No abstract

We describe a new species of Prosopistoma collected in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco. Prosopistoma maroccanumsp. nov. appears to be morphologically more similar to the European highly endangered P. pennigerum (Müller, 1785) than to the other Maghrebian species, P. alaini Bojkova & Soldán, 2015. A gene tree including the few available barcode sequences of Palearctic Prosopistoma specimens is provided. Possible affinities with West African species are also discussed.

The Draa river basin is located south of the High Atlas Mountain rangee in Morocco. The Ephemeroptera (mayflies) fauna of its three sub-basins: the High, Middle, and Lower Draa are poorly known. This study contributes to the knowledge of Ephemeroptera and its distribution in relation to environmental parameters in this area. The larvae of Ephemeropteran species were collected during six field campaigns in 17 sites using a Surber sampler. A total of thirteen species belonging to ten genera and five families were identified. among which seven taxa were recorded for the first time in the southern Atlas area: Baetis maurus, Baetis rhodani, Cheleocloeon dimorphicum, Cloeon simile, Procloeon stagnicola, Labiobaetis neglectus and Oligoneuriopsis skhounate. The limits of distribution of most species can be explained by the increase in water temperature and electrical conductivity especially at lower altitudes.