A Sicilian–Cretan biogeographical disjunction in the land snail genus Cornu (Gastropoda: Helicidae)

Land Snail ◽

Western Mediterranean ◽

Long Distance ◽

Western Africa ◽

Abstract We report an unusual biogeographical disjunction between the western and the eastern Mediterranean region. Cornu (Gastropoda: Helicidae) is a western Mediterranean land snail genus. It includes Cornu (Cornu) aspersum, which originated in north-western Africa and was distributed by humans for food or accidentally, first throughout the Mediterranean region and, subsequently, to all continents except Antarctica. It also includes three species belonging to the subgenus Erctella, which are all endemic to Sicily. We discovered a new species of Cornu on the Greek island of Crete. The morphological and molecular genetic analyses showed that the species from Crete is a disjunct representative of the subgenus Erctella. We hypothesize that the disjunction originated by a long-distance dispersal event of the ancestors of the Cretan species from Sicily by birds or by sea currents, perhaps facilitated by a tsunami or a similar event. The Cretan lineage separated from the Sicilian species in the Late Miocene or Early Pliocene. This divergence time is compatible with the hypothesis that the ancestor of Cornu cretense sp. nov. was washed from Sicily to Crete by the Zanclean flood that refilled the Mediterranean basin after it had dried up during the Messinian salinity crisis.

Antibiotic Resistance Surveillance and Control in the Mediterranean Region: report of the ARMed Consensus Conference

The Journal of Infection in Developing Countries ◽

10.3855/jidc.210 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 3 (09) ◽

pp. 654-659 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Michael A. Borg ◽

Barry D. Cookson ◽

Peter Zarb ◽

Elizabeth A. Scicluna ◽

ARMed Steering Group & Collaborators *

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Antibiotic Resistance ◽

Antimicrobial Resistance ◽

Mediterranean Region ◽

Care Delivery ◽

Eastern Mediterranean ◽

Consensus Conference ◽

The Mediterranean ◽

And Control

Antimicrobial resistance has become a global threat to effective health care delivery. This is particularly the case within the Mediterranean region, where data from recent studies suggests the situation to be particularly acute. A better knowledge base, as well as a collaborative effort, is therefore required to address this ever increasing challenge to effective patient care. Over its four-year period, the Antibiotic Resistance Surveillance and Control in the Mediterranean Region (ARMed) project investigated the epidemiology of antimicrobial resistance, as well as its contributory factors, in a number of countries in the southern and eastern Mediterranean region through the collection of comparable and validated data. The project culminated in a consensus conference held in Malta in November 2006. The conference provided a forum for expert delegates to agree on a number of priority strategic recommendations that would be relevant to resistance containment efforts in the region. There was general agreement on the need for surveillance and audit to underpin any intervention to tackle antimicrobial resistance, both to monitor changing epidemiological trends in critical pathogens as well as to identify antibiotic consumption practices and effectiveness of prevention and control of health care associated infections. In addition, the importance to convey these data to key users was also stressed in all workshops, as was better education and training of health care workers. The recommendations also made it clear that ownership of the problem needs to be improved throughout the region and that resources, both financial as well as human, must be allocated by the respective policy makers in order to combat it.

The Chondrilla gall midge, Cystiphora schmidti (Rübsaamen) (Diptera, Cecidomyiidae). II. biology and host specificity

Bulletin of Entomological Research ◽

10.1017/s0007485300005757 ◽

1975 ◽

Vol 65 (1) ◽

pp. 55-64 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

L. A. Caresche ◽

A. J. Wapshere

Keyword(s):

