A new Northeast Asian Lynceus (Crustacea: Branchiopoda: Laevicaudata) with uniquely modified thoracopods and an evaluation of DNA barcoding for clam shrimp species identification

A new species of smooth clam shrimp (Branchiopoda: Laevicaudata) from Mongolia and China is described here based on both morphological and genetic differences. The new species, Lynceus grossipedia n. sp., has unique features, including asymmetrically modified male thoracopods (left side thoracopods III-VI), male claspers "movable finger" (=endopod) with delicate setation, and broad, bicarinate male and female rostrum. Lynceus grossipedia n. sp. is compared with the genera Paralimnetis Gurney, 1931 and Lynceiopsis Daday, 1912 and a recently described Lynceus Muller, 1776 from China, also showing modified male thoracopods. Lynceus mandsuricus Daday, 1927 is declared nomen inquirendum. DNA barcoding has not previously been applied on smooth clam shrimp taxonomy, so we generated new cytochrome c oxidase (COX1) data for 10 Lynceus species in order to explore its usefulness for Laevicaudata. Previous Laevicaudata sequences in GenBank were scarce (similar to 50) and biased, with 62% (n=31) being assigned to a single taxon (i.e., Lynceus macleayanus) and 28% (n=14) not assigned to species. Based on the addition of new barcoding data and the comparison with GenBank data for other clam shrimps, we conclude that distance thresholds between species (=barcoding gap) are similar for all three suborders (Spinicaudata, Cyclestherida, and Laevicaudata).