A new Gammarus species (Crustacea, Amphipoda, Gammaridae) from Northwestern Islands, South Korea

Abstract

A new species, Gammarus baengnyeongensis sp. nov., belonging to the family Gammaridae Leach, 1814 was collected from the Baengnyeongdo and Daecheongdo islands in South Korea. This new species is characterized by the flagellum of antenna 2 with calceoli, and the length ratio of outer ramus to inner ramus of uropod 3. Descriptions of diagnostic characteristics of the species are provided in the text. We performed statistical analysis to confirm the significance of morphological differences of interspecies. Additionally, we compare the new species to related species by the partial sequence of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (CO1) gene. Genetic distances between the new species and closely related species rated from 29.1–40.8%, which highly supports Gammarus baengnyeongensis sp. nov. as a valid species. In this study, we add one new Gammarus species in Korean waters.

A new species of Gammarus (Crustacea, Amphipoda, Gammaridae) from South Korea

“…Freshwater Gammarus was first reported in Korea by Uéno (1940). Since then, 11 species of freshwater Gammarus have been reported and described in South Korea: G. baengnyeongensis Kwon, Kim, Heo & Kim, 2020;G. gageoensis Kim, Lee & Min, 2010; G. galgosensis Lee & Kim, 1980;G.…”

“…gageoensis Kim, Lee & Min, 2010; G. galgosensis Lee & Kim, 1980;G. hoonsooi Lee, 1986; G. kyonggiensis Lee & Seo, 1990; G. longisaeta Lee & Seo, 1992; G. odaensis Lee & Kim, 1980; G. sobaegensis Uéno, 1966; G. soyoensis Lee & Kim, 1980; G. wangbangensis Lee & Seo, 1992; and G. zeongogensis Lee & Kim, 1980 (Uéno 1940(Uéno , 1966Lee and Kim 1980;Lee 1986;Lee and Seo 1990;1992;Kim et al 2010;Kwon et al 2020). Islands are known to have high levels of endemism due to geographic isolation and limited interchange with mainland biota (Whittaker and Fernández-Palacios 2007), three Gammarus species (G. baengnyeongensis, G. gageoensis, and G. galgosensis) are already known to be endemic to certain islands of South Korea.…”