“…Ponticola kessleri (Günther, 1861) and P. gorlap (Iljin, 1949) are euryhaline and are able to inhabit the sea as well as a wide range of freshwater habitats. In addition, there are several real freshwater endemics including P. constructor (Nordmann, 1840), P. cyrius (Kessler, 1874), P. iranicus Vasil'eva et al, 2015 , P. patimari Eagderi et al, 2020 , P. rhodioni (Vasil'eva & Vasil'ev, 1994), P. rizensis (Kovačić & Engin, 2008 ), P. turani (Kovačić & Engin, 2008 ), and P. hircaniaensis Zarei, Esmaeili, Kovačić, et al, 2022a , all endemic to small areas in the Caucasus Biodiversity Hotspot (CBH). Ponticola cyrius is endemic to the Kura River drainage from headwaters in Turkey down to Azerbaijan, P. constructor and P. rhodioni are endemic to the south and north of the Bzyb Mountain Range, respectively, P. rizensis and P. turani are endemic to the İyidere and Aksu streams in Turkey, respectively, and P. iranicus , P. patimari , and P. hircaniaensis are endemic to small areas of the Iranian part of CBH (Eagderi et al, 2020 ; Kovačić & Engin, 2008 ; Miller, 2003 ; Vasil'eva et al, 2015 ; Zarei, Esmaeili, Kovačić, et al, 2022a ).…”