Host Specificity ◽

Low Temperatures ◽

Mediterranean Region ◽

Eastern Mediterranean ◽

Gall Midge ◽

Western Mediterranean ◽

Control Programme ◽

Lower Epidermis ◽

Southern Greece

AbstractA Cecidomyiid gall midge, Cystiphora schmidti (Rübsaamen), lives on several related Chondrilla spp. occurring from Greece and eastern Europe to Iran. Its biology and host specificity were studied in the eastern Mediterranean region as part of the biological control programme against the weed C. juncea (Compositae, Cichoriaceae) in Australia. The adult female oviposits into the lower epidermis of the plant where small circular to ovoid raised galls are produced on the rosette, stem leaves and the stem. All the immature stages are completed inside the gall in 24–44 days, allowing 6–7 generations per year in southern Greece before low temperatures prevent development of overwintering larvae. The midge is heavily parasitised in Greece by two species of Eulophidae. Particularly in southern Greece, dense gall populations cover the leaves and stems of C. juncea, causing death of leaves, stunting and less seeding. Tests against 76 species of plants including some Cichoriaceae closely related to Chondrilla showed that Cystiphora schmidti is specific to the genus Chondrilla. Comparative tests with Cystiphora schmidti from Greece against four forms of Chondrilla juncea showed that the midge was adapted to its usual Greek host but was less closely adapted to a western Mediterranean form. The Greek strain of the midge readily attacked and thrived on the main Australian form of C. juncea.

Subduction Orogeny and the Late Cenozoic Evolution of the Mediterranean Arcs

Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences ◽

10.1146/annurev-earth-060115-012419 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 46 (1) ◽

pp. 261-289 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Leigh Royden ◽

Claudio Faccenna

Keyword(s):

Convergence Rate ◽

Mediterranean Region ◽

Eastern Mediterranean ◽

Tectonic Setting ◽

Western Mediterranean ◽

Driving Mechanism ◽

Late Cenozoic ◽

Central Mediterranean ◽

The Mediterranean ◽

Collisional Orogens

The Late Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the Mediterranean region, which is sandwiched between the converging African and European continents, is dominated by the process of subduction orogeny. Subduction orogeny occurs where localized subduction, driven by negative slab buoyancy, is more rapid than the convergence rate of the bounding plates; it is commonly developed in zones of early or incomplete continental collision. Subduction orogens can be distinguished from collisional orogens on the basis of driving mechanism, tectonic setting, and geologic expression. Three distinct Late Cenozoic subduction orogens can be identified in the Mediterranean region, making up the Western Mediterranean (Apennine, external Betic, Maghebride, Rif), Central Mediterranean (Carpathian), and Eastern Mediterranean (southern Dinaride, external Hellenide, external Tauride) Arcs. The Late Cenozoic evolution of these orogens, described in this article, is best understood in light of the processes that govern subduction orogeny and depends strongly on the buoyancy of the locally subducting lithosphere; it is thus strongly related to paleogeography. Because the slow (4–10 mm/yr) convergence rate between Africa and Eurasia has preserved the early collisional environment, and associated tectonism, for tens of millions of years, the Mediterranean region provides an excellent opportunity to elucidate the dynamic and kinematic processes of subduction orogeny and to better understand how these processes operate in other orogenic systems.

Epidémiologie moléculaire du sérotype 9 du virus de la fièvre catarrhale ovine en région méditerranéenne

Revue d’élevage et de médecine vétérinaire des pays tropicaux ◽

10.19182/remvt.10057 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 62 (2-4) ◽

pp. 148

Author(s):

