (1883; 1885) published
the results of the entomological explorations of Asinara and Isola Piana, while Riggio
(1885) quoted a specimen collected on Ustica. The most interesting record is undoubt-
edly the finding of Mutilla arenaria F., reported by Failla Tedaldi (1887) from Lampedusa.
It is currently considered as a synonym of Dasylabris atrata (L.), but there is a possi-
bility that the record should be referred to Dasylabris juxtarenaria Skorikov, not easily
distinguished from the previous species (Petersen, 1988). Both are North-African taxa
whose presence in Italy is restricted to Lampedusa island. The record of Mutilla are-
naria on Lampedusa was published at the same time by Riggio & De Stefani-Perez (1888)
and Costa (1887). Later, Mantero (1905; 1909) devoted two papers to the knowledge
of the Hymenoptera of Giglio and Asinara, based on material collected by G. Doria and
S. Folchini respectively. These papers reported six species of Mutillid wasps from Giglio
and ten from Asinara. Only few records are known for other Circumsardinian and Tus-
can islands, which are still largely unexplored (see Zavattari, 1910a; 1912; Masi, 1933;
Invrea, 1952b), while new contributions to the faunal knowledge of Asinara were giv-
en by Invrea (1951; 1952a; 1955a; 1955b), who revised the Mantero’s specimens preserved
at the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Genoa. Around the middle of 20th century, the
records of Mutillidae from the Italian islands were gathered by Invrea in his “Fauna