Vol. 79 No. 5-6 (2024)
Articles

From the Eocene forests of the Baltic Sea to the Vallombrosa forest. A journey of 40 million years of a tiny insect: Malthodes vallombrosa Parisi & Fanti, 2024 (Coleoptera: Cantharidae)

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  • Francesco Parisi,
  • Fabrizio Fanti
Francesco Parisi
Dipartimento di Bioscienze e Territorio, Università degli Studi del Molise, C. da Fonte Lappone, 86090 Pesche (IS), Italy. NBFC, National Biodiversity Future Center, Palermo 90133, Italy.
Fabrizio Fanti
Ricercatore indipendente
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/ifm-1151

Published 2025-02-07

Keywords

  • Italian Academy of Forest Sciences; beetle; conifers and deciduous species; Eocene; sustainable forest management.

How to Cite

Parisi, F., & Fanti, F. (2025). From the Eocene forests of the Baltic Sea to the Vallombrosa forest. A journey of 40 million years of a tiny insect: Malthodes vallombrosa Parisi & Fanti, 2024 (Coleoptera: Cantharidae). L’Italia Forestale E Montana, 79(5-6), 239–245. https://doi.org/10.36253/ifm-1151

Copyright (c) 2025 Francesco Parisi, Fabrizio Fanti

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Abstract

During the Eocene, about 40 million years ago, the forests of the Baltic Sea were complex ecosystems with a humid subtropical climate, dominated by conifers and deciduous species. The analysis of fossil amber reveals a rich biodiversity of arthropods and plants, suggesting heterogeneous habitats. Recently, a new species of beetle: Malthodes vallombrosaParisi & Fanti, 2024, was described and dedicated to the Vallombrosa Forest in Tuscany, a symbol of sustainable forest management. These ecosystems provide important insights into past ecological dynamics and their impact on current biodiversity. The study of fossil ambers from past forest ecosystems and contemporary organisms in a well-protected ecosystem like Vallombrosa, allows us to understand ecological aspects of species that are now extinct but share many traits in common with those that exist today.
PDF (Italiano)

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