Epeorus (Caucasiron) turcicus sp. nov. is described based on larvae from NE Turkey. The new species can be distinguished from other Caucasiron by a unique combination of several diagnostic characters: the presence of a rounded hypodermal medial femur spot, colouration of abdominal terga and sterna, narrow gill plate VII, fine hair-like setae on the surface of abdominal terga, and absence of postero-lateral projections on tergum X. In addition to morphological analysis, two single-locus analytical approaches are employed for delimiting the new species using COI sequences (Automatic Barcode Gap Discovery, ABGD; and General Mixed Yule Coalescent Model, GMYC). Both approaches unambiguously recognized E. (C.) turcicus sp. nov. as a distinct species. Our molecular dataset contains all Caucasiron species occurring in the Caucasus and the delimitation of individual species mostly follows the morphologically defined species. This study confirms the suitability of the GMYC approach for species delimitation within Caucasiron.

The Hirudinea species were collected from various running waters and lakes in Turkey. The sampling sites were located on Yeşilırmak River, streams in Yedigöller National Park, Büyük Menderes River, Lake Beyşehir, Lake Işıklı, Karamuk Marsh and Karadut Spring of Acıgöl Lake. Recorded species were evaluated with physicochemical variables such as temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, conductivity, nitrite nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, ammonium nitrogen, orthophosphate phosphorus and substratum structure. In this study, eight Hirudinea species were determined. These are Helobdella stagnalis, Erpobdella octoculata, Erpobdella testacea, Erpobdella vilnensis, Dina stschegolewi, Hirudo verbana, Limnatis nilotica, Haemopis sanguisuga. The relationships between leech species and water quality variables were assessed with canonical correspondence analysis. The results show that leech species which are found in the present study are able to live in different saprobic levels in streams and trophic levels in lakes, but they usually prefer polluted environments. Knowledge of ecological characteristics of leech species must be improved to use them in water quality assessment much more effectively.

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In this study, we aimed to determine the reference sites and their reference Ephemeroptera communities according to the Water Framework Directive methods in the Eastern Part of the Black Sea Region of Turkey between 2008-2011. From the area, twentyfour collecting sites were chosen. There were thirty Ephemeroptera species identified, belonging to seven families and eleven genres. Cluster analysis based on Bray-Curtis similarities was applied. Reference habitat conditions of the studied sites and their reference Ephemeroptera communities were determined by combining both ecological and statistical results. As a result, sixteen sites had reference habitat conditions and their reference Ephemeroptera species were identified.

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