K. Nomikou ◽

S. Maan ◽

N. S. Maan ◽

P. P.C. Mertens

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

South African ◽

Mediterranean Region ◽

Reference Strain ◽

Eastern Mediterranean ◽

Eastern European ◽

The Family ◽

The Mediterranean ◽

First Time

Bluetongue virus (BTV) is the prototype species of the genus Orbivirus within the family Reoviridae. There are 24 (possibly 25) distinct serotypes of BTV, eleven of which have entered, or have been identified in Europe and the Mediterranean region since 1998 (types 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11, 15, 16, 24 and 25). The first BTV to arrive in Greece during 1998 was serotype 9 (isolate GRE1998/01), followed by BTV-16 (GRE1999/13) during 1999. BTV-9 spread to mainland Greece, South-Eastern Bulgaria and European Turkey during 1999, to Italy during 2000, then to Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Croatia, mainland Italy and Sicily in 2001. In 2002, BTV-9 was again identified in Bosnia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Yugoslavia and Albania, and was identified in Libya for the first time in 2008. The whole genome was sequenced for representative field and vaccine strains of BTV-9 and 16 from the Mediterranean region, identifying the levels of genetic heterogeneity in each genome segment. The early European isolates of BTV-9 (1998 onwards) were identified as ‘eastern’ strains related to those from India, Indonesia and Australia. BTV-16 isolates are also eastern strains that are most closely related to strains from Turkey and the South African reference strain of type 16 (originally from Pakistan). Analyses of the more conserved genome segments coding for structural and non-structural proteins of BTV-9 (from Bosnia, Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey) and BTV-16 (from Greece and Turkey) show that the Eastern European isolates of these two serotypes have the remaining eight genome segments (1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10) with more than 99% similarity, in each case belonging to the same eastern lineage. These data show that the BTV-9 and 16 isolates that were circulating in the Mediterranean region are reassortants, with the majority of their genome segments derived from a single parental lineage. However, the BTV-9 isolate from Libya (LIB2008/08) is more closely related to the western BTV-9 reference strain from South Africa than to the earlier BTV-9 isolates from Eastern Europe. Analysis of the more conserved segments of LIB2008/08 showed only 79.8–80.2% similarity with the eastern European BTV-9 isolates from the Eastern Mediterranean region, but 89–93.5% similarity with the BTV-9 reference and vaccine strains from South Africa. BTV-9 from Libya belongs to a distinct western lineage of viruses and represents both a new introduction to the Mediterranean region and a new threat to Europe.

Precipitation climatology over Mediterranean Basin from ten years of TRMM measurements

Advances in Geosciences ◽

10.5194/adgeo-17-87-2008 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 17 ◽

pp. 87-91 ◽

Cited By ~ 55

Author(s):

A. V. Mehta ◽

S. Yang

Keyword(s):

Mediterranean Sea ◽

Rainy Season ◽

Mediterranean Region ◽

Large Scale ◽

Eastern Mediterranean ◽

Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission ◽

Western Mediterranean ◽

Sea Temperature ◽

Maximum Rainfall ◽

Abstract. Climatological features of mesoscale rain activities over the Mediterranean region between 5° W–40° E and 28° N–48° N are examined using the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) 3B42 and 2A25 rain products. The 3B42 rainrates at 3-hourly, 0.25°×0.25° spatial resolution for the last 10 years (January 1998 to July 2007) are used to form and analyze the 5-day mean and monthly mean climatology of rainfall. Results show considerable regional and seasonal differences of rainfall over the Mediterranean Region. The maximum rainfall (3–5 mm day−1) occurs over the mountain regions of Europe, while the minimum rainfall is observed over North Africa (~0.5 mm day−1). The main rainy season over the Mediterranean Sea extends from October to March, with maximum rainfall occurring during November–December. Over the Mediterranean Sea, an average rainrate of ~1–2 mm day−1 is observed, but during the rainy season there is 20% larger rainfall over the western Mediterranean Sea than that over the eastern Mediterranean Sea. During the rainy season, mesoscale rain systems generally propagate from west to east and from north to south over the Mediterranean region, likely to be associated with Mediterranean cyclonic disturbances resulting from interactions among large-scale circulation, orography, and land-sea temperature contrast.

