First report for the Embioptera order in Emilia Romagna region (Northern Italy), with remarks on the species Embia tyrrhenica Stefani, 1953 (Insecta, Embioptera, Embiidae)

Webspinners are the least studied and therefore least known order of insects in Italy. For a long time, it was believed that these insects lived in Italy only in the southern regions or in coastal environments but in recent decades they have also been found in northern Italy, both in the Euganean Hills (PD) and on the slopes of the Berici Hills (VI). Both of these reports, based on the anatomical examination of specimens now preserved in museum collection, refer to Embia tyrrhenica Stefani, 1953, a species described on specimens from Sardinia but also known from Lazio, Abruzzo and Istria (Croatia). Furthermore, the presence of this species in Sicily is confirmed for the first time. For about twenty years the presence of Embioptera in Emilia Romagna was known only on the basis of some photographs presented in various entomology web sites and forums, but only in 2021 it was possible to examine a winged male of these insects, collected in the town center of Bologna, which was identified with certainty as belonging to the species Embia tyrrhenica Stefani, 1953. The distribution and the variability of this species, known for having typically holopterous males but also micropterous or completely apterous ones, are discussed by the authors