In the summer of 2017, a group of researchers from the University of Rome "La Sapienza" found again, after almost a century, the "Salvàn” beetle of the Maritime Alps, during an excursion to the Palanfrè lakes.
The particularly rare insect, belonging to the Nitidulidi family, has a metallic dark green colour and is less than three millimetres long.
The specific name of the species, apparently overlooked for hundreds of years by the research of all Italian and French entomologists, derives from the Occitan "salvàn".
The small beetle, which moves rather slowly, seems to be present only in one type of environment: close to the alpine lakes at around 2000 metres above sea level, mainly in the habitat of the "Descurainia tanacetifolia", the only plant with strong yellow flowers able to host the pretty creature.
