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To understand the relationship between local (alpha) diversity of ostracods and their distribution, 95 different locations were randomly sampled from southern Kahramanmaraş (Turkey) between 7 June and 31 July, 2010. Total of 46 ostracods were encountered from 68 sites. Four alpha diversity indices (Shannon‐Wiener, Menhinick, Brillouin, Margalef) individually quantified higher species diversity and evenness for three types of habitats (limnocrene springs, ponds, stream). Diversity partitioning analyses revealed a significant and substantial beta‐diversity among the sites. First axis of CCA exhibited about 71% of the correlations between species and environmental variables. Water temperature, having either a negative or positive correlation with individual species, was the most influential factor affecting diversity. Altitude did not significantly affect the numbers of species identified from the elevation ranges of 400–600 m and 800–1000 m. At least nine cosmopolitan species from 56 sites had an important contribution to local diversity. Hence, suitability of aquatic (ecological) conditions and habitat types provide better explanations for ostracod diversity than do other abiotic factors such as altitude, pH and salinity. The results may support the Habitat Diversity Hypothesis but the study needs to be expanded to different regions and cannot be generalized at the moment. (© 2012 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)