Baetis (Patites) Thomas & Dia, 2000

Gattolliat, Jean-Luc, Samraoui, Boudjema, Benhadji, Nadhira, Kechemir, Lina, Zrelli, Sonia, El Yaagoubi, Sara, El Moutaouakil, Majida El Alami & Sartori, Michel, 2023, Baetidae (Baetidae, Ephemeroptera) in the Maghreb: state of the art, key, and perspectives, ZooKeys 1139, pp. 137-163 : 137

3.2 Baetis (Patites) Thomas & Dia, 2000

Diagnosis.

1) paracercus reduced to a few segments; 2) labrum rectangular with a row of numerous setae parallel to the distal margin; 3) canines of the right and left mandibles fused to form a blade-like tooth; 4) distal margin of tergite IV with triangular spines.

Remarks.

The subgenus Baetis Patites was initially established for Baetis melanonyx and related species ( Thomas and Dia 2000). The present concept of the subgenus encompasses all the species previously assigned to the alpinus species group (sensu Müller-Liebenau 1969), despite most of the species were never formally transferred to this subgenus. This subgenus encompasses at least three species in the Maghreb: Baetis (Patites) berberus Thomas, 1986, Baetis (Patites) maurus Kimmins, 1938, and Baetis (Patites) punicus Thomas, Boumaiza & Soldán, 1983. All of them have two dark spots on each abdominal tergite (Fig. 3D ). Baetis (Patites) maurus is the only species of Baetis s. l. with two rows of denticles on all claws ( Soldán and Thomas 1983a; Thomas et al. 1983). This character allows an easy and unambiguous identification of the species in the Maghreb. Baetis (Patites) berberus and Baetis (Patites) punicus are much more difficult to identify with confidence; especially as the preliminary molecular results indicate that Patites is much more diversified than expected and new sibling species are expected ( Murria et al. 2017; Benhadji et al. 2020).

Figures

Figure 3. Baetidae: larvae in toto in dorsal view (except 3 C lateral view) A Acentrella cf. sinaica B Alainites oukaimeden C Alainites sadati D Baetis (Patites) sp. E Baetis (Baetis) pavidus.