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New faunistic records of the families Bolitophilidae and Keroplatidae (Diptera, Sciaroidea) from Morocco
expand article infoOuafaa Driauach‡, Peter J. Chandler§, Mohamed Amin El Mouden‡, Boutaïna Belqat‡
‡ Abdelmalek Essaadi University, Tetouan, Morocco
§ Unaffiliated, Melksham, United Kingdom

Corresponding author: Boutaïna Belqat ( b_belqat@hotmail.com )

Academic editor: Marc De Meyer
© 2022 Ouafaa Driauach, Peter J. Chandler, Mohamed Amin El Mouden, Boutaïna Belqat.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation: Driauach O, Chandler PJ, Amin El Mouden M, Belqat B (2022) New faunistic records of the families Bolitophilidae and Keroplatidae (Diptera, Sciaroidea) from Morocco. ZooKeys 1128: 47-52. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1128.85536
ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:ADA965F5-57D6-439F-BCB3-025DB7FB399A
Open Access

Abstract

The family Bolitophilidae is recorded for the first time from Morocco with one species Bolitophila (Bolitophila) saundersii (Curtis, 1836). Ten new species are added to the Moroccan fauna of Keroplatidae, known until now by only two species, raising the number of species currently known in Morocco to 12.

Keywords

Biodiversity, fungus gnats, new records

Introduction

The Keroplatidae are among the larger and most conspicuous fungus gnats. The family has a worldwide distribution, with about 1000 species belonging to 90 genera (Pape et al. 2011).

Keroplatids are commonly found in moist forests, but also in other ecosystems, where they are often associated with fungi, rotten wood, and similar substrates. Their larvae live in webs and either feed on fungal spores or are predaceous on small invertebrates caught in their webs. The webs may include droplets of fluid containing oxalic acid which immobilises prey. Adults are often found in dark, humid places, including caves. Keroplatids can be collected by sweeping in low vegetation, under hanging rocks, tree trunks, and along stream banks. They are also frequently caught in Malaise traps (Evenhuis 2006).

The Bolitophilidae is a small family of fungus gnats, currently comprising 61 extant species in a single genus, Bolitophila Meigen, 1818, which has two subgenera, Bolitophila s. str. and Cliopisa Enderlein, 1936 (Bechev and Chandler 2011). This is a principally Holarctic family, with only one species previously recorded from North Africa, in Algeria (Burghele-Balacesco 1966). Their larvae develop internally in soft fungi.

The fungus gnats of the families Bolitophilidae and Keroplatidae of Morocco are practically unstudied. This paper is the first contribution to specifically treat both families from Morocco. The family Bolitophilidae is recorded for the first time from Morocco by one species Bolitophila (Bolitophila) saundersii (Curtis, 1836). The Moroccan fauna of keroplatids was represented by only two species, Macrocera fasciata Meigen, 1804 (Becker and Stein 1913; Chandler and Ribeiro 1995; Evenhuis 2006; Kettani et al. 2022) and Keroplatus reaumurii (Dufour, 1839) (Matile 1986; Chandler et al. 2006; Evenhuis 2006). The new findings increase the number of Moroccan keroplatids to 12. Of the 10 species recorded from Morocco for the first time, six are new to North Africa.

Material and methods

A total of 25 specimens of Keroplatidae were collected by sweeping. Between 2013 and 2022, 15 sites were sampled in mountainous areas, such as the Rif and the High Atlas.

Most of the material was collected by B. Belqat and O. Driauach, and Dr M. Ebejer provided additional material was that he had collected. All the material is preserved in 70% ethanol and was identified by P. Chandler. A list of sampling sites, with coordinates and altitudes, is given in Table 1. General and North African distributions of the species are separately given.

Table 1.
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Sampling sites (in alphabetical order) harbouring the species collected in Morocco, in the present study, with localities, geographical coordinates and elevations.

Station Locality Elevation (m) Geographical coordinates
RIF
Aïn Ras El Ma Majjou 856 35°06.873'N, 5°11.388'W
Bab Rouida Parc National Talassemtane 1512 35°06.881'N, 5°08.270'W
Daya Amsemlil Jbel Bouhachem 1059 35°15.596'N, 5°25.917'W
Douar Belwazen Belwazen 176 35°40.368'N, 5°25.116'W
Lower Loukkos saltmarsh 5 km E of Larache 2 35°12.274'N, 6°08.222'W
Halouma Kitane Kitane, Tétouan 140 35°31.912'N, 5°19.861'W
Jbel Zemzem Jbel Zemzem 216 35°45.457'N, 5°22.189'W
Marabout El Khaloua Dar Khennouss 788 35°29.039'N, 5°20.678'W
Maison forestière Parc National Talassemtane 1674 35°08.076'N, 5°08.262'W
Oued Aârate Dardara 269 35°07.381'N, 5°17.456'W
Oued Majjou Majjou Village 799 35°06.186'N, 5°10.935'W
Oued Tizga Amsa 516 35°26.237'N, 5°13.694'W
Oued Sahel Ben Karrich, Tétouan 40 35°29.238'N, 5°26.352'W
Oued Sidi Yahya Aârab Sidi Yahya Aârab 62 35°17.545'N, 4°53.503'W
High Atlas
Douar Akhlij Tnine Ourika Ourika, Marrakech 870 31°22.385'N, 7°46.608'W

