New records of Megaselia Rondani (Diptera: Phoridae) from Morocco with notes on distribution and habitats

• DOI: 10.61186/jibs.11.2.437
• Publication Date: 2025-03-17T13:31:56Z
• Authors: Fatima Zahra Sliman; Ronald Henry Lamb...; Kawtar Kettani
• Keywords: Phoridae

Megaselia Rondani, 1856 is a megadiverse genus of scuttle flies, commonly found worldwide. This article reports on the recent discovery of 31 species of Megaselia newly recorded in Morocco, collected in various regions, including the Rif Mountain, the Atlantic Plain and the Atlas Mountains, covering numerous habitats, such as forests, grasslands, agricultural fields, riverbanks, springs, ponds, peat bogs, and lake with the purpose of assessing a wide variety of habitats and understanding the ecological preferences of Megaselia species. These new findings have increased the total of Moroccan phorid fauna to 45 species so far. Of these, 43 are Megaselia species.