On the presence of the genus Tanymastix Simon, 1886 (Crustacea: Anostraca) in Macedonia

Abstract

The genus Tanymastix Simon, 1886 is represented in Macedonia by two species:Tanymastix stagnalis (Linnaeus, 1758) and Tanymastix motasi Orghidan, 1945. The fairy shrimp T. stagnalis has been found exclusively in the rock pools containing only several litres of water, above the village of Stracin, N. E. Macedonia. T. motasi is present only in the shallow rainpools, less than 15 cm in depth, scattered over an area of untilled, highly-mineralized pasture land in the Pelagonia Plain, S. W. Macedonia. Both Tanymastix species are the only anostracans in their biotopes. In Stracin, all the neighbouring rain pools in soil substrat are occupied by Chirocephalus diaphanus carinatus (Daday, 1910). In Pelagonia, the deeper water bodies are generally inhabited by Chirocephalus pelagonicus Petkovski, 1986 and Chirocephalus diaphanus carinatus (Daday, 1910). On the basis of abundant material of both species, a detailed study of essential morphological characters has been carried out and comparisions with data given in the literature have been made. In T. stagnalis, aberrant morphological features were not ascertained. In T. motasi, the originaldescription of the species, hitherto known only for the Giurgiu Region in Rumania, is supplemented by additional diagnostic characteristics. © 1995 Kluwer Academic Publishers.