Ephemera 27 : 81-88 (8 pages)

Description of Heleniella assiana sp. n. from the upper basin of the River Assi in Lebanon (Diptera, Chironomidae)

by Joel Moubayed

Freshwater & Marine Biology
10 rue des Fenouils, 34070 Montpellier, France
chirojmb@free.fr

  • icône inbox Reçu le 27 avril 2026
  • icône check_circle Accepté le 17 juin 2026
  • icône library_books Publié le 2 juillet 2026
taxonomy new species Heleniella ornaticollis (Edwards 1929) conservation

Espèces décrites :

French translation

Description d’Heleniella assiana sp. n. du bassin supérieur de la rivière Assi au Liban (Diptera, Chironomidae)

taxonomie nouvelle espèce Heleniella ornaticollis (Edwards 1929) conservation

A large material of Chironomidae composed of adults, pupae, and larvae, collected in the upper basin of the River Assi (= River Orontes, north-eastern Lebanon), revealed the presence of a new Heleniella species. In this paper, only the male adult of H. assiana sp. n. is diagnosed and described. Distinctive pertinent specific characters include in particular: number and distribution pattern of setae on postnotum; unusual shape of virga, sternapodeme, phallapodeme and inferior volsella. At present, two Heleniella species were known from Lebanon, namely H. ornaticollis (Edwards, 1929) and H. serratosioi Ringe, 1976. Consequently, the description of the new species increases the total number of species to three from this country.