Studies On The Taxonomy And Biological Features Of Bisexual Artemia From Plateau Salt Lakes Of China

We studied 7 bisexual Artemia strains from Shanxi, Neimenggu and Qing-Zang Plateau of China. Cysts and nauplii for all of them were studied using the method of numeric taxonomy. Adult bodies for four of them were studied with discriminant and cluster analysis. Laboratory tests for reproductive isolation among four of them were performed. Compared with other strains, cysts of Anemia strains from Qing-Zang Plateau are big, and their shells are thick with the color of purplish red. Both cyst and nauplii of Artemia sinica tibetiana Abatzopoulos, Zhang et Sorgeloos, 1998 are the biggest ever recorded for both bisexual and parthenogenetic species. Through cluster analysis, cyst and nauplii of Qing-Zang Plateau were well seperated from other strains. Through discriminant and cluster analysis, adult bodies of Artemia from Qing- Zang Plateau were well seperated from strains of Shanxi Xiechi. Big cyst, nauplii and adult body, cyst with the color of purplish red and the late maturation time of Qing-Zang Plateau Artemia strains are adaptations to the plateau special environments. Cross tests show that there is no reproductive isolation between Anemia sinica Cai, 1988 (type locality: Xiechi of Shanxi Province)and Artemia tibetiana Abatzopoulos, Zhang et Sorgeloos, 1998 (type locality: Laguocuo of Tibet), they belong to the same species. But they are geographically isolated, and their morpbometric characters are significantly different. So they are different subspecies. Artemia sinica Cai, 1988 is the nominate subspecies: Artemia sinica sinica Cai,1988. Artemia sinica tibetiana Abatzopoulos, Zhang et Sorgeloos, 1998 is a subspecies of Artemia sinica Cai, 1988. Cross tests show that both Jingyuhu Atemia and Xiaochaidan Atemia are not reproductively isolated with Artemia sinica Cai, 1988, they belong to the same species. But they are geographically isolated, and their morphometric characters are significantly different. So they are new subspecies: Artemia sinica jingyuhuensis, subsp. nov. Artemia sinica xiaochaidanensis, subsp. nov.