title: An annotated checklist of the Recent non-marine ostracods (Ostracoda: Crustacea) from Italy.
abstract: We present an updated checklist of non-marine ostracods from Italy. Data were obtained from the published literature up to April 2013 and new collections carried out in 18 out of 20 Italian regions. Altogether, 1665 ostracod samples were collected from 1241 new sites visited between 1981 and 2013. Sites were selected to encompass the most widespread types of freshwater aquatic habitats (i.e., pools, ponds, peat bogs, springs and streams, etc.). This field study led to the identification of 89 ostracod species. Five additional taxa remained at the generic level because only few (juvenile) individuals were available or the material was damaged. Of particular interest is the occurrence of four species new to Italy: Candonocypris novaezelandiae, Eucypris elongata, Ilyocypris getica and I. hartmanni. In addition, three putative new species (Pseudolimnocythere sp., Candona sp.1 and Eucypris sp.1) are left in open nomenclature. After synonymising several species and removing invalid taxa reported in the literature, the updated checklist now includes 152 species and 5 taxa identified at supraspecific level, belonging to 57 genera and 12 families (Candonidae, Cyprididae, Cytherideidae, Darwinulidae, Ilyocyprididae, Notodromadidae, Limnocytheridae, Leptocytheridae, Loxochonchidae, Hemicytheridae, Xestoleberididae and Entocytheridae). For each species, its distribution in Italy and its bibliographic records (including synonyms) for Italy are provided.
authors.affiliation: Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Freshwater Biology, Vautierstraat 29, Brussels 1000, Belgium Department of Chemistry, Physics and Environment, University of Udine, via del Cotonificio 108, 33100 Udine, Italy; Email: valentina.pieri@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Pieri
authors.affiliation: Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Freshwater Biology, Vautierstraat 29, Brussels 1000, Belgium University of Ghent, Department of Biology, Ledeganckstraat 35, 9000 Gent, Belgium; Email: unknown.
authors.forename: Koen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Martens
authors.affiliation: Musée national d'histoire naturelle, 25 rue Münster, 2160 Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. 5Department of Life Sciences, University of Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze11A, 43124 Parma, Italy; Email: unknown.
authors.forename: Claude
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Meisch
authors.affiliation: Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Freshwater Biology, Vautierstraat 29, Brussels 1000, Belgium; Email: valentina.pieri@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Giampaolo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rossetti
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D057189:Checklist; D003445:Crustacea; D007558:Italy