New Data on Biodiversity and Chorology of Aquatic Insects of Tazekka National Park (Middle Atlas, Morocco) I: Odonata, Coleoptera, and Hemiptera

Abstract

Aquatic insects play a crucial role in freshwater ecosystems, and their diversity and distribution are important indicators of ecosystem health. In this study, we present old and new faunistic and distributional data on three orders of aquatic insects (Odonata, Hemiptera, and Coleoptera) in the Tazekka National Park, located in the Eastern Middle Atlas. An annotated list of 85 species is provided, of which 53 were identified from 1023 specimens collected seasonally between summer 2018 and summer 2019 at a total of 19 sampling sites. The remaining 32 species were identified from the literature but were not captured in this study. The 85 species are classified into 47 genera and 24 families, which are divided into 8 species of Odonata, 14 species of aquatic Hemiptera, and 63 species of aquatic Coleoptera. Eighteen of the captured species are new to the Tazekka National Park. A chorological analysis shows that most species are essentially Mediterranean (63%), whilst those whose distribution is wider in Palearctic (25%) or extends into Nearctic, Australian, or Afrotropical regions (12%) are clearly less represented. This chorotype pattern is similar to that observed for OCH in other national parks in northern Morocco.