Isslam Chergui, Khaled Koulali, Abdelhakim Bouzid, Boudjéma Samraoui

First record of Tanymastigites ajjeri Thiéry & Rogers 2022 (Crustacea: Branchiopoda: Anostraca) in Algeria, with an updated checklist of Algerian large branchiopods

Abstract This paper documents the presence of Tanymastigites ajjeri Thiéry & Rogers 2022, a large branchiopod belonging to the order Anostraca, in Algeria for the first time, representing the second record of the species worldwide since its discovery in Libya in 2022. Specimens were collected in October 2023 from a residual pool (guelta) in the intermittent riverbed of the Wadi Tabakat valley on the Tassili N’Ajjer plateau, following a refilling due to flooding. This discovery not only expands the list of large branchiopods in Algeria to twenty-four species, but also enriches our understanding of the distribution range of the hypothetically microendemic T. ajjeri, a species on which little information is currently available, in the Sahara.

Doi https://doi.org/10.35513/21658005.2024.1.1

Keywords Freshwater biodiversity; large branchiopods; Tanymastigites ajjeri; Sahara; Tassili N’Ajjer; Aquatic Conservation

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