Going overseas: From island to continent colonization in the mediterranean snakefly fibla maclachlani (Albarda, 1891)

The presence of Fibla maclachlani (Albarda, 1891) (Raphidioptera, Inocelliidae) has been recorded in Tuscany (central Italy) since 2005 according to information derived from both a biodiversity survey project and citizen science activities. The species, whose natural distribution includes the three main islands of central Mediterranean—Corsica, Sardinia, and Sicily—was most likely introduced into Tuscany through the raw cork trade from Sardinia. Further molecular comparative analyses are needed to confirm this hypothesis. This would be the first case of human-mediated jump dispersal in this family and a rare example of upstream colonization from island to continent. Two isolated records of F. maclachlani, an old (1905) and a very recent one (2018), are also reported from Calabria. The presence of F. maclachlani in Calabria remains unclear, the most reliable hypotheses are either the natural presence of the species at low population density or its introduction from Sicily at some point. The non-native populations of F. maclachlani currently coexist in the Italian peninsula in sympatry with the native inocelliid Parainocellia bicolor (A. Costa, 1855), a condition otherwise unknown among European species of this family. Future interactions between the two species are unpredictable.