*Translated by Sara Pasino
MALPENSA – According to the Masterplan, Malpensa airport will expand its territory. This endangers one of the butterflies closest to extinction in Europe. It is the nymph of the moors, the Coenonympha oedippus: an increasingly rare butterfly that survived in the Gaggio heath in the Ticino Park. A coalition formed between Legambiente, FAI, WWF, Lipu, some local associations and academics, aims to defend this habitat.
The nymph of the moors
«The moor nymph is among the five most threatened butterflies in Europe,» explains Simona Bonelli, professor at the Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology of the University of Turin. And it is included in Annex II of the Habitats Directive, since most of the populations known from the scientific literature have progressively gone towards local extinction. The populations that currently possess the requirements to avoid the so-called vortex of extinction are less than five, the largest surviving in the Baragge Nature Reserve (Piedmont) and in the Gaggio heath».
Winterdamsel
Together with the moor nymph, the moorland winters, the graceful dragonfly Sympecma paedisca, are classified as critically endangered by the World Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The winterdamsel owes its name to a rather unusual ability for its species. In fact, it spends the winter at the adult stage, in a state of hibernation, and it can be active even in snowy landscapes, on sunny days. «Sympecma paedisca is part of the odonata order, insects that have a life cycle with aquatic larva and terrestrial adult – continues Bonelli – and those of the Sympecma order are the only ones in Europe to have the peculiarity of wintering at the adult stage rather than in the larval one. In particular, Sympecma paedisca has an elective habitat for wintering the heath, both in Central Europe and in the few places of presence known in Italy. The populations currently confirmed are all located on moors in the western Po Valley».
The decline of Winterdamsel
Winterdamsel has already disappeared in the rest of Lombardy and Trentino Alto Adige. «In the last 10 years, it is estimated that the Italian population of this insect has suffered a decline of 80%, due to the loss of habitat, the use of pesticides and soil consumption», say the spokesmen of the coalition against the enlargement of Malpensa. «For this reason it is of fundamental importance that the areas populated by Sympecma Paedisca not protected by the Natura 2000 Network, such as the heath threatened by the expansion of Malpensa, are safeguarded and included in the Network».