Gammarus komareki Schäferna, 1922

Gammarus komareki Schäferna, 1922: 18 –21, Figs. 8–9; G. pulex persicus S. Karaman, 1934: 129, Fig. 2 (Locus typicus Viladereb, Ardebil, East Azarbaijan); G. komareki komareki, G.S. Karaman, 1969: 33–43, Figs. 1 –20; Karaman & Pinkster, 1977: 81 –83, Fig. 33; Stock, Mirzajani, Vonk, Naderi & Kiabi, 1998: 205 –206; Khalaji-Pirbalouty & Sari, 2004: 2428; Ebrahimnezhad, Hosseini & Sari, 2005: 224, Fig. 4.

Gammarus crinicaudatus (Stock et al., 1998: 189 –195, Figs. 10–12), misidentified.

Locus typicus. Village Belovo near Pazardzhik (Pazardzhik province), Bulgaria.

Material examined. Many Specimens, Shahrestanak (36º08'N, 51º20'E), Tehran Province, 1995, (ZMA Crust. Amph. #?); many specimens, Gardane ye Cheri, May 2001 (32º10'N, 50º14'E) (ZUTC Amph. 2080); new material: three specimens, Hablerood river, Firuzkuh, September 2000 (35º45'N, 52º46'E) (FAIC 111289); many specimens, Amanabad, Mash'had (36˚10ʹN, 59˚40ʹE) (FAIC 111288).

Distribution. This species is widely distributed in fresh running waters in Iran, most frequently along a northwest-northeast axis in northern skirts of Alborz (Elburz) Mountains (Stock et al., 1998; Alizade-Eghtedar & Sari, 2007). Some populations are reaching southwards to the northern margins of Zagros (Stock et al., 1998; Ebrahimnezhad et al., 2005; Khalaji-Pirbalouty & Sari, 2006) (Fig. 1).

Ecological notes. The species lives in habitats with slow water current and dense aquatic vegetation (Karaman & Pinkster, 1977) having cold water (ca. 12ºC), at higher elevations (above 2200 m asl) (Khalaji-Pirbalouty & Sari, 2004). Population from Amanabad inhabits a spring with water temperatures from 8 to 18ºC.

Taxonomic remarks. Long setae on antenna 2 can be a source of confusion in differentiating of G. komareki from few Iranian species. In G. komareki the setation is more dense and distally curved (Karaman & Pinkster, 1977, Fig. 33D) if compared to G. crinicaudatus . In the latter species pereopod 4 and uropod 3 (ibid. Figs. 33 O, K) are more setose than in G. komareki . Setation of antennae 2 in G. pretzmanni is dense and highly curled (Mateus & Mateus, 1990, Fig. 2C), but the species has very short setae (shorter than the spines) on anterior margin of pereopod 7. In G. parthicus anterior margin of pereopod 7 is bare as well (Stock et al., 1998, Fig. 15c). Gammarus loeffleri, in contrast, has much longer setae on anterior of pereopod 7 (Zamanpoore et al., 2010a, Fig. 9C) than G. komareki .