Il ragno violino (Loxosceles spp.): c’è davvero da temerlo?

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I ragni violino (genere Loxosceles) sono una grande paura di molte persone. Anche in Italia a volte giungono agli onori della cronaca per presunte segnalazioni o per presunti incidenti causati dal loro morso. Non ultimo, il caso recentemente segnalato, poi smentito, di morte causata dal morso di Loxosceles.

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A dicembre il libro “Predatori del Microcosmo”

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Verrà presentato il 1 Dicembre presso Museo di Storia Naturale “G. Doria” di Genova il mio primo libro, intitolato “Predatori del Microcosmo”, che ho scritto a “quattro mani” insieme al mio grande amico e collega Francesco Tomasinelli.

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Good lungless mom: Hydromantes strinatii

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I know I know… you think your mommy is the best in the world! She surely is, but believe me or not, she’s in good company! There are lungless cave salamanders which can protect their eggs against fungi, bacteria and predators by standing, fighting and starving for no less than 9 months.

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The parasite’s parasite: everyone has a bad day

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Among the most astonishing things about the rainforests is that in your entire life, even living inside one of them, you will not be able to witness every phenomenon of this immense “box” of marvels. Maybe a lot of them, maybe “almost” everything, but not all.

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Nuove edizioni per i Predatori

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Doppia edizione della mostra scientifica che organizzo ormai da tanti anni! Un’edizione per la mostra “Predatori del Microcosmo”, questa volta al Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Morbegno (SO) ed una per “Zanne, corazze e veleni” a Roma presso il Museo Civico di Zoologia.

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Even more s…t today!

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Well, it’s been a while I didn’t update my website but you know, I was busy with shit… yes, well, shit-like animals I must admit. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a perv, but it’s just that into nature there’s more than one species that look like other animal’s poop (scientists call it “fecal mimicry”)!

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Jeeeez, you look like s**t today: the bird-dropping spider Phrynarachne sp.

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Mimicry is among the most studied topic in Natural History and camouflage can be really striking sometimes. The day I found my first dung-mimic spider (Phrynarachne sp.) in Borneo I understood once again why.

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Finding a friend again: the giant alpine spider Vesubia jugorum

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There are moments and experiences that just stay there, in your mind, forever. And they come up when you’re doubtful of the future, about what you’ve done of your life. They come to mind also during lighter and happier moments, as when you remember them together with the people that were there with you. The Giant Alpine spider Vesubia jugorum is the keeper-species of one of those experiences.

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A night into the forest

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At Wayqecha Biological Station my photography group followed a researcher to look for frogs and other smaller creatures in the steep slopes of the Peruvian cloud forest which, for the sake of justice, wasn’t cloudy at all that night!

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