A new genus and two new species of cavernicolous amphipods (Crustacea: Typhlogammaridae) from the Western Caucasus

  • Dmitry A. Sidorov Institute of Biology and Soil Science, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 100-let Vladivostoku Av. 159, Vladivostok 690022
  • Andrey A. Gontcharov A.V. Zhirmunsky Institute of Marine Biology, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 17 Palchevskogo St., Vladivostok 690041
  • Svetlana N. Sharina Far Eastern Federal University, 8 Suhanova St., Vladivostok 690950
Keywords: Gammaroidea, mtDNA, phylogeny, Sarma Cave, subterranean species

Abstract

This study deals with the biodiversity and distribution of cavernicolous Amphipoda in caves of the Arabika massif (Western Caucasus). The Sarma, Trojka and Orlinoe Gnezdo caves were explored during speleological expeditions over the years 2011–12. Two new species of Amphipoda were found: a sub-surface dweller Zenkevitchia sandroruffoi sp. nov. is reported from the Sarma, Trojka and Orlinoe Gnezdo caves at depths from -30 m to -350 m; the second one, a deep dweller Adaugammarus pilosus gen. et sp. nov. is reported from the Sarma Cave at depths of -1270 to -1700 m. Adaugammarus gen. nov. shares similarities with Typhlogammarus Schäferna, 1907 and Zenkevitchia Birstein, 1940. The species Anopogammarus birsteini Derzhavin, 1945 is also re-described herein based on new samples that suggest close affinity of this species with the family Gammaridae. The original taxonomic combination is resurrected for Zenkevitchia revazi Birstein & Ljovuschkin, 1970, comb. resurr. (from Anopogammarus Derzhavin, 1945). To accommodate morphologically different species in the genus Zenkevitchia, two new groups are proposed. These are the admirabilis-group (Z. admirabilis Birstein, 1940 and Z. yakovi Sidorov, 2015) and the sandroruffoi-group (Z. sandroruffoi sp. nov. and Z. revazi). An updated molecular (mt-cox1) phylogeny, an identification key to the genera and a distribution map for the typhlogammarid amphipod species of Transcaucasia are provided.

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Published
2015-12-24
How to Cite
Sidorov, D. A., Gontcharov, A. A., & Sharina, S. N. (2015). A new genus and two new species of cavernicolous amphipods (Crustacea: Typhlogammaridae) from the Western Caucasus. European Journal of Taxonomy, (168). https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2015.168