Berkanella tifertiensis ( Glöer et al., 2020 ), Taybi & Glöer & Mabrouki, 2024

Taybi, A. F., Glöer, P. & Mabrouki, Y., 2024, Description of Berkanella selouensis gen. et sp. n., a new subterranean snail from Morocco and redescription of Islamia tifertiensis Glöer, Mabrouki et Taybi, 2020 (Gastropoda: Hydrobiidae), Invertebrate Zoology 21 (2), pp. 147-156 : 150-152

Berkanella tifertiensis ( Glöer et al., 2020) comb.n.

Islamia tifertiensis Glöer, Mabrouki et Taybi, 2020 : Glöer et al., 2020: 3–4 ; fig. 2.

MATERIAL EXAMINED. Holotype. Empty shell deposited in the collection of the Zoological Museum Hamburg ( ZMH 140648 ). Paratypes. Three empty shells from the type locality deposited in the collection of the Zoological Museum Hamburg ( ZMH 140649 ) and three ethanol-fixed specimens kept in the personal collection of Glöer and 10 ethanol-fixed specimens in the personal collection of Mabrouki and Taybi ( Figs 2–4) .

TYPE LOCALITY. Tiffert spring, Berkane prov- ince (the oriental region of Morocco), adjacent to the Moulouya River (2′16.800″N, 2°25′36.000″W), located inside the SBEI ( Site of Biological and Ecological Interest ) of the Moulouya , listed also as a Ramsar site. The live specimens (topotypes) were collected on 20 March, 2023 .

DESCRIPTION:

CONCHOLOGICAL FEATURES. The translucent and colourless shell has 3 fast-growing glossy whorls with a slightly striated surface ( Fig. 2A–D). Shell surface smooth,with growth lines that are slightly visible. The small spire is slightly raised up; the body whorl is prominent.The aperture is rather rhomboidal (or almost quadrangular) and prosocline (leaning forwards relative to the direction of growth), the peristome is situated at the bottom in umbilical view. The shell is 0.92–0.96 mm high and 1.31–1.42 mm broad. Shell measurements are presented in Table 1.

OPERCULUM. The corneous operculum is smooth and very thin, pale yellow.

SOFT PARTS. The species is eyeless and colourless, body translucent when alive ( Fig. 4), white when preserved, pigment-less; cephalic tentacles very long and thin (no pallial tentacle), without eyes. The penis has a knob at the left side near the basis and the distal part is tapered ( Fig. 2E).

REMARKS. This species has originally been places in the genus Islamia because we had only empty shells and were unable to study its anatomy ( Glöer et al., 2020). The Islamia species of Morocco were described only based on shell criteria and assigned provisionally to this genus without knowledge of its anatomy, pending the discovery of males. In Islamia , the penis is bilobed and the bursa copulatrix is absent.

GEOGRAPHIC RANGE. This new genus and species is known only from eastern Morocco ( Fig. 1). It’s type locality, which is a spring located in the plain of Triffa, is bounded to the east by Oued Kiss ( Algeria), to the north by the Mediterranean Sea, to the west by Oued Moulouya and to the south by the Beni-Snassen ranges. It covers an area of 61,000 ha and is one of the most fertile and productive areas in eastern Morocco ( Yahya et al., 2017). The plain of Triffa (Eastern Morocco) has great socio-economic importance in the region; the local economy is based specially on agriculture, which consumes the total water use. Indeed, the plain is characterized by two aquifers:afreeoneofsecondaryandquaternaryforma- tions; and a confined aquifer of the Liassic formation ( El Mandour et al., 1998).