Lepiseodina rothschildi (Eaton, 1912)

Saidoun, Imane, El Mouden, Mohamed Amin, Boussaa, Samia & Belqat, Boutaïna, 2025, New records of genera and species of moth flies (Diptera, Psychodidae: Psychodinae) from Morocco, Journal of Insect Biodiversity and Systematics 11 (1), pp. 151-169 : 159

Lepiseodina rothschildi (Eaton, 1912) ***

Material examined. Rif: 1♂, Oued El Kerak, 3.II.2022, sweep net, coll. Saidoun, UAE- FST; 1♂, Auberge Belwazen, 3.VI.2022, malaise trap, coll. Saidoun, NMPC; Middle Atlas: 1♂, Grotte Bouslama, 19.V.2022, sweep net, coll. Saidoun UAE-FST .

General distribution. This European species has been recorded from Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Britain, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Mallorca, the Netherlands, and Slovakia ( Withers, 1989; Salmela, 2010; Kvifte et al., 2016; Ježek et al., 2020; Oboňa et al., 2021).

Habitat. Lepiseodina rothschildi ( Figs 21–23), was found in the mountains. Adults were collected in humid mountainous and forested environments, in lotic and lentic habitats in the Rif and the Middle Atlas, respectively. The lotic habitat is the environment of the river El Kerak ( Fig. 9) flowing in the foothills (164 m) of the mountain Jbel Labyad (i.e., the white Mountain, so-called for its limestone) where our Malaise tent was placed. The lentic habitat, the Bouslama cave, is a beautiful cave in the heart of Tazekka National Park (one of 10 protected parks of Morocco) in a dense oak forest that covers Mount Bouslama. Its rocky entrance is covered with lichens and is rich in Rosaceae and Rubus ulmifolius , Ficus carica , Hedera helix , and other vegetation. Lepiseodina rothschildi was caught in flight at the entrance of the cave ( Fig. 10) from among an immense movement of insects in the wetland shade of a dense tree cover where flying species and amphibians coexist near a pond a few meters from the cave entrance.