No abstract

Akardita n. gen. is described for a small Pliocene to Recent group of carditids. The type species is Cardita subrevoluta de Stefani, 1888, from the lower Pliocene of Italy. The new genus includes Akardita iberica n. sp., from the lower Pliocene of southern Spain, and Cardita (Venericardia) monodi Nicklès, 1953, an extant species from West Africa. A few additional Neogene species from Europe could turn out to be representatives of the new genus, whose disappearance from European seas seems to be related to an increasing cooling trend during the Neogene-Pleistocene interval. Because of the confused status of carditid taxonomy, about which some observations are reported in the present work, it is not possible to assign the new genus to any of the traditional subfamilies.

Objective. The evolution of new prosthetic and osteosynthesis devices has led to better outcomes and therefore more frequent surgical indications. As a consequence, an increased incidence of complications such as infections or aseptic loosening in orthopedic and trauma surgery are being recorded in general population. MicroDTTect is a quick and simple system that is useful to detect low grade or bio-film related infections. The aim of this study was to evaluate the reliability of MicroDTTect in detection of orthopedic infections compared to conventional culture of tissue samples. Methods. The population enrolled was composed of 13 patients undergoing surgery for prosthesis or osteosynthetic device failure or loosening. The MicroDTTect system and traditional culture of tissue samples were applied to identify the pathogens and compared with each other. Results. MicroDTTect had a higher sensitivity compared to conventional culture of tissue samples. Two cases resulted positive while the traditional culture sample showed a false negative result. In addition, with MicroDTTect a polymicrobial infection was identified, while with traditional methods was misdiagnosed. Conclusions. We showed that treatment of suspected implant infections using the MicroD-TTect device improves microbiological diagnosis with more sensitive results, leading to a more accurate treatment.

A second revision of the Plio-Pleistocenic taxa of the family Tellinidae Blainville, 1814 of southern Europe is presented, 15 species are illustrated and discussed of which 3 described for the first time. For the genus Asbjornsenia Friele, 1886: Asbjornsenia pygmaea (Lovén, 1846); for the genus Strigilla W. Turton, 1822: Strigilla etrusca Brunetti M. & Della Bella, 2003; for the genus Bosemprella M. Huber, Langleit & Kreipl, 2015: Bosemprella incarnata (Linnaeus 1758), for the genus Fabulina Gray, 1851: Fabulina fabuloides Monterosato, 1884; for the genus Macomangulus Nordsieck, 1969: Macomangulus exiguus (Poli, 1791), Macomangulus tenuis tenuis (Da Costa, 1778); for the genus Oudardia Monterosato, 1884: Oudardia compressa (Brocchi, 1814), Oudardia strigilata (Philippi, 1844), Oudardia pliorecens n. sp. of the Tuscan-Emilian Plio-Pleistocene; for the genus Peronaea Poli, 1791: Peronaea planata planata (Linnaeus, 1758); for the genus Peronidia Dall, 1900: Peronidia albicans (Gmelin, 1791), Peronidia iberica n. sp. of the Spanish Early Pliocene, Peronidia intermedia n. sp. of the Italian Early Pliocene; Peronidia transiens (Cerulli-Irelli, 1909); for the genus Serratina Pallary, 1920: Serratina serrata (Brocchi, 1814, Renier m.s.). Some one specimen with open nomenclature are also reported and illustrated: Macomangulus sp. 1 of the Piedmont Early Pliocene.

A new species of the genus Favartia Jousseaume, 1880, is described and illustrated: Favartia plioelata n. sp. found in various localities of the Italian Pliocene and previously depicted by various authors such as Murexul cf. aradasii (Poirer, 1883, ex Monterosato m.s.), Murexul aff. aradasii (Poirer, 1883, ex Monterosato m.s.) and Favartia suboblonga (d’Orbigny, 1852). The new species is compared with the other species of the genus present in the Miocene and Pliocene of the Mediterranean Basin.