Marin I.N.*, Palatov D.M. 2025. Stygobiotic species of the genus Niphargus Schiödte, 1849 (Amphipoda: Niphargidae) from the Republic of Adygea, with a review and validation of the species from the northern slope of the Great Caucasian Ridge // Arthropoda Selecta. Vol.34. No.2: 241–257 [in English].
A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of RAS, Moscow 119071 Russia.
Ivan Marin: coralliodecapoda@mail.ru https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0552-8456
Dmitry Palatov: triops@yandex.ru https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8826-9316
* corresponding author
doi: 10.15298/arthsel.34.2.08
ABSTRACT. Two stygobiotic species of the genus Niphargus Schiödte, 1849 (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Niphargidae) are discovered in the territory of the Republic of Adygea for the first time. The first species, described herein as Niphargus circassianus sp.n., was found in the hyporhean habitats of mountainous forest streams around Gut Mountain, in the valleys of the White (Belaya) and Dah rivers, near the village of Dakhovskaya. The second species, represented by a single tiny specimen and as such remains undescribed, was found during laboratory analysis of samples of the substratum taken from the Mezmaysky Spring (Maykop district, Hadzhoh). The article also provides a review of the records of the amphipod families Niphargidae and Crangonyctidae from Adygea, as well as formally taxonomically validates the previously described species of the genus Niphargus from the northern slope of the Great Caucasian Ridge and the Ciscaucasian Plain.
KEY WORDS: diversity, phylogeny, taxonomy, Сrustacea, stygobiotic, COI mtDNA, Caucasus