''Melanopsis letourneuxi'' is a species of freshwater gastropod endemic to streams in coastal

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

and

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

Distribution, ecology and threats

''Melanopsis letourneuxi'' is found almost exclusively in relatively shallow medium-sized streams with stony substrates, rarely occurring in stagnant sources. The species had historically been reported from several localities in north Africa, including a site in Algeria or (disputedly) Morocco - "in the source and the river

Moulouya The Moulouya River (Berber language, Berber: ''iɣẓer en Melwect'', ) is a 520 km-long river in Morocco. Its sources are located in the Jbel Ayachi, Ayashi mountain in the Middle Atlas. It empties into the Mediterranean Sea near Saïdia, in ...

, west of

Maghnia Maghnia () (formerly Marnia) is a town in Tlemcen Province, northwestern Algeria. It is the second most populated town in Tlemcen Province, after Tlemcen. The current population is over 200,000. History Archaeologists have found evidence of prehi ...

" from which it has not been documented recently- and two confirmed adjacent Moroccan sites -Berguent and Ras el Ain at Aïn Beni Mathar - in which it is exceedingly rare. Remaining populations are threatened by water abstraction, pollution, and shell-collecting.

Populations

Historically, several varieties (excluding the nominal var.) had been identified by

Pallary Paul Maurice Pallary (9 March 1869, in Mers-el-Kebir, French Algeria – 9 January 1942, in Oran, Vichy French Algeria) was a French-Algerian malacologist. His pioneering research on molluscs was mainly concentrated in the western part of the Medi ...

and Bourguignat, including: * † ''Melanopsis letourneuxi var. semesa'' * ''Melanopsis letourneuxi var. magna'' (Berguent at Aïn Beni Mathar)* * ''Melanopsis letourneuxi var. minor'' (Ras el Aïn at Aïn Beni Mathar)* * ''Melanopsis letourneuxi var. emaciata'' (Berguent at Aïn Beni Mathar) * ''Melanopsis letourneuxi var. mattarica'' (Ras el Aïn at Aïn Beni Mathar) † Denotes that the variety is not mentioned by the nomenclator of Neubauer 2016 *Denotes that the variety is considered invalid by the nomenclator of Neubauer 2016

References

External links

Bourguignat, J.-R. (1884). Histoire des Mélaniens du système européen. Annales de Malacologie. 2 (1): 1-168.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q81848415 Melanopsidae Gastropods described in 1880