Gammarus bakhteyaricus Khalaji-Pirbalouty & Sari, 2004

Zamanpoore, Mehrdad, Grabowski, Michal, Poeckl, Manfred & Schiemer, Friedrich, 2011, Taxonomic review of freshwater Gammarus (Crustacea: Amphipoda) from Iran, Zootaxa 3140, pp. 1-14 : 3-4

Gammarus bakhteyaricus Khalaji-Pirbalouty & Sari, 2004

Gammarus bakhteyaricus Khalaji-Pirbalouty & Sari, 2004: 2435 –2440, Figs. 5–7; Ebrahimnezhad, Hosseini & Sari, 2005: 225, Fig. 5.

Locus typicus. Chaghakhor, Chaharmahal Va Bakhtyari Province, (31º55'N, 50º55'E).

Material examined. Holotype, 6 August 2000 ( ZUTC Amph. 2030). Paratypes, Bizhgerd spring, Chaharmahal Va Bakhtyari Province (31º47'N, 51º10'E) ( ZUTC Amph. 2032).

Distribution. Endemic, restricted to localities in central Zagros: Chaharmahal Va Bakhtyari Province (Khalaji- Pirbalouty & Sari, 2004) and Esfahan ( Ebrahimnezhad et al., 2005) provinces ( Fig. 1 ).

Ecological notes. Habitats in high altitudes (2300 m asl) with slow water current are inhabited by this species.

Taxonomic remarks. This species is characterized by presence of 2–3 tiny spines (or “short robust setae”) on distal-ventral corner of first peduncle segment of antenna 1 ( Khalaji-Pirbalouty & Sari, 2004, Fig. 5). Similar feature can only be observed in G. shirazinus , although only 1–2 spines are present in this species ( Zamanpoore et al., 2010a, Fig. 2). Apart of that, the two species have many differentiating features; most important of them is very long setation of antenna 2 and pereopod 5–7 in G. shirazinus if compared to the former species (ibid., Figs. 2, 4). Gammarus bakhteyaricus may also be confused with G. pseudosyriacus and G. lacustris , however in the latter two species, there are no spines on distal-ventral corner of first peduncle segment of antenna 1.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Distribution map of freshwater Gammarus species in Iran (grey regions indicate high mountainous areas).