Two new Gammarus species (Crustacea, Amphipoda) from warm springs in the south-east pre-alpine area of the Zagros, Iran: habitats with physiological challenges

Abstract

Despite the prospering results emerging from some recent works on Iranian amphipod fauna, continental waters in the south-east edges of the Zagros Mountain ranges had not been investigated for gammarids before. This paper introduces two new epigean species, G. shirazinus and G. loeffleri, distributed in many running waters of four catchment areas in a broad region in the south of Iran. The most important ecological features of the habitats of these species in comparison with previously studied gammarids are higher water temperature and salinity, and lower dissolved oxygen in their habitats, coinciding with decreasing elevation. A comparison of the ultra-structure of the cuticle of the head capsule by scanning electron microscopy between these two new species, and some other species is given. A detailed species description is provided. In addition, the geographical and ecological range of the new species is discussed.