Comiso and the tribute to the naturalist Gianni Insacco

From the limestone cliffs of southeastern Sicily emerges a natural heritage largely still unknown.

A recent scientific survey has indeed identified 60 new entities, including species and subspecies, of terrestrial gastropod mollusks of the genus Muticaria, significantly expanding the picture of the island's biodiversity.

The study, published in the Bulletin of the National Museum of Natural History (Malta), is the result of years of field surveys and in-depth laboratory analyses.

The results demonstrate that this group of mollusks is much more diverse than previously thought, highlighting the biological richness hidden in the microhabitats of eastern Sicily.

The research was coordinated by evolutionary biologist Willy De Mattia, originally from Trieste, trained at the University of Vienna and affiliated with the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien, along with Sicilian malacologist and paleontologist Agatino Reitano, curator of the invertebrate collection at the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Comiso.

The work also represents a tribute to the naturalistic tradition of the island: several of the newly described forms bear names dedicated to Sicilian scholars.

Among others, Muticaria insaccoi insaccoi and Muticaria insaccoi opposita are named after Gianni Insacco, scientific director of the Museum of Natural History of Comiso.

According to the authors, the investigation fills a knowledge gap that has persisted for over a century and substantially updates studies on the terrestrial malacofauna of the Mediterranean.

To find a work of similar significance on Sicilian fauna, one must return to the second half of the nineteenth century, when the naturalist Luigi Benoit published his historic treatise on the mollusks of the island.

The new contribution thus confirms that Sicily remains a true reservoir of biodiversity yet to be explored, capable of providing crucial pieces for the scientific understanding of the Mediterranean.