Abstract
Chinapotamon maolanense sp. n. from Maolan National Nature Reserve, Guizhou, southwest China, is described. C. maolanense sp. n. has diagnostic features of Chinapotamon, such as a slender and sinuous male first gonopod, prominently convex carapace, and one-third ratio of frons to carapace width. This new species can be distinguished from congeners by the combination of the following characters: relatively slender subterminal segment of the first gonopods, nearly oval-shaped carapace, anterolateral margin cristate of carapace and an oval-shaped gap between the fingers of the male major chela. In addition, we used a 16S rRNA gene fragment to explore the relationship between C. maolanense sp. n. and C. glabrum, C. depressum and other freshwater crabs distributed in Guizhou; the results support the new species being assigned to Chinapotamon and clearly different from other species used in the analysis.
Highlights
Karst is a unique topography formed through the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum
In the collection of freshwater crabs of the medical college of Nanchang University, Nanchang, we found an undescribed species of Chinapotamon (Dai & Naiyanetr, 1994) collected from the Maolan National Nature Reserve
The discovery of the Maolan karst forest and the primitiveness and richness of the forest vegetation in this area have attracted attention from researchers (Han, Tang & Wu, 2010), but biodiversity surveys in this region have mainly focused on plants (Zhou, 1987)
Summary
Karst is a unique topography formed through the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by abundant underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves (Ruan et al, 2013). The southwestern region of China exhibits the largest continuous distribution of karst topography in the world. The unique topography, water system, vegetation, tropical–subtropical warm–warm humid monsoon climate, and other natural geographical features of this area have created a tropical–subtropical karst ecosystem, that is, both typical and unique. Studies have shown that the ecological environment and biota of the karst terrain in the southwest region of China are extremely fragile, and many plant and animal species are rare or endangered (Liu et al, 2014; Tao, Zhou & Shui, 2011). Detailed and comprehensive scientific research on the biodiversity of this area is urgently required
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