Due to the introduction of the market economy, in the past four decades China has switched from being a “planned country” – planned economy, planned art – into a domestic version of cultural pluralism. Consumerism has refilled the vacuum left by the retreat of Maoist ideology. However, the overwhelming success of mass culture is sided by the progressive marginalization of the intellectuals or elite, featuring a culture that is kitsch in its ideological twist. In China, present-day cultural constructions provide a forum of debate for the identity of the whole nation, no more traditional, and not yet modern. In other words, consumerism and commercialism, triggered by products of market economy, have generated a cultural consumption of redundant bad taste. Kitsch indeed.1

The amphinomid fireworm Hermodice carunculata is a potentially invasive species reported throughout the subtropical Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, which is known as a generalist predator and opportunistic feeder. The ongoing climate changes and seawater warming may favour fireworm poleward range expansions and density increases. Our results provide the first investigation into a population which has purportedly been spreading widely in the Salento Peninsula (Apulia, Italy). The specimens were analysed using allometric variables and molecular markers. The best morphometric parameters to estimate individual size were determined as key information for future studies on fireworm population dynamics. To phylogeographically characterize the Apulian population, sequences of the mitochondrial COI and 16S rDNA regions were obtained from a pool of individuals and treated together with those of Atlantic specimens retrieved from GenBank. The estimates of genetic variability for Apulian population were consistent with those recently reported in the literature. Inferences on demographic history analysis confirmed a recent expansion event in Apulia, as has been recounted by fishermen and scuba divers during recent years. Overall, these results constitute a crucial step in the characterization of present-day H. carunculata populations, and provide greater insight into fireworm population ecology.

Cirrophorus nikebianchii sp. nov. is described from brackish-water and organically enriched marine environments of the Mediterranean Sea. The new species is characterized by a very small prostomial antenna and a high number of branchiae pairs. A phylogenetic analysis carried out through the use of three molecular markers (16S rRNA, 18S rRNA and COI) supports the distinction between C. nikebianchii and C. furcatus, a closely related species with which it has been misidentified. Preliminary results obtained show that the genera Cirrophorus and Paradoneis are not reciprocally monophyletic, with uncertain relationships with the remaining genera of Paraonidae. This outcome suggests that the evolutionary history of Paraonidae is less straightforward than previously supposed. Moreover, the uncertainty about the taxonomic status of Paraonides neapolitana, type species of the genus Paraonides, makes the revamping of the taxonomy of Paraonidae more challenging. Awaiting support from studies including more species, and based on morphological and genetic data as well, we suggest to provisionally maintain the current use of Cirrophorus and Paradoneis, and to assign to Paraonella the species traditionally assigned to Paraonides.

Pervasive systems are intended to make use of services and components that they encounter in their environment. Such systems are naturally spatial in that they can only be understood in terms of the ways in which components meet and interact in space. Rather than treating spatiality separately from system components, researchers are starting to develop computational models in which the entire structure of a pervasive system is modelled and constructed using an explicit spatial model, supporting multi-level spatial reasoning, and adapting autonomously to spatial interactions. In this paper, we review current and emerging models of spatial computing for pervasive ecosystems, and highlight some of the trends that will guide future research.

The new species Echinofabricia rousei is described for the Mediterranean Sea based on specimens collected along the Sardinia Coast (Porto Conte). The genus Echinofabricia is reported for the first time in the Mediterranean area. At present three species are described within the genus: E. goodhartzorum, described from the Caribbean, E. dubia, described from the East Pacific (Hawaii) and E. alata from Australia.

The present study reports new records of the invasive pygmy mussel Xenostrobus securis in six brackish-water localities in the western Mediterranean. Until now X. securis, whose native range includes southern Australia and New Zealand, was also known from the northern Adriatic Sea and southern France. Along the coast of northern Tuscany (Italy) X. securis invaded brackish-water canals in the area between the port of Leghorn and the mouth of the Arno River. Moreover, this mussel has been found in one inner site of the Gulf of Olbia (north-eastern Sardinia, Italy) and at the mouth of the Fluvià River (northern Catalonia, Spain). As an ecosystem engineer, X. securis is an ecologically important species, heavily altering pre-existing benthic communities. Given that its presence in other western Mediterranean sites is highly possible, we recommend a closer monitoring of brackish-water biotopes.

Ophelia bicornis sensu lato is a polychaete living in intertidal sandy habitats of Mediterranean and European Atlantic coasts, whose systematics have been strongly debated in the past few decades. In the present work the count of nephridiopores was coupled with genetic analysis carried out with DNA markers (inter simple sequence repeats) for a total of 30 individuals collected at six Italian beaches. Exact test, analysis of molecular variance, non-metric multidimensional scaling and assignment tests clearly separated individuals with five nephridiopore pairs from those with six pairs. This finding validated results of a recent allozyme study in which O. bicornis sensu lato was split into O. bicornis sensu stricto (six nephridiopore pairs) and O. barquii (five nephridiopore pairs). This paper represents a further contribution to the estimation of biodiversity within marine invertebrates.

Differentiation between two samples of the polychaete Perinereis cultrifera collected in a brackish-water habitat and in an adjacent marine site at Elba Island (Italy) was assessed by morphological (number of paragnaths on the zones of the pharynx) and genetic (allozymes) approaches. Mean number of paragnaths differed significantly in zones IIl, IIr, III and V by t-test (P<0·05). Multidimensional scaling performed on Manhattan distances separated the individuals in two groups with a narrow zone of juxtaposition. Electrophoretic analyses of 22 allozyme loci revealed high levels of both within- and between-sample genetic heterogeneity, with a large number of private alleles. A general deficit of heterozygotes accounted for deviations from the Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium. Nei's genetic distance (D=0·185±0·018) and the mean value of the coancestry coefficient (Θ=0·381± 0·123, P<0·001 by permutation test) indicated considerable genetic divergence between the two samples. We concluded that the two groups can be assigned to sibling species. The observed divergence between the two samples may results from absence of gene flow and subsequent microallopatric differentiation through genetic drift, or, assuming migration between populations of the two sites, the model of divergence with gene flow may be compatible with this system.