Page 9 - Muscarella_Baragona_2017

The endemic fauna of the sicilian islands 257

species, in the islet of Lampione (ssp. rottembergi until the last glaciation they have been connected
Canzoneri, 1972) and in Tunisia, Pantelleria and to continental Africa. They therefore own a rich
Sardegna (ssp. schlicki Gebien, 1906). amount of species revolving around northern
Africa, arrived via land during this period which,
Pelagie Islands with the sea level rise, have successively remained
trapped in the two islands. Here they have under-
The Pelagie Islands are connected to each other gone more or less marked speciations. Linosa,
only from a geographical (and not geological) point moreover, has never had contact with other land,
of view. Lampedusa and Lampione are two contin- therefore the origin of its population is to be
ental carbonate (Agnesi & Federico, 1995). Differ- searched only on active or passive colonisations
ently, Linosa formed between one million and that happened during some hundreds of thousands
500,000 years ago during three different stages of of years. This partially explains the scarcity of spe-
volcanic activity (see Tranne, 2002). The difference cies in Linosa in confrontation to Lampedusa (1021
in their birth reflects also on the size of their popu- species, between Molluscs e Arthropods, were
lations and on the level of endemism. While Linosa found in Lampedusa, only 349 in Linosa: AA.VV.,
has only 8 endemic species, Lampedusa has 25; 9 2009d). This faunistic poverty is attributable not
are found on Lampione. Lampedusa and Lampione only to the different origin of the islands, but also
are the last emerged outpost of the African plate and to their different extension (Lampedusa is 20.2

Figure 5. Number of endemic taxa per island. Figura 6. Number of endemic species
Some taxa are present in more than one island. per Coleoptera family

Figure 7. Number of endemic taxa per island. Figure 8. Regression curve for the relationship Island area
2
Some taxa are present in more than one island. in km (A)-number of endemic taxa present (E) (see text).