Terrestrial slugs (Gastropoda, Pulmonata) in the NATURA 2000 areas of Cyprus island

Terrestrial slugs of the Island of Cyprus were recently studied in the framework of a study of the whole terrestrial malacofauna of the island. The present work was carried out in the Natura 2000 conservation areas of the island in 155 sampling sites over three years (2004–2007). Museum collections as well as literature references were included. In total six species are present in the Natura 2000 areas of the island, belonging to three families: Limacidae, Agriolimacidae and Milacidae. One of the species, Milax riedeli, is a new record for the island. The distribution of the species across the island and in the surrounding areas is discussed

Terrestrial slugs (Gastropoda, Pulmonata) in the NATURA 2000 areas of Cyprus island

Terrestrial slugs of the Island of Cyprus were recently studied in the framework of a study of the whole terrestrial malacofauna of the island. The present work was carried out in the Natura 2000 conservation areas of the island in 155 sampling sites over three years (2004–2007). Museum collections as well as literature references were included. In total six species are present in the Natura 2000 areas of the island, belonging to three families: Limacidae, Agriolimacidae and Milacidae. One of the species, Milax riedeli, is a new record for the island. The distribution of the species across the island and in the surrounding areas is discussed

Terrestrial slugs (Gastropoda, Pulmonata) in the NATURA 2000 areas of Cyprus island

Terrestrial slugs of the Island of Cyprus were recently studied in the framework of a study of the whole terrestrial malacofauna of the island. The present work was carried out in the Natura 2000 conservation areas of the island in 155 sampling sites over three years (2004–2007). Museum collections as well as literature references were included. In total six species are present in the Natura 2000 areas of the island, belonging to three families: Limacidae, Agriolimacidae and Milacidae. One of the species, Milax riedeli, is a new record for the island. The distribution of the species across the island and in the surrounding areas is discussed

Incipient Range Expansion of Green Turtles in the Mediterranean

16 pages, 4 figures, supporting information https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.17790.-- Data Availability Statement: 2bRAD raw data are available at the European Nucleotide Archive (ENA) under the project PRJEB70796In response to global climate change, numerous taxa are expanding their living ranges. In highly migratory species such as sea turtles, this expansion may be driven by individuals from nearby or distant areas. Recent nests outside the species' typical nesting range and reports of adult-sized individuals in the western Mediterranean suggest a green turtle (Chelonia mydas) range expansion into the central and western Mediterranean. To assess the green turtles' origin in these novel habitats, we built a genomic baseline using 2bRAD sequencing on five individuals from each of three Regional Management Units (RMUs): North Atlantic, South Atlantic and Mediterranean. We then compared this baseline with genotyped hatchlings from three nests laid in new central and eastern Mediterranean sites and four mature-sized green turtles tagged with satellite telemetry in the western Mediterranean. Our analyses revealed that the Tunisia nest originated from the South Atlantic RMU, while the Crete nests were produced by turtles from the Mediterranean RMU. Additionally, the three adult-sized turtles sampled in the southwestern Mediterranean were assigned to the South Atlantic RMU, while the mature-sized individual sampled in the northwestern Mediterranean belonged to the Mediterranean RMU. These results suggest a simultaneous incipient colonisation by two geographically distant RMUs. We propose that the range expansion of green turtles into the central and western Mediterranean is likely climate driven and these populations may become globally important as temperatures rise. Finally, our results highlight the essential role of the cost-effective RAD-Seq genomic assessment combined with tagging data to understand potential new colonisationsThis work was supported by the Spanish government (AEI), Ramon y Cajal postdoctoral program (#RYC2021-03438), Universitat de Barcelona, 2020 PREDOC-UB, MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and ERDF/EU, BlueDNA (PID2023-146307OB), MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, MarGeCh (PID2020-118550RB), MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and the ‘European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR’, GenoMarTur (CNS2022-135205), Generalitat de Catalunya, SGR2021-01271, and Regional Partnership for Coastal and Marine Conservation (PRCM), ‘Survie des Tortues Marines’, and the Fundação. Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), UIDB/00329/2025 and 2023.07021.CEECIND/CP2831/CT0012. 10.54499/2023.07021.CEECIND/CP2831/CT0012With the institutional support of the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S)Peer reviewe

Updated global conservation status and priorities for marine turtles

Assessing conservation status and pursuing applicable management priorities for marine megafauna across multiple scales pose significant challenges. Because marine turtles exemplify these challenges, the IUCN Marine Turtle Specialist Group (MTSG) developed the ‘conservation priorities portfolio’ (CPP) framework in 2011 to evaluate population risk and threats for regional management units (RMUs). Here, the MTSG updated the 2011 CPP framework through an inclusive assessment process. Expert elicitation results involving 145 individuals from 50 countries suggested that marine turtle conservation status appears to be improving, but significant challenges remain. Since the previous assessment, long-term abundance trends increased on average, and threat impact scores improved for nearly twice as many RMUs (53%) as worsened (28%) (≥ 10% threshold for changes in numeric scores). While expert-assessed threat impacts have generally decreased, fisheries bycatch remains the highest scored threat across regions and species. Risk-Threat categories improved for most (54%) RMUs. Over 40% of RMUs were scored as Low Risk-Low Threats, eight of which were green turtles Chelonia mydas. Less than 20% of RMUs were scored as High Risk-High Threats, four of which were leatherback turtles Dermochelys coriacea. Most High Risk-High Threats RMUs were in the Pacific Ocean, while most Low Risk-Low Threats RMUs were in the Atlantic Ocean. Eleven RMUs were evaluated as critical data needs. Our results—also provided through an interactive data dashboard—underscore the importance of context-specific planning to effectively target limited conservation resources. Future assessments should further prioritize inclusion of under-represented topics, researchers, and regions to better address multi-faceted conservation challenges