Page 17 - Zapparoli_2007

The presence of Schendyla armata is of some interest. This species is tied to
Mediterranean forest ( Quercus ilex, Q. su ber), an d i t is present in southern
France, Sardinia, Tuscany and Lazio. In these iatter two Italian regions, it has
been reported oniy on singie records at iow aititude iocaiities, Prato and
Tuscania respectively.
Among the relatively common species is Eupolybothrus nudicornis. lt is aiso
a thermophilous species, found in Malta, North Mrica, Spain (but the data
needs to be confirmed), southern France, Corsica and in Itaiy, where it is dis-
tributed in the western Alps, Ligurian Apennines, aiong the whoie peninsu-
ia (excluding the south-eastern regions), in Siciiy and in Sardinia. In the cen-
trai Apennines, E. nudicornis is especially frequent in open habitats, mostly
at 500-1,800 m above sea ievel and often characterize the high elevation grass-
iand centipede communities (1,800-2,000 m) as, far exampie, on the Laga
and Simbruini-Ernici Mountains and on the Gran Sasso massif.
Henia vesuviana also belongs to the group of species of western distribution.
I t is present throughout western Europe, as far east as Romania; it is synanthro-
pous in centrai Europe, uncertain records are from North Mrica and it has been
introduced in North America. It is ve1y common throughout continental and
insuiar Italy where it is a forest element, reguiarly present in broad-ieaf forests,
particuiariy in the oakwoods. In the studied area, it is present in the forest for-
mations up to l ,400 m elevati o n, but rarely encountered at higher elevations.
Lithobius infossus is also part of this group. lt is the oniy Tyrrhenian endem-
ie species reported in the studied area. This species is essentialiy inhabiting
thermophiious and thermomesophiious forest formations. lt is present in
Liguria, aiong the ltaiian peninsuia excluding the south-eastern areas, in
Sardinia and Siciiy. I t is aiso known from Lombardy and Veneto, where per-
haps it has been introduced.

Southern component

Nine species with Mediterranean sensu stricto chorotype are included in this
group. Two species are more or iess widely distributed throughout Itaiy with
the exclusion of the Alps an d the south-eastern regions, Himantarium gabrielis
and Stigmatogaster gracilis. H gabrielis, tendentially thermophiious, is found
in a wide variety of habitats in Italy, from open to arbustive and forest habi-
tats. In the centrai Apennines it coionizes mostly oakwoods but sometimes
other typoiogies of forests, such as bee2hwoods, both those at ordinary eleva-
tions in the Anti-Apennines (Lepini and Ausoni-Aurunci) and in the western
Apennines mountains chains (Sabini and Simbruini-Ernici), and those at iower
elevations of the Lazio reliefs of volcanic origin. S. gracilis is frequent in the
broad-ieaf forest formations.

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