Comparative morphological and Electrophoretic studies on Afronurus zebratus (Hagen, 1864) comb. n. and other European Heptageniidae (Ephemeroptera), including a key to the European genera of Heptageniidae

Abstract

Specimens of Baetis fallax (Hagen, 1864) and B. zebrata (Hagen, 1864) were collected on the Island of Corsica. Imagines were obtained by breeding and were investigated morphologically and biochemically. Our results show that B. fallax belongs to the genus Electrogena Zurwerra & Tomka, 1985 (= E. pseudograndiae Zurwerra & Tomka, 1986, syn. n.), but that B. zebrata belongs to the genus Afronurus Lestage, 1924. The genus Afronurus is new to Europe. Using isoenzyme electrophoresis we could show that the genera Afronurus, Electrogena and Ecdyonurus Eaton, 1868, are mutually separated at a low level of the genetic identity index that is characteristic of the genera of this family (Zurwerra et al., 1987). A key for the larval and imaginal stages of the European genera of the family Heptageniidae is presented.