Premier inventaire faunistique des Chironomidés (Diptera: Chironomidae) des eaux courantes de Tunisie

Abstract

For the first time, a faunal list with 81 taxa of Chironomidae, 63 identified to species, is presented for Tunisia, using data from drift samples taken in 23 oueds from the North, 2 oueds and 2 oases from the South.The faunal list is dominated by palaearctic taxa (55 species: 87.3 %). The remaining 12,7 % (8 species) are from elements of the Mediterranean fauna (3 species), north Africa (2 species), afrotropical-west palaearctic (2 species), panpalaeotropical (1 species).New collections of adults and male pupae were necessary to confirm the specific originality of five types of pupal exuviae belonging to the genera Larsia, Parakiefferiella, Paratanytarsus, Tanytarsus, Virgatanytarsus.170 species of chironomids have been recorded from North Africa up to now. © Masson, 1988.