Morphological and molecular characterisation of a new genus and new species of Parabathynellidae (Crustacea : Syncarida) in Queensland, Australia

Abstract

A new genus and species in the family Parabathynellidae Noodt, 1965, Lockyerenella danschmidti, gen. et sp. nov., is described from Queensland, Australia. The species displays several distinctive character states within the Parabathynellidae, and a unique combination of character states. Interestingly, L. danschmidti is the only known species of Parabathynellidae in Australia (and in the world) to possess a long and robust seta on the last segment of the antenna, which is present in both males and females. The new genus is morphologically distinct from the known genera, but is more similar to Queensland species of Notobathynella Schminke, 1973 and Arkaroolabathynella Abrams & King, 2013 from South Australia, than to species from other areas of the continent. This is the first work to couple genetics to the morphological description of a stygofauna species in Queensland. Phylogenetic relationships between L. danschmidti and related genera from elsewhere on the continent were evaluated through the analysis of combined mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequence data. This analysis revealed at least one new genus within the Parabathynellidae, confirming our morphological hypothesis.

Split distribution, biogeography and morphological and genetic diversity of the Iberobathynellini Tribe in the family Parabathynellidae (Crustacea, Malacostraca, Bathynellacea)

“…In the case of Bathynellacea, the taxonomy is complicated, in addition to the extensive morphological simplification observed in the group, by the extreme progenetic development of its species (Schminke, 1981) and the lack of morphological distinguishability between species that could be caused by recent divergence, niche conservatism or morphological convergence (Zagmajster et al, 2018). Due to the increased use of molecular techniques in systematic studies, cryptic species have been detected in almost all taxonomic groups (Knowlton, 1993;Amato et al, 2007;Beheregaray & Caccone, 2007;Le Gac et al, 2007;Heraty et al, 2007;Pfenninger & Schwenk, 2007;Barroso et al, 2010, González-Miguéns et al, 2020, including Bathynellacea (Guzik et al, 2008;Camacho et al, 2011Camacho et al, , 2012Little & Camacho, 2017;Camacho et al, 2018a, b, c). The presence of such species necessitates the use molecular approaches for species delimitation (González-Miguéns et al, 2020).…”

An integrated study of Atopobathynella (Parabathynellidae, Bathynellacea) species reveals restricted distributions in a complex hydrogeological setting: two new species from the Pilbara (Australia)

“…The crustacean family Parabathynellidae Noodt, 1965 is a poorly studied stygofaunal taxon (organisms living in groundwater) that appears to be considerably diverse in Australia (Abrams et al, 2012;Abrams et al, 2013;Camacho & Hancock, 2010Cho, 2005;Cho et al, 2005;Cho et al, 2006a;Cho & Humphreys, 2010;Cook et al, 2012;Little & Camacho, 2017;Schminke, 1973), especially in the Pilbara bioregion. However, most species are defined through molecular data only without formal description (Matthews et al, 2020).…”

New giant genus of Parabathynellidae (Crustacea: Bathynellacea): first record of Bathynellacea in an Australian cave

“…According to Abrams et al (2013), 47 species were known from Australia (including two in Tasmania), distributed in 10 genera across mainland Australia. Since then, one more genus and species have been described, Lockyerenella danschmidti Camacho & Little, 2017 from Queensland, two new species of Hexabathynella Schminke, 1972 from Rottnest Island (Western Australia) (Perina et al 2023a) and two new species of Atopobathynella Schminke, 1973 from the Pilbara region (Perina et al 2023b). In addition, a recent paper by Matthews et al (2020), using a combined approach of molecular species delimitation methods, identified between eight to 24 putative new species from remote subterranean habitats in the Pilbara region of Western Australia (WA).…”

“…In addition, a recent paper by Matthews et al (2020), using a combined approach of molecular species delimitation methods, identified between eight to 24 putative new species from remote subterranean habitats in the Pilbara region of Western Australia (WA). In the last 10 years, the delineation of parabathynellid species using molecular methods has focused on Queensland (QLD) (Cook et al 2012;Little et al 2016;Little & Camacho 2017), South Australia (SA) (Abrams et al 2012(Abrams et al , 2013, New South Wales (NSW) (Asmyhr & Cooper 2012), and the Yilgarn region, WA (Guzik et al 2008;Abrams et al 2012Abrams et al , 2013. Therefore, the diversity of species is much greater than the 52 species formally described and assigned to 11 genera.…”