First Survey of Darkling Beetles (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae) of Talassemtane National Park, Western Rif, Morocco
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Open Archive TOULOUSE Archive Ouverte (OATAO) OATAO is an open access repository that collects the work of Toulouse researchers and makes it freely available over the web where possible. This is an author-deposited version published in : http://oatao.univ-toulouse.fr/ Eprints ID : 16291 To link to this article : DOI :10.15560/11.5.1778 URL : http://dx.doi.org/10.15560/11.5.1778 To cite this version : Benyahia, Yousra and Soldati, Fabien and Rohi, Latifa and Valladares, Lionel and Maatouf, Noureddin and Courtin, Olivier and El Antry, Salwa and Brustel, Hervé First survey of darkling beetles (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae) of Talassemtane National Park, Western Rif, Morocco. (2015) Check List, vol. 11 (n° 5). pp. 1-9. ISSN 1809-127X Any correspondance concerning this service should be sent to the repository administrator: [email protected] First survey of darkling beetles (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae) of Talassemtane National Park, Western Rif, Morocco Yousra Benyahia1* , Fabien Soldati2 , Latifa Rohi1 , Lionel Valladarès3 , Noureddin Maatouf4, Olivier Courtin5 , Salwa El Antry4 and Hervé Brustel3 1 Laboratoire d’Ecologie et Environnement, Faculté des Sciences Ben M’sik, Université Hassan II-Casablanca, avenue Cdt Driss El Harti, BP 7955, Sidi Othman-Casablanca, 20000 Casablanca, Morocco 2 O#ce National des Forêts, Laboratoire National d’Entomologie Forestière, 2 rue Charles Péguy, 11500 Quillan, France 3 Université de Toulouse, École d’Ingénieurs de Purpan, INPT, UMR Dynafor 1201, 75 voie du TOEC, 31076 Toulouse cedex 3, France 4 Centre de Recherche Forestière, avenue Omar Ibn Khattab, BP 763, Agdal-Rabat, 10000 Rabat, Morocco 5 Place de la Croix 4, La Caulié, 81100 Castres, France * Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] Abstract: To contribute to the knowledge of beetles Talassemtane National Park harbors more than VX< (Coleoptera) of the mountainous region of Morocco, plant species (XY are endemic) belonging to =<> families Talassemtane National Park (Western Rif, Chefchaouen (Meda ;<<Z). It also lodges about ?< species of mam- district, Morocco) was surveyed. +is is an exceptional mals, more than =<< species of birds; reptiles and protected area of the Mediterranean Intercontinental amphibians are represented by about >< species with Biosphere Reserve (RIBM). +e inventory was made an endemism rate reaching ;V\ (Meda ;<<Z). Aquatic using di/erent traps combined with active searching macro-invertebrates count =Z< species of which ?Z are periodically during ;<=> and ;<=?. Among numerous endemic. Obviously, the invertebrates of PNTLS remain species belonging to various families, the darkling beetles less studied than plants and vertebrates, with only a (Tenebrionidae) represent one of the major groups, in few of studies to date on Diptera, Simuliidae (Belqat terms of diversity and heritage value. +irty Gve species et al. ;<<=), ants (Taheri et al. ;<=?), and water beetles were identiGed, two species are new records to Morocco, (Benamar et al. ;<==). To address the lack of informa- and two other species, which were hitherto only known tion on invertebrates of Moroccan protected areas by the type specimens, have been rediscovered and to enrich the list of the RiGan entomofauna and especially that of PNTLS, a study of the Coleoptera was Key words: Morocco, Rif, Talassemtane National Park, carried out. +is study was within the framework of an Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae Agronomic Research Program for Development (PRAD). In addition to inventory, the objective of this study is to detect species related to the forest stands in order INTRODUCTION to establish a management policy that aims to improve Created in October, ;<<?, Talassemtane National their conservation. Park (PNTLS) is located in the western portion of the In this paper, we treat only the family of Tenebrionidae. calcareous ridge of the Rif’s mountain range. +e park +is is one of the largest Beetle families in the world, constitutes a unique territory containing natural land- with about =],<<< known species in more than ;,<<< scapes that are nationally of signiGcant heritage value. genera (Aalbu et al. ;<<;). +eir large biodiversity is Its position at the crossroads of Europe and Africa, its in particular due to the lack of wings of most of their climatic characteristics, its geological characteristics, representatives (Soldati ;<<V). Tenebrionidae are found and its paleogeographic antecedents, have given rise in all latitudes, from coastal zones to over X,<<< meters of a unique fauna and Jora. As such, the national park (a. s. l.) in South American mountains but they especially is includes it at the