The Italian Strong Motion Database, ITACA, was developed within projects S6 and S4, funded in the framework of the agreements between the Italian Department of Civil Protection (Dipartimento della Protezione Civile, DPC) and the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), starting from 2005. The alpha version of the database was released in 2007 and subsequently upgraded to version 1. 0 after: (i) including the most recent strong motion data (from 2005 to 2007) recorded in Italy, in addition to the 2008 Parma earthquake, M 5. 4, and the M ≥ 4. 0, 2009 Abruzzo seismic events; (ii) processing the raw strong motion data using an updated procedure; (iii) increasing the number of stations with a measured shear wave velocity profile; (iv) improving the utilities to retrieve time series and ground motion parameters; (v) implementing a tool for selecting time series in agreement with design-response spectra; (vi) compiling detailed station reports containing miscellaneous information such as photo, maps and site parameters; (vii) developing procedures for the automatic generation of station reports and for the updating of the header files. After such improvements, ITACA 1. 0 was published at the web site http://itaca.mi.ingv.it, in 2010. It presently contains 3,955 three-component waveforms, comprising the most complete catalogue of the Italian accelerometric records in the period 1972-2007 (3,562 records) and the strongest events in the period 2008-2009. Records were mainly acquired by DPC through its Accelerometric National Network (RAN) and, in few cases, by local networks and temporary stations or networks. This paper introduces the published version of the Italian Strong Motion database (ITACA version 1. 0) together with main improvements and new functionalities

Post-MME Recruitment Pinna nobilis were recorded in a few sites where the resident population had been decimated. This hints to the importance of unaffected populations as larval exporting sources and the role of oceanographic currents in larval transport in the area, representing a beacon of hope in the current extremely worrying scenario for this emblematic species.

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This paper is a collection of novel distributional records of 20 species belonging to 8 phyla (Chlorophyta, Rhodophyta, Cnidaria, Ctenophora, Annelida, Mollusca, Arthropoda and Chordata) from 11 Mediterranean countries, namely, Spain: an additional record of the Canary dentex Dentex canariensis is reported from Spain (Valencia), this is the northernmost record of this species in the Mediterranean; Algeria: the first documented record of Caulerpa chemnitzia is reported from the Algerian coast; France: the first record of the Spotted sea hare Aplysia dactylomela is reported from the eastern coast of Corsica; Italy: the first records of the Lessepsian polychaete Dorvillea similis and the alien bivalve Isognomon legumen are reported from Italian waters while additional records of Mnemiopsis leidyi in the south Adriatic are provided;  Libya: the first record of an alien mollusc Crepidula fornicata is reported from Libyan waters; Malta: multiple sightings of gelatinous species Apolemia uvaria, Phacellophora camtschatica and Physophora hydrostatica are reported for the first time from Maltese waters, as well as the first tentative record of the Orange-spotted grouper Epinephelus cfr. coioides; Greece: an occurrence of a rare Bigeye thresher shark Alopias superciliosus is reported from Hellenic Ionian waters, while the first records of the alien Mertens’ prawn-goby Vanderhorstia mertensi, the recently described cyclopoid copepod Oithona davisae and the alien red seaweed Asparagopsis armata are reported from the Aegean Sea. The presence of the micromollusc Euthymella colzumensis is confirmed for Greece; Cyprus: the first record of the red cornetfish Fistularia petimba is reported from Cyprus; Turkey: the first record of the alien jellyfish Marivagia stellata is reported from south-eastern Turkey; Israel: the first records of the sea nettle Chrysaora sp. in the Levant are reported.