Alainites Waltz & McCafferty, 1994
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publication ID |
https://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1139.94586 |
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publication LSID |
lsid:zoobank.org:pub:57CDA884-15C5-42A3-9CF7-89DBC60150C4 |
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persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/40FA9908-41FF-56B2-8905-9090862C031A |
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treatment provided by |
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scientific name |
Alainites Waltz & McCafferty, 1994 |
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2. Alainites Waltz & McCafferty, 1994 View in CoL
Diagnosis.
1) Antennae located close together with a well-developed carina in between; 2) paraproct with unique elongate prolongation on distal margin; 3) mouthparts in a hypognathous position giving to the body a characteristic curved posture in lateral view; 4) right mandible with a bifid prostheca.
Remarks.
The position of the antenna and the general posture in lateral view (Fig. 3C View Figure 3 ) easily separate Alainites and Nigrobaetis from other genera in the Maghreb. The prolongation of the distal margin of paraproct (Fig. 2K View Figure 2 ) and the bifid prostheca (Fig. 2A View Figure 2 ) unambiguously separate Alainites from all the other Maghreb genera including Nigrobaetis .
Three species of Alainites are reported in the Maghreb: Alainites cf. muticus (Linnaeus, 1758), Alainites oukaimeden (Thomas & Sartori, 1992) (Fig. 3B View Figure 3 ) and Alainites sadati Thomas, 1994 (Fig. 3C View Figure 3 ). Alainites oukaimeden and A. sadati are endemic to the Maghreb and present allopatric distribution: A. sadati is widely distributed in north Algeria and north Tunisia ( Zrelli et al. 2012), while A. oukaimeden is only reported from the High Atlas, Morocco ( Thomas et al. 1992; El Alami et al. 2022a). The two endemic species have six pairs of gills; they can be only separated by intricate characters such as the reticulation of the surface of tergites and mandibles, the shape of the spines of distal margin of tergite IV and the number of strong setae on the dorsal margin of fore femora. A still undescribed new species, closely related to the West Palaearctic species Alainites muticus , with seven pairs of gills, is present in Maghreb but with a restricted distribution limited to northern Morocco ( El Alami et al. 2022a).
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