Macrozoobenthos Communities of Springs and Streams of the Eastern Circum-Pontic Region

The Diversity of Freshwater Stygobiotic Crustaceans in the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania Provides New Evidence for the Existence of an Ancient Glacial Refugium in the North Caucasus Region

“…To date, only two species of the genus Niphargus-namely, Niphargus ciscaucasicus Marin & Palatov, 2019, from the foothills of the northern slope near Apsheronsk [19], and Niphargus alanicus Marin & Palatov, 2021 from an abandoned mine in the North Ossetia-Alania, have been discovered from the northern slope of the Great Caucasian Ridge [37]. Also, two species of the genus Proasellus Dudich, 1925 (Crustacea: Isopoda)-namely, P. uallagirus Palatov & Sokolova, 2021 and P. irystonicus Palatov & Sokolova, 2021, were recently described from hyporhean riverbed habitats of the Terek River Basin in the Alagir Gorge [20], and an undescribed species of Proasellus was also reported from the Digor Gorge (Iraf District) in the North Ossetia-Alania [38]. Such relatively low diversity can be explained by the impact of glaciation during the Quaternary period [5,14].…”

When males and females belong to different genera: an interesting case of Synurella/Pontonyx (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Crangonyctidae) co-occurrence

“…These genera are not closely related and refer to different clades of the family Crangonyctidae [Marin, Palatov, 2021a, b], being separated a long time ago, shortly before the division of North America (Nearctic) and Eurasia (Palaearctic) in the Eocene, about 55-60 Mya [Copilaș-Ciocianu et al, 2019]. Moreover, such an example of the co-occurrence of two crangonyctid genera is described for the first time, previously crangonictids were found together with representatives of other subterranean crustaceans, for example, niphargids (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Niphargidae) [Copilaș-Ciocianu et al, 2014;Copilaș-Ciocianu, Boroș, 2016;Palatov, Chertoprud, 2020], but never together with crangonictids.…”