Identification of some terrestrial isopods at two stations in Algerian East
Abstract
F.B. Ahmed*, A. Boukachabia, I. Houhamdi, M. Houhamdi and M. Boutarfa
In Algeria, wetlands are considered as remarkable habitats for their faunal and floristic diversity. Very few studies have been devoted for the identification of terrestrial isopods. In order to contribute to the knowledge of this isopod fauna, a field campaign was carried out at two stations in the Algerian East (Annaba and El Tarf). The preliminary study of the general composition of Oniscoid populations showed that a total of 269 specimens were collected during 6 months of sampling (January 2021 to June 2021). The observation of the morpho-anatomical characters of the oniscids collected in the two sampling stations during the study period, allowed to identify, according to the identification key of Noël and Séchet (2014), 5 species of isopods attached to 04 genera including Armadillidium, Armadillo, Porcellio and Porcellionides and five (05) species Armadillidium vulgare, Armadilloofficinalis, Porcelliolaevis, Porcelliovariabilis and Porcellionidespruinosus. We observe a stability of the richness at the level of the two stations during the winter and spring season, on the other hand, it tends to decrease during the summer when it reaches level 1. The highest value of the Shannon-Wiener diversity index was observed at Annaba station. However, the equitability index tends towards 1 for both sites. These data reflects a balance between the numbers of species in each station.