Abstract
This study was conducted to describe and illustrate two new species of groundwater amphipods from the northern parts of the Zagros Mountains in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran. Mitochondrial (COI) and nuclear (28S rDNA) fragments as well as several morphological traits were used to characterize Niphargus urmiensis sp. nov. and Niphargus fiseri sp. nov. The phylogenetic analyses showed that the nucleotide differences between the recently described species and their close allies are attributed to their distinctiveness. The molecular analysis also introduced that the new species are placed within the clade comprising Iranian species as a sister taxon. The genetic distances between N. urmiensis sp. nov. and N. fiseri sp. nov. are 7.6% and 1.6%, respectively based on the COI and 28S rDNA gene fragments.
Highlights
Groundwater accounts for about 40% of inland water in the world (Castany 1982), containing habitats which are narrowly distributed with a high endemism and a high diversity of fauna communities (Humphreys 2006; Asmyhr et al 2014; Glanville et al 2016)
The West Azerbaijan Province is located in northwest of Iran between 35°58′ to 39°46′ N and 44°03′ to 47°23′ E
The populations collected in this study showed the presence of two new species of the genus
Summary
Groundwater accounts for about 40% of inland water in the world (Castany 1982), containing habitats which are narrowly distributed with a high endemism and a high diversity of fauna communities (Humphreys 2006; Asmyhr et al 2014; Glanville et al 2016). Groundwater fauna involve most main taxonomic groups examined in surface waters, but, are poorly surveyed (Deharveng et al 2009). It is important to understand species delimitation especially in groups which are common in groundwater habitats (Witt et al 2006). In these environments, convergent selective pressures result in cryptic speciation (Jörger & Schrödl 2013). Increasing use of molecular techniques in taxonomy has resulted in detecting cryptic species, especially in underground groups (Eme et al 2017; Stokkan et al 2018)
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