Mediterranean Intercontinental abound in all warm regions of the world with important Biosphere Reserve (RBIM), intended for the conserva- endemism in arid areas (Soldati ;<<V). +is choice is tion of the most emblematic natural areas of northern justiGed by the fact that this group is rather well-known Morocco and southern Spain. in Morocco (Kocher =]XY, =]XZ, =]Y?, =]Y]; Español =]X]), that one in seven beetle species belongs to this +e climate of PNTLS is characterized by being the family in Morocco (Kocher =]XZ), and that this family wettest zone of North Africa. +e park is characterized has the highest endemism rate in Morocco (Chavanon by two climax forest stands, formed by an endemic and ;<<>). Today, nearly V<< species of Tenebrionidae are relict Gr species, Abies maroccana Trab. +e Talassemtane known in Morocco (Löbl and Smetana ;<<Z). +us, in Gr forest is the largest and extends over ;,><< ha. Our relation to its area, Morocco is one of the most biodiverse survey was carried out in pure Gr forests (in the highest areas in the world for darkling beetles (Tenebrionidae, zones), as well as in Gr-oak (Quercus ilex) forests. Coleoptera) and the greatest rate of endemism in the entire Mediterranean basin. Only Spain, in Europe, can Data collection show a comparable diversity and a higher endemism +e records of trap contents were performed once rate reaching Y<\ (Soldati ;<<V). every =X days, for V months (April–October), during ;<=> and ;<=?. Window Jight traps, and in particular MATERIALS AND METHODS the multidirectional PolytrapTM, were used because are Study site probably best suited for inventorying saproxylophagous PNTLS covers an area of Y?,Y<= ha. Two-thirds of the beetles in temperate forest. +ese traps output and park is within the province of Chefchaouen and one-third their selective power, in term of capture of Coleoptera, belongs to the province of Tetouan (Figure =). It is mainly compared to the other arthropods, are rather eloquent formed by the southern portion of the RiGan calcareous (Bouget and Brustel ;<<]). +e multidirectional window ridge and includes the highest summits of western Rif. Jight traps were primed with ethanol, which serves as Figure1. Map of Morocco, showing the location of Talassemtane National Park. The green cropped area indicates limits of the Park. an attractant for numerous saproxylophagous beetles to the Middle and High Atlas (Kocher =]XY). (Bouget and Brustel ;<<]). Two other type of traps were used in the inventory, Heliotaurus maroccanus (Lucas, =Z?Y) pitfall traps installed at ground level, to intercept Examined material: Talassemtane, Gr grove, ground fauna, and yellow colored traps used in open ;<..;<=>, Polytrap traps, = specimen, Yousra Benyahia environments, to attract the Jower-dwelling species. All leg. Idem, <?..;<=>, Polytrap traps, = specimen, Yousra traps were installed in ;< unsystematic plots in the Gr Benyahia leg. Idem, ;<..;<=?, ; specimens found died grove. under stones, Fabien Soldati leg. Idem, ><..;<=?, Active searching were made during April ;<=>, August Polytrap traps, > specimens, Yousra Benyahia leg. ;<=>, October ;<=>, June ;<=? and September ;<=?, Distribution: Morocco and Algeria (Novak and Pet- most often during the installation of the protocol or the tersson, ;<<Z); Middle and High Atlas (Kocher =]XY); statements of traps. Many active methods were then Grst mention for Rif mountain range. used such as barking dead trees, raising stones, beating or sifting. Hymenalia crassicollis (Fairmaire, =ZYY) Examined material: Talassemtane, Gr grove, =]..;<=>, Identi$cation Polytrap traps, V specimens, Yousra Benyahia leg. Idem, Most of specimens were identiGed in comparison =X..;<=>, Polytrap traps, ; specimens Yousra Benya- with the large collection of Fabien Soldati, one of the hia leg. Idem, ><..;<=?, Polytrap traps, = specimen, Western Palaearctic tenebrionid specialists. Other Yousra Benyahia leg. Idem, <?..;<=?, colored traps, = specimens were identiGed with the help of the following specimen, Yousra Benyahia leg. Idem, <?..;<=?, col- works, keys or original descriptions: Antoine (=]?Z, ored traps, ; specimens, Yousra Benyahia leg. =]?]a, =]?]b, =]X=), Español (=]X>), Pérez Vera and Avila Distribution: Morocco and Algeria (Novak and (;<=;), and Pardo-Alcaide (=]VZ). Pettersson ;<<Z); in Morocco, cited from pre-Rif, Voucher specimens were deposited in the institutional Middle-Atlas and lower Moulouya (Kocher =]XY). collections of the Centre de Recherche Forestière (Rabat, Morocco), École d’Ingénieurs de Purpan (Toulouse, France), and in private collections of Fabien Soldati (Limoux, France) and Olivier Courtin (Castres, France). RESULTS A total of >=Y darkling beetles belonging to >X species from eight subfamilies (Alleculinae, Diaperinae, Lagriinae, Opatrinae, Phrenapatinae, Pimeliinae, Stenochiinae, and Tenebrioninae) were collected. Two species are new records to Morocco: