Cave shrimps Troglocaris s. str. (Dormitzer, 1853), taxonomic revision and description of new taxa after phylogenetic and morphometric studies

Abstract

Within the Dinaric genus Troglocaris cave shrimps from the subgenus Troglocaris s. str. (Dormitzer, 1853) (Crustacea: Decapoda: Atyidae), have the widest distribution area. The recent molecular analyses have revealed significant, cryptic diversity in the subgenus. The aim of the subsequent detailed morphometric analyses was the provision of the appropriate diagnosable characters for the discovered lineages, i.e. taking care of their taxonomical visibility. We herein designate a neotype and provide a detailed description for the polytipic type species of the genus T. (T.) anophthalmus (Kollar, 1848), to enable its morphological distinction from the erroneously described T. (T.) planinensis Birštejn, 1948. Considering a combination of morphological, geographical and molecular data, we describe four new subspecies: T. (T.) a. ocellata ssp. nov., T. (T.) a. periadriatica ssp. nov., T. (T.) a. legovici ssp. nov. and T. (T.) a. sontica ssp. nov., apart from the extant T. (T.) a. intermedia Babić, 1922. Due to a considerable morphological variability and no easily observable diagnostic morphological characters, the GenBank accession numbers for the COI gene are added in all mentioned taxa. Copyright © 2012 Magnolia Press.