List of species

Family Bolitophilidae

Genus Bolitophila Meigen, 1818

Bolitophila saundersii (Curtis, 1836)

Material examined: Daya Amsemlil, 1 ♂ 1 ♀, 26 Mar. 2016.

General distribution: Palaearctic.

North African distribution: Algeria. New record for Morocco.

Family Keroplatidae

Subfamily Macrocerinae

Genus Macrocera Meigen, 1804

Macrocera fasciata Meigen, 1804

Material examined: Aïn Ras El Ma, 1 ♂, 1 ♀, 27 Mar. 2013.

General distribution: Palaearctic.

North African distribution: Morocco.

Macrocera nigricoxa Schiner, 1863

Material examined: Oued Aârate, 2 ♂♂, 26 Mar. 2014; Oued Sahel, 1 ♂, 5 Apr. 2014.

General distribution: Palaearctic.

North African distribution: first record for Morocco and North Africa.

Macrocera phalerata Meigen, 1818

Material examined: Daya Amsemlil, 1 ♂, 23 Apr. 2016.

General distribution: Palaearctic.

North African distribution: Tunisia. First record for Morocco.

Macrocera pusilla Meigen, 1830

Material examined: Lower Loukkos saltmarsh, 4 ♀♀, 10 May 2012, Ebejer Leg.

General distribution: Palaearctic.

North African distribution: Algeria and Tunisia. First record for Morocco.

Subfamily Keroplatinae Rondani, 1856

Tribe Keroplatini Rondani, 1856

Genus Keroplatus Bosc, 1792

Keroplatus reaumurii (Dufour, 1839)

Material examined: Douar Belwazen, 1 ♂, 2 Feb. 2022.

General distribution: Palaearctic.

North African distribution: Morocco.

Tribe Orfeliini Malloch, 1917

Genus Antlemon Loew, 1871

Antlemon halidayi Loew, 1871

Material examined: Daya Amsemlil, 1 ♂, 23 Apr. 2016; Halouma Kitane, 1 ♂, 1 Jan. 2015; Oued Majjou, 3 ♂♂, 9 Apr. 2013.

General distribution: Palaearctic.

North African distribution: Algeria and Tunisia. First record for Morocco.

Antlemon servulum (Walker, 1836)

Material examined: Bab Rouida, 1 ♂, 17 Jun. 2014.

General distribution: Palaearctic.

North African distribution: first record for Morocco and North Africa.

Genus Macrorrhyncha Winnertz, 1846

Macrorrhyncha gallica Chandler & Blasco-Zumeta, 2001

Material examined: Maison forestière, 1 ♂, 7–17 Jun. 2014, Malaise trap.

General distribution: Europe.

North African distribution: first record for Morocco and North Africa.

Genus Neoplatyura Malloch, 1928

Neoplatyura biumbrata (Edwards, 1913)

Material examined: Douar Arikji Ltnin Ourika, 1 ♂, 28 Apr. 2015; Jbel Zemzem, 1 ♂, 17 Apr. 2014.

General distribution: Europe.

North African distribution: first record for Morocco and North Africa.

Neoplatyura nigricauda (Strobl, 1893)

Material examined: Marabout El Khaloua, 1 ♂, 3 Jun. 2018.

General distribution: Palaearctic.

North African distribution: Tunisia. First record for Morocco.

Genus Orfelia Costa, 1857

Orfelia persimilis Caspers, 1991

Material examined: Bouhachem, 1 ♂, 14 Jul. 2013; Oued Tizga, 1 ♂, 25 Jun. 2014; Oued Sidi Yahya Aârab, 1 ♂, 25 Apr. 2015.

General distribution: Europe.

North African distribution: first record for Morocco and North Africa.

Genus Pyratula Edwards, 1929

Pyratula ebroensis Chandler & Blasco-Zumeta, 2001

Material examined: Maison forestière, 1 ♂, 7 Jun. 2014.

General distribution: Europe.

North African distribution: first record for Morocco and North Africa.

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Dr Martin Ebejer who kindly provided material that he collected in Morocco and for permitting us to publish his new records. We also warmly and sincerely thank Dr Paul Beuk for his support to our PhD students and his continues help in identifying species of some Diptera families. We thank the reviewers and editor, Dr. Marc De Meyer, for their constructive comments on the manuscript.

References

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