Rhithrogena loyolaea Navas 1922

Rhithrogena loyolaea Navás, 1922 TAXO-2022. This species, originally described from the Pyrenees (Navás 1922; Thomas 1970), is widely distributed in western and central Europe but only occurs in mountain ranges. It is one of the most orophilous Ephemeroptera species in the French fauna (Thomas 1970; Bauernfeind and Soldan 2012). However, our molecular analyses (PP 387916 to PP 387918) indicate that this species shows differences from the alpine populations but further work is essential to clarify the taxonomic status of R. loyolaea. DIFF. As new Rhithrogena species were described since Lavandier‘s study among which at least one (R. strenua) was recorded in the catchment in 2022, we propose to change R. loyolaea to Rhithrogena spp. in the revised Lavandier’s dataset. Works on ecology and behaviour of R. loyolaea in Estaragne stream (Lavandier 1979, 1981) should also be interpreted with caution.