Koen Martens, Stuart Halse, and Isa Schön (2012)
Nine new species of Bennelongia DeDeckker & McKenzie, 1981 (Crustacea, Ostracoda) from Western Australia, with the description of one new subfamily
European Journal of Taxonomy, 8:1-56.
The genus Bennelongia De Deckker & McKenzie, 1981 is most likely endemic to Australia and
New Zealand and, up to now, only two described species in this genus had been reported from Western
Australia. Extensive sampling in Western Australia revealed a much higher specific diversity. Here,
we describe nine new species in three lineages, within the genus Bennelongia: B. cygnus sp. nov. and
B. frumenta sp. nov. in the B. cygnus lineage, B. gwelupensis sp. nov., B. coondinerensis sp. nov., B. cuensis
sp. nov., B. lata sp. nov. and B. bidgelangensis sp. nov. in the B. australis lineage, and B. strellyensis
sp