scholarly journals Renewed sampling of inland aquatic habitats in southern Africa yields two novel freshwater crab species (Decapoda: Potamonautidae: Potamonautes)

2013 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ethel E. Phiri ◽  
Savel R. Daniels

A recent sampling endeavour of freshwater crabs along the high-lying streams of the Nyanga mountain range in Mutare (Eastern Highlands, Zimbabwe) yielded a morphologically distinct, as yet undescribed species. The novel Zimbabwean species is compared to the 16 described species from southern Africa based on mtDNA sequence data derived from three partial gene sequences (12S rRNA, 16S rRNA and COI). The new Zimbabwean species was found to be a sister taxon to Potamonautes mulanjeensis. These two species are morphologically and genetically easily differentiated. The new species is described as Potamonautes mutareensis, sp. nov. and is compared morphologically to the known freshwater crab species of southern Africa. A dichotomous key to the four described freshwater crab species that occur in Zimbabwe is also provided. Our results suggest that species diversity and endemism of freshwater decapods and other habitat specialists is likely to be high in unsampled mountainous regions.


2010 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 965-972 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingo S. Wehrtmann ◽  
Célio Magalhães ◽  
Patricio Hernáez ◽  
Fernando L. Mantelatto

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 151-158
Author(s):  
Muzaffer Mustafa Harlıoğlu ◽  
Ardavan Farhadi ◽  
Ayşe Gül Harlıoğlu

Abstract The present status of freshwater crabs (Decapoda, Brachyura) in Turkey is reviewed in this study, with the purpose of identifying the exact number of species, their conservation status, and their distribution. In previous records, it was reported that Turkey has nine freshwater crab species belonging to the genus Potamon: Potamon bileki Pretzmann, 1971, P. ibericum (Bieberstein, 1809), P. hueceste Pretzmann, 1962, P. persicum Pretzmann, 1962, P. magnum Pretzmann, 1962, P. potamios (Olivier, 1804), P. setiger Rathbun, 1904, P. rhodium Parisi, 1913, and P. mesopotamicum Brandis, Storch & Türkay, 1998. However, there was no detailed information on species distribution in Turkey. This review is intended to update the distribution of species in the country, and it revealed that populations of three more freshwater crab species (P. karpathos, P. fluviatile and P. hippocrate) also occur; thus, there are currently 12 freshwater crab species in Turkey. In addition, this review provides a distribution map and identifies possible threats to each species. This review can serve decision makers in the development of management strategies to better protect the environments of these species that are facing growing anthropogenic impacts.


Zootaxa ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 418 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
SADIE K. REED ◽  
NEIL CUMBERLIDGE

The East African freshwater crab Potamonautes obesus (A Milne-Edwards, 1868) (family Potamonautidae) is redescribed from a large series of specimens from Tanzania and Somalia, and Potamon (Potamonautes) bottegoi de Man, 1898 is judged to be a junior objective synonym of P. obesus. The related taxon, Potamonautes calcaratus (Gordon, 1929) from Mozambique and South Africa, is recognised here as a valid species and is redescribed from type material. The distributions of P. obesus and P. calcaratus are described and discussed.


Author(s):  
Savel R. Daniels ◽  
Gabriela B. Bittencourt-Silva ◽  
Vanessa Muianga ◽  
Julian Bayliss

Patterns and processes of cladogenesis among taxa living on the Mozambique ‘sky islands’ remain poorly studied. During the present study, we report on a new freshwater crab species from Mount Lico, an inselberg and ‘sky island’ in the Zambezia Province of Mozambique. Phylogenetic analyses using three mitochondrial DNA sequence loci (12S rRNA, 16S rRNA and COI) were used to determine the evolutionary placement of the freshwater crab specimens from Mount Lico. The freshwater crab specimens from Mount Lico were retrieved sister to Potamonautes choloensis. The new species, Potamonautes licoensis sp. nov., is described and compared with other southern African freshwater crab species. Divergence time estimations for the Mozambican freshwater crab species suggest a Miocene / Plio–Pleistocene diversification. Some endemic ‘sky island’ species form an early branching and are sister to other predominantly East African species, while other ‘sky island’ species are more recently derived and nested within a predominantly southern African clade. The present study presents the description of the fourth endemic freshwater crab species from Mozambique and suggests that the species diversity in the country is likely highly underrepresented, reiterating the call for renewed systematic surveys. An argument for the conservation of these mountainous ‘sky islands’ is presented.


2010 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Jesse ◽  
Christoph D. Schubart ◽  
Sebastian Klaus

Based on mitochondrial and nuclear DNA-sequence data we identify and describe an evolutionary separate lineage (Potamon pelops, sp. nov.) within the potamid freshwater crab species Potamon fluviatile (Herbst, 1785). So far, Potamon pelops, sp. nov. is only reported from the Peloponnesus Peninsula (Greece), probably allopatric to P. fluviatile. This cryptic lineage is not identical with the infrasubspecies Potamon fluviatile fluviatile natio laconis Pretzmann, 1983, the latter being within the morphological variation of Potamon fluviatile and Potamon pelops. Morphologically, Potamon pelops, sp. nov. differs from Potamon fluviatile, probably in spermatophore packing (cleistospermia in P. fluviatile versus coeno- and cleistospermia in P. pelops).


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