Two new species of Alainites (Ephemeroptera, Baetidae) from the Mediterranean biodiversity hotspot

Zohar Yanai; Pavel Sroka; Jean-Luc Gattolliat

doi:10.3897/zookeys.1118.84643

Two new species of Alainites (Ephemeroptera, Baetidae) from the Mediterranean biodiversity hotspot

Zookeys. 2022 Aug 24:1118:73-95. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.1118.84643. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Zohar Yanai¹, Pavel Sroka², Jean-Luc Gattolliat^{3

4}

Affiliations

¹ The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv Israel.
² Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Entomology, Branišovská 31, 37005 České Budějovice, Czech Republic Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Entomology České Budějovice Czech Republic.
³ Musée cantonal de zoologie, Palais de Rumine, Place de la Riponne 6, 1014 Lausanne, Switzerland Musée cantonal de zoologie, Palais de Rumine Lausanne Switzerland.
⁴ University of Lausanne (UNIL), Department of Ecology and Evolution, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland University of Lausanne (UNIL) Lausanne Switzerland.

Abstract

The mayfly genus Alainites Waltz & McCafferty, 1994 encompassed 20 species and was represented across the West Palaearctic region by six species. Based on morphological (nymphal characters) and molecular (mitochondrial COI sequences) evidence, two new species are described: A.bengunn sp. nov. from Sardinia and A.gasithi sp. nov. from Israel. Both species are confined to narrow distribution ranges, in line with most of their congeners from the region. The key nymphal traits are discussed and identified to distinguish species in the group.

Keywords: COI; Israel; Italy; Sardinia; West Palaearctic; mayfly; microendemics; systematics.

Zohar Yanai, Pavel Sroka, Jean-Luc Gattolliat.