In order to check the presence and distribution of Rhyacophila fasciata fasciata Hagen 1859 (species described from Austria) and R. fasciata denticulata McLachlan 1879 in the Iberian Peninsula, we studied the morphology of Spanish, French, and Austrian specimens, together with their mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase (mtCOI). We observed that the individuals considered to date as R. fasciata denticulata are in fact two different species: R. denticulata, presently known from France and possibly in some rivers of the Basque Country (Spain), and R. sociata Navás 1916 distributed in Spain and France. These two species are also different from the reference species (R. fasciata) from Austria, so we propose a change in the taxonomic status of R. fasciata denticulata to R. denticulata (stat. prom.) and the restoration of R. sociata (stat. res.), with the designation of a neotype, due to the loss of the holotype.

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The biodiversity of groundwater fauna remains poorly known and understood. Groundwater biodiversity studies are strongly affected by habitat inaccessibility and taxonomic crisis. The objective of this work was to investigate levels of genetic divergence across populations of Bathynellacea, a small crustacean group that lives exclusively in groundwater, in order to evaluate the extent of cryptic speciation in morphologically constrained clades. Partial sequences of cytochrome oxidase I (COI) have been obtained, for the first time in Bathynellidae. Specimens analyzed of the genus Vejdovskybathynella were obtained from six populations morphologically assignable to a single species; all of them are located in different areas of one of the largest karst systems (110 km of galleries topographied) known in Spain. The analyses of molecular data demonstrate the presence of three highly divergent genetic units, possibly corresponding to undescribed new species. The results of this study provide the first molecular data that complement morphological knowledge in order to address phylogenetic studies to try to resolve the relations between genera and species of the Bathynellidae family. We conclude that the evolutionary scenario of this special group of subterranean crustaceans cannot be revealed only by using morphological information due to the presence of very old lineages of cryptic species, as has been brought to light with the molecular data obtained here.

We present the description of two new subspecies of the Rhyacophila fasciata Group: Rhyacophila fasciata delici Kučinić & Valladolid (ssp. nov.), broadly distributed in Croatia and present also in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and R. fasciata viteceki Valladolid & Kučinić (ssp. nov.), found in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Our study of the morphology of adults, as well as our analysis of the barcode region of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (mtCOI) gene and geographical distribution confirm the differences of the two new subspecies with the nominal species R. f. fasciata, also found in both countries.

A preliminary molecular phylogenetic framework for 12 genera (23 species) of the family Parabathynellidae from Europe, Australia, North Africa and India is presented based on mitochondrial and nuclear markers (Cox1 and 18S). The generated hypothesis places the Southeast Asia genus Paraeobathynella closer to European genera (Iberobathynella, Paraiberobathynella and Parabathynella) than to the Australian (Brevisomabathynella, Atopobathynella, Billibathynella, Octobathynella, Arkaroolabathynella and Lockyerenella) or Indian genera (Habrobathynella), or to the cosmopolitan genus Hexabathynella (Spain and Australia). Three new species of the genus Paraeobathynella from Thailand, P. ratensis n. sp., P. siamensis n. sp. and P. hanjavanitiana n. sp., are described based on morphological and molecular features. This is the first record of the genus from Thailand and extends its range of distribution within Asia, where it was previously known only from Vietnam. The new species are clearly separated as independent units at least since the Middle Miocene.