The Climate System

The Physical Geography of the Mediterranean ◽

10.1093/oso/9780199268030.003.0013 ◽

2009 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Andrew Harding ◽

Jean Palutikof

Keyword(s):

High Pressure ◽

Mediterranean Region ◽

Eastern Mediterranean ◽

Western Mediterranean ◽

Subtropical High ◽

Westerly Wind ◽

The West ◽

The North ◽

Dry Conditions ◽

The Mediterranean region has a highly distinctive climate due to its position between 30 and 45°N to the west of the Euro-Asian landmass. With respect to the global atmospheric system, it lies between subtropical high pressure systems to the south, and westerly wind belts to the north. In winter, as these systems move equatorward, the Mediterranean basin lies under the influence of, and is exposed to, the westerly wind belt, and the weather is wet and mild. In the summer, as shown in Figure 3.1, the Mediterranean lies under subtropical high pressure systems, and conditions are hot and dry, with an absolute drought that may persist for more than two or three months in drier regions. Climates such as this are relatively rare, and the Mediterranean shares its winter wet/summer dry conditions with locations as distant as central Chile, the southern tip of Cape Province in South Africa, southwest Australia in the Southern Hemisphere, and central California in the Northern Hemisphere. All have in common their mid-latitude position, between subtropical high pressure systems and westerly wind belts. They all lie on the westerly side of continents so that, in winter, when the westerly wind belts dominate over their locations, they are exposed to rain-bearing winds. In the Köppen classification (Köppen 1936), these climates are known as Mediterranean (Type Cs, which is subdivided in turn into maritime Csb and continental Csa). The influence of the Mediterranean Sea means that the Mediterranean-type climate of the region extends much further into the continental landmass than elsewhere, and is not restricted to a narrow ocean-facing strip. Nevertheless, within the Mediterranean region climate is modified by position and topographic influences can be important. The proximity of the western Mediterranean to the Atlantic Ocean gives its climate a maritime flavour, with higher rainfall and milder temperatures throughout the year. The eastern Mediterranean lies closer to the truly continental influences of central Europe and Asia. Its climate is drier, and temperatures are hotter in summer and colder in winter than in the west. Annual rainfall is typically around 750 mm in Rome, but only around 400 mm in Athens.

Temperature extremes in the Mediterranean area: trends in the past and assessments for the future

Natural Hazards and Earth System Science ◽

10.5194/nhess-10-2039-2010 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 10 (10) ◽

pp. 2039-2050 ◽

Cited By ~ 46

Author(s):

E. Hertig ◽

S. Seubert ◽

J. Jacobeit

Keyword(s):

Mediterranean Region ◽

Eastern Mediterranean ◽

Mediterranean Area ◽

Western Mediterranean ◽

Temperature Extremes ◽

Extreme Temperatures ◽

The Past ◽

Opposite Trend ◽

Maximum Temperatures

Abstract. Trends of Mediterranean extreme temperatures are analysed for the period 1961–1990 based on daily station time series. Increases can be identified in the western Mediterranean area, whereas an opposite trend becomes apparent for the eastern Mediterranean region. Assessments of the 95th percentile of maximum temperatures in summer and of the 5th percentile of minimum temperatures in winter for the 21st century under enhanced greenhouse warming conditions are performed by means of statistical downscaling techniques. Mainly increases of both extreme indices result from these assessments, but considerable differences arise when using different predictors or predictor combinations, respectively. Furthermore, the results give strong indications that changes in temperature extremes do not follow a simple shift of the whole temperature distribution to higher values.

Revision of the Genus Schizoretepora (Bryozoa, Cheilostomatida) from the Atlantic-Mediterranean region

European Journal of Taxonomy ◽

10.5852/ejt.2019.536 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Teresa Madurell ◽

Mary Spencer Jones ◽

Mikel Zabala

Keyword(s):

