Redescription of two subterranean amphipods Niphargus molnari Méhely, 1927 and Niphargus gebhardti Schellenberg, 1934 (Amphipoda, Niphargidae) and their phylogenetic position

Abstract

A detailed redescription of two endemic, cave-dwelling niphargid species of the Hungarian Mecsek Mts., Niphargus molnari Méhely, 1927 and Niphargus gebhardti Schellenberg, 1934 is given based on newly collected material. Morphology was studied under light microscopy and with scanning electon microscopy. Morphological descriptions are complemented with mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) sequences as barcodes for both species and with notes on their ecology. Using three independent molecular markers we showed that N. gebhardti belongs to the clade distributed between Central and Eastern Europe, whereas phylogenetic relationship of N. molnari to the rest of Niphargus species is not clear. The two species from the Mecsek Mts. are phylogenetically not closely related. Both species need to be treated as vulnerable according to IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.