Distribution of aquatic beetles from the east of Morocco (Coleoptera, Polyphaga)

Study Extent

Morocco is currently divided into 12 regions, including the Oriental Region, which occupies almost all the eastern side of the country and covers an area of 90,127 km2 (see Taybi et al., 2017b for details). The Oriental Region includes the wilaya of Oujda (Oujda-Angad prefecture) and the provinces of Berkane, Driouch, Figuig, Guercif, Jerada, Nador and Taourirt. The watershed of the Moulouya, which includes nearly 43,412 km2 of eastern Morocco, covers much of the Oriental Region. With a length of 600 km, the Moulouya is the largest Moroccan river flowing into the Mediterranean. The main tributaries are the Oued Ansegmir, Oued Melloulou, Oued Za and Oued Msoun, all permanent. Other tributaries are intermittent (3–5 flashfloods on average per year) (Bensaad et al., 2017, Mabrouki et al., 2017a).

Sampling

In field surveys conducted from 2014 to 2017, more than 100 localities were collected along the basin of Moulouya River and Oriental Region of Morocco (see appendix for the complete list of localities). Most of these sampling sites were visited at least three times. Our goal was to document maximum macroinvertebrate biodiversity in the different microhabitats prospected at each sampling site.

Quality Control

The chorological categories proposed for the 91 species of Oriental Morocco and the Moulouya watershed were ranked according to La Greca (1964, 1975) and Vigna Taglianti et al. (1992) for the western Palearctic fauna.

Method steps

1. The samples of benthic fauna were collected using a kick net, landing nets and clamps. The macroinvertebrates, including water beetles, were identified to species level, placed in accordingly labeled tubes with alcohol at 70% or 96%, and deposited in the collections of aquatic macroinvertebrates at the Laboratory of Water Sciences, Environment and Sustainable Development of the University Mohammed Premier from Oujda (Morocco), and the Department of Ecology and Hydrology, Faculty of Biology, University of Murcia (Spain).

Aquatic beetles from the east of Morocco

1. Insecta
   rank: class
2. Coleoptera
   rank: order
3. Dryopidae
   rank: family
4. Elmidae
   rank: family
5. Elophoridae
   rank: family
6. Hydraenide
   rank: family
7. Hydrophilidae
   rank: family
8. Scirtidae
   rank: family