Phylogenetic and phylogeographic relationships in the crayfish genus Austropotamobius inferred from mitochondrial COI gene sequences

The assessment of the habitat and water quality requirements of the stone crayfish (Austropotamobius torrentium) and noble crayfish (Astacus astacus) species in the rivers from the Anina Mountains (SW Romania)

“…An alternative explanation would be the hypothesis of a more "phylogenetic" scenario, involving the dispersal history. Trontelj et al (2005) strongly suggested that the epicenter of dispersal for the stone crayfish was on the territory of former Yugoslavia, from where it dispersed slowly, but actively, during the Pleistocene towards the Central and Eastern Europe territories, including Romania. The genetic analysis of western and central European populations revealed the fact that as compared to other species from the same genus, A. torrentium is rather a homogenous species, sharing the characteristics of a monophyletic origin, implicating a much more recent dispersal history then expected for other groups of freshwater organisms from the former Tethys basin (Bnrescu, 1992).…”

“…It is known that this species has a negative interaction with the stone crayfish, and that on their turn both of them do have negative interactions with A. leptodacylus, due the more aggressive and efficient ecologic and reproductive strategies of this latter species (Stucki and Romer, 2001). Nevertheless, this type of hypothesis have not yet been tested on the Romanian populations, but those undertaken on the Balkans by Trontelj et al (2005) do support this kind of scenario. To further track the colonization history or to test for alternative hypothesis of ecologic exclusions, more samples from wider areas are needed, like those suggested for the western Romania and genetic studies, in order to compare different populations from eastern Danube hydrographical basin.…”

Filling the blank spot: first report on the freshwater crayfish distribution in Albania

“…Likewise, the populations of some European crayfish species occurring in the Balkans were observed to exhibit higher genetic variation compared with the rest of Europe (Trontelj et al, 2005;Klobučar et al, 2013;Schrimpf et al, 2014), and hence forming genetically unique stocks of conservation importance on the continental scale. However, in contrast to most European countries, the detailed information on exact distribution of crayfish species in the Balkans is still scarce (Kouba et al, 2014) and has only been recently updated for some regions: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro (Simić et al, 2008;Maguire et al, 2011;Trožić-Borovac, 2011).…”

Freshwater crayfish distribution update and maps for Greece: combining literature and citizen-science data

“…Concerning A. torrentium, the only available genetic data using mitochondrial markers are related to a small number of selected Greek populations (Trontelj et al, 2005;Klobučar et al, 2013). The northern-central Dinaric region is the predominant genetic diversity and radiation center for this species.…”

“…captured in the tributaries of Axios river in the area of Kotsadere (=Big river) (spring of Metalleio), as well as close to the villages of Skra, Koupa, and Axioupolis (Perdikaris, 2009). These mountain tributaries which are typical habitats of A. astacus, represent an overlapping distribution zone with A. torrentium (Karaman (1963), Albrecht (1982), and Kinzelbach (1986) for A. astacus, and Trontelj et al (2005) and Machino and Holdich (2006) for A. torrentium). The presence of A. astacus population were confirmed for the first time during 2006 in Melisiotiko river (tributary of Loudias river on the southern part of Paiko mountain) based on the capturing of three adult male specimens (Fig.…”