Inland Water Biology. Vol. 16, No. 5, Pages 884-891, 2023

A. O. Lantushenko^a, Ya. V. Meger^a^, *, A. V. Gadzhi^a, E. V. Anufriieva^a^,^b, and N. V. Shadrin^a^,^b

^bFederal Research Center Kovalevsky Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas, Russian Academy of Sciences, Sevastopol, Russia

Abstract—The genetic structure of the population of Artemia salina (L., 1758) species from the hypersaline Lake Sasyk-Sivash was studied based on a fragment of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) mitochondrial DNA gene. The phylogeny reconstruction was carried out using all nucleotide sequences of this gene available in the international GenBank database (NCBI) for the salina species. Genealogical relationships between COI haplotypes were established and phylogeographic patterns were identified. Common haplotypes were noted in Western Mediterranean populations, which can be a consequence of their location in a single migratory corridor of birds that, as is known, contribute to a passive distribution of the resting stages of artemia. Geographically isolated groups of populations from Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Cyprus, and Crimea are characterized by unique haplotypes currently not found in other Mediterranean populations. It is suggested that unique haplotypes can be endemic for geographically distant regions.

Keywords: phylogenetic analysis, mitochondrial DNA, Artemia salina, haplotypes

Unique Haplotypes of Artemia salina (Crustacea, Branchiopoda, Anostraca) in Hypersaline Lake Sasyk-Sivash (Crimea)