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14 F. MARRONE & G. MURA

ature. This datum is in agreement with the observations carried out by
CVETKOVIC ´-MILIC ˇ IC ´ et al. (2004), who consider Branchipus schaefferi to be a
“warm stenothermal to eurythermal species”.
Branchipus pasai is a species with a controversial taxonomical status;
according to BELK & BRTEK (1995) it is possibly a synonym of B. schaefferi.
The most common and widespread large branchiopod species in Sicilian
inland waters is Chirocephalus diaphanus. It is an euriecious taxon inhabiting
both the coastal plain and high altitude ponds, both in pasture lands and in
wooded areas. Conversely, the species belonging to the genus Branchipus,
showed themselves to be confined to ephemeral and shallow water bodies
located at low altitude. Few specimens belonging to the “visnyai form” of
Branchipus schaefferi occur syntopically with individuals belonging to the
“typica form”, as previously recorded in the former Yugoslavia (PETROV &
MARINC ˇEK, 1991; PETKVOSKI, 1997) and in the Maltese Islands (LANFRANCO,
2001). “Branchipus visnyai” Kerstéz, 1956 is presently thought to be a syn-
onym of B. schaefferi (BELADJAL & MERTENS, 1999; ZARATTINI et al., 2001),
although further studies are needed to definitely clarify the situation.
Artemia salina proved to be still present in the Trapani and Marsala salt-
works, while it seems to be extinct in the Siracusa saltworks. AMAT et al.
(2005) recorded the presence of the allochthonous species Artemia franciscana
(Kellog, 1906) in Portugal and along the Mediterranean coasts of France and
Spain. The cyst sample they studied from Isola Longa (Trapani saltworks),
collected in 1985, proved to belong to the autochthonous Mediterranean
species A. salina, but this has yet to be confirmed by recent checks, since
MURA et al. (in press) found the invasive A. franciscana in the saltworks of
Margherita di Savoia (Apulia).
Two notostracan species have been reported in Sicily: Triops cancriformis
and Lepidurus apus lubbocki. Unfortunately, in spite of the previous findings
of apparently gonochoric populations of T. cancriformis on the island, all the
populations recently found in Sicily appear to be maleless.
Cyzicus tetracerus is the only spinicaudatan found in the frame of the
th
th
present survey. The females we collected show the 9 and 10 pairs of limbs
modified as a egg-bearing flabellum. This datum is in accordance with the
features typical of the family Cyzicidae (ALONSO, 1996; DUMONT & NEGREA,
2002) but contrasts with COTTARELLI & MURA (1983), who report only the
th
10 pair of limbs as ovigerous in the specimens they collected in Torre del-
l’Orsa (Palermo province), a population which has nowadays disappeared.
As already outlined, it is possible that the Leptestheria cf. cortieri col-
lected by COTTARELLI & MURA, (1979) is, in fact, Leptestheria mayeti (THIÉRY,
1987; BRTEK & THIÉRY, 1995; ALONSO, 1996), an African spinicaudatan com-
mon in Maghreb and known also to occur on Balearic islands (PRETUS, 1990).