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¹ Instituto de Ciencias Marinas de Andalucía (ICMAN-CSIC), Avda. República Saharaui, 2, 11519 Puerto Real, Cádiz, Spain.
² Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, Department of Biology, 15030 Burdur, Turkey DOI : 10.4194/1303-2712-v21_3_02 Viewed : 1971 - Downloaded : 1374 The real distribution range of a species is mostly unknown due to the lack of sampling in certain regions in the world. This may be especially problematic for freshwater species in the Mediterranean basin since its freshwater inhabitants are taxa highly sensitive to anthropogenic disturbances. The cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene in Atyaephyra recognized seven Atyaephyra species in the Mediterranean basin in recent years. However, the lack of sampling in the Middle East does not help to clarify what Atyaephyra species are present in this region and their distributions. The most extended species in the area is A. orientalis, while A. tuerkayi has been found only in the River Nahr Al-Kabir, which is located along the borders of Lebanon with Syria. DNA barcodes of Atyaephyra specimens collected in this study confirm the first record of A. tuerkayi in Turkey. In addition, Palaemon turcorum, an endemic species to the Sakarya River Basin which flows into the Black sea was collected outside this basin, in rivers of the Mediterranean coast. The fact that the Middle East has not been well surveyed for shrimp could explain the unknown distribution of these species. Keywords : Atyidae, Palaemonidae, COI, 16S, Distribution, Pleopod, Cryptic species