Baetidae (Baetidae, Ephemeroptera) in the Maghreb: state of the art, key, and perspectives

By

Gattolliat, Jean-Luc
Samraoui, Boudjéma
Benhadji, Nadhira
Kechemir, Lina
Zrelli, Sonia
El Yaagoubi, Sara
Majida, El Alami
Sartori, Michel

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2023

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

1139

Pages

137--163

Subjects

Algeria , Aquatic insects , identification key , Mayflies , Morocco , Tunisia

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1139.94586

 

Abstract

Among mayflies, Baetidae are often considered as easy to recognise at the family level, but difficult to identify at lower level. In several faunistic or ecological studies, the identification remains at the family level; Baetidae are generally considered as widespread and ubiquitous, therefore as poorly informative for ecological studies or bioassessments. Here, a straightforward identification key is offered to larvae of the ten genera of Baetidae reported from Maghreb based on easily observable and understandable characters. The diversity, ecology, and distribution of each taxonomic unit (genera or subgenera) are discussed and the main difficulties for deeper identification are pointed out. Future challenges and remaining taxonomic riddles for Maghrebian Baetidae are detailed.