Geographical Distribution ◽

Mediterranean Region ◽

Eastern Mediterranean ◽

Western Mediterranean ◽

Type Specimens ◽

Northeast Atlantic ◽

Historical Collections ◽

We examined the type specimens and historical collections holding puzzling Atlantic and Mediterranean material belonging to the genus Schizoretepora Gregory, 1893. We performed a detailed study of the colonial characters and re-describe the resulting species and those that have rarely been found or have poor original descriptions. As a result of this revision, nine species are found in the northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean. Six of them are re-described and illustrated: S. aviculifera (Canu & Bassler, 1930), S. calveti d’Hondt, 1975, S. imperati (Busk, 1884), S. sp. nov.? (= S. imperati sensu O’Donoghue & de Watteville 1939) (in open nomenclature, specimen lacks ovicells), S. pungens (Canu & Bassler, 1928) and S. solanderia (Risso, 1826). For S. dentata (Calvet, 1931), no material remains; furthermore, S. hassi Harmelin, Bitar & Zibrowius, 2007 and S. serratimargo (Hincks, 1886) have recently been described and redescribed, respectively. This new arrangement attains a coherent geographical distribution: S. imperati seems restricted to the eastern Atlantic, S. dentata and S. calveti are deepwater species from Atlantic islands, S. pungens and S. aviculifera dwell on the African coasts of the Western Mediterranean, S. hassi and S. sp. nov.? (=S. imperati sensu O’Donogue & de Wateville 1939) are confined to the Eastern Mediterranean, and S. solanderia and S. serratimargo live on the European coasts of the Mediterranean.

New constraints on the Eastern Mediterranean δ18O:δD relationship

Ocean Science Discussions ◽

10.5194/osd-8-39-2011 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 39-53 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

K. A. Cox ◽

E. J. Rohling ◽

G. A. Schmidt ◽

R. Schiebel ◽

S. Bacon ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mediterranean Region ◽

Eastern Mediterranean ◽

Current System ◽

Geochemical Data ◽

Salinity Range ◽

Surface Ocean ◽

East Greenland Current ◽

The World ◽

Abstract. Previous work on oxygen and hydrogen isotope data from Eastern Mediterranean water samples has defined a mixing relationship in this region that is different from the world surface ocean. This prompted speculations about the hydrological processes in the Mediterranean region. We present new δ18O and δD data from the Eastern Mediterranean region and the East Greenland Current system, spanning a wide salinity range. These data define δ18O:δD relationships for both regions that are consistent with the world surface ocean δ18O:δD relationship, despite the highly evaporative conditions that prevail in the Mediterranean region. These new geochemical data have suggested that the world surface ocean &delta18O:δD relationship holds throughout almost the entire global salinity range.

Seven at one blow: the origin of major lineages of the viviparous Lycian salamanders (Lyciasalamandra Veith and Steinfartz, 2004) was triggered by a single paleo-historic event

Amphibia-Reptilia ◽

10.1163/15685381-00003067 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 37 (4) ◽

pp. 373-387 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Michael Veith ◽

Bayram Göçmen ◽

Konstantinos Sotiropoulos ◽

Sarah Kieren ◽

Olaf Godmann ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mediterranean Region ◽

Eastern Mediterranean ◽

Molecular Data ◽

Western Mediterranean ◽

Messinian Salinity Crisis ◽

Pleistocene Glaciations ◽

Intraspecific Divergence ◽

Time Estimates ◽

Low Degree

The number of tectonic and climatic events that are used to explain speciation processes in the eastern Mediterranean region is low compared to the western Mediterranean. Among them, the emergence of the mid-Aegean trench and the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC) often concurred with speciation time estimates that were inferred from molecular data. We here present a dated molecular phylogeny of Lyciasalamandra from Turkey and Greece based on ca. 4500 bp of the mitochondrial genome (3000 bp of three nuclear genes appeared to be completely inconclusive due to their extremely low degree of variation among taxa). Seven major lineages emerged simultaneously from a basal hard polytomy. A scenario that dates this polytomy to 12.3 and 10.2 million years ago, around the final emergence of the mid-Aegean trench, appears to be most plausible. The MSC can be made responsible for first intraspecific divergence events within L. luschani, L. fazilae and L. flavimembris. Further diversification can be explained by Pliocene and Pleistocene glaciations. Based on levels of molecular differentiation we suggest the recently described species L. arikani, L. irfani and L. yehudahi to be treated as subspecies of L. billae.