Diversity of aquatic Diptera in the Martil river basin (Northwest Morocco)

Abstract

New faunistic data on aquatic Diptera from the Martil river basin is provided based on seasonal surveys of twenty sampling sites between autumn 2015 and spring 2018, improving our current knowledge on those insects in northwestern Morocco. A total of 9904 individuals belonging to 17 families and 29 genera are reported, and identifications to species level were made for four families: Chironomidae (22 species), Dixidae (one species), Simuliidae (9 species) and Tabanidae (7 species). Of these, Probezzia Kieffer, Chironomus barbarensis and Glyptotendipes barbatipes are newly reported for North Africa, and Cricotopus fuscus and Chironomus dorsalis represent new records for Morocco. In addition, twelve species are newly recorded for the Martil basin, and four genera and two species for the north of Morocco. Chironomidae was the most diverse family, while Simuliidae was the most abundant in our surveys. Biogeographically, distribution patterns display a clear predominance of broadly distributed Palaearctic elements. Generally, the fauna of aquatic Diptera in Morocco remains little known, due to difficulties in identifying larvae at the species level, highlighting the need for broader availability of modern techniques and methods to complete our knowledge of freshwater Diptera in Morocco and other developing countries.