Volume 70 (2021): Issue 2 (December 2021)

The Tarfaya-Laayoune coastal basin developed in a stable passive margin, where sedimentation occurred in shallow bays. During the Late Cretaceous, bituminous and phosphatic series were deposited in the shallow depression such as Sebkha Oum Debaa. In this work, the age of these Cretaceous layers are refined using a palynological approach and their paleoenvironments are described using organic geochemistry. Based on quantitative and qualitative palynological analyses, the sediments revealed a rich and diverse dinoflagellate cyst assemblage (65 taxa); among them 9 important biostratigraphic markers: Andalusiella inflata, Andalusiella ivoirensis, Andalusiella mauthei, Cerodinium diebelii, Cerodinium speciosum, Dinogymnium acuminatum, Odontochitina porifera, Trichodinium castanea, and Trithyrodinium evittii. According to the reported stratigraphic dinoflagellate taxa distribution, an age range of late Campanian to early Maastrichtian is herein proposed for the Oum Debaa Formation. This biostratigraphy update has been correlated to the Tethyan and Sub-Boreal domains. On the paleoenvironmental level, geochemical proxies have displayed an anoxic lagoon depositional which is dominated by an intermediate climate between hot / humid and arid with an often low paleoproductivity regime which induces redox conditions.

In total 65 Diptera species from 20 families (Anisopodidae (2 spp.), Asilidae (1), Bibionidae (1), Clusiidae (1), Culicidae (8), Dolichopodidae (7), Drosophilidae (4), Dryomyzidae (1), Empididae (2), Heleomyzidae (5), Hybotidae (5), Lauxaniidae (4), Limoniidae (9), Opomyzidae (2), Pallopteridae (2), Psychodidae (6), Rhagionidae (2), Scatopsidae (1), Trichoceridae (1) and Ulidiidae (1)) were recorded. The species Drapetis flavipes Macquart, 1834 (Hybotidae), is recorded for the first time in Slovakia. Ten species belong among uncommon or rare (namely: Atypophthalmus (Atypophthalmus) inustus (Meigen, 1818), Calliopum splendidum Papp, 1978, Dioctria linearis (Fabricius, 1787), Cheilotrichia (Empeda) neglecta (Lackschewitz, 1927), Chrysopilus asiliformis (Preyssler, 1791), Ochlerotatus (Ochlerotatus) nigrinus (Eckstein 1918), Philosepedon (Philosepedon) austriacum Vaillant, 1974, Suillia variegata (Loew, 1862), Toxoneura modesta (Meigen, 1830) and Trichomyia urbica Curtis, 1839). On the other hand, two invasive species are also reported. Drosophila (Sophophora) suzukii (Matsumura, 1931) is an invasive crop pest and Aedes (Finlaya) japonicus japonicus (Theobald, 1901) is an invasive biting pest, a potential vector for various diseases. City parks are also important from the point of view of Diptera biodiversity and more attention needs to be paid to them.

New faunistic data from the northern Hercynian Mountains and adjacent localities (Czech Republic) collected mostly at 52 sites in 2004–2010 are presented. Altogether, 88 species of moth flies (adults) of 38 genera (approximately 49% of all species of the family registered from the Czech Republic) are known to occur in this area. Twenty of these species were classified in the national Red List 2005 of threatened invertebrates and 14 are nationally scarce, suitable for further monitoring. Katamormia bezzii (Salamanna, 1983) and Berdeniella longispinosa (Vaillant, 1985) are new for Bohemia. In the appendix, the updated checklist of family Psychodidae is given for the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Results of a biodiversity investigation of Agromyzidae (Diptera) in the cadastre of Zlaté Hory town (Silesia, Czech Republic) in June 2017 are presented. In the area under study a total of 43 species of 12 genera have been recorded including 29 species representing new additions to the fauna of Czech Silesia. Agromyza seticercus, Cerodontha (Poemyza) beigerae, Galiomyza galiivora, Liriomyza europaea, L. puella, Phytomyza aurei, Ph. cirsii, Ph. vilnensis and Pseudonapomyza palliditarsis being to most interesting species found in the area. The importance of these species from a faunistic point of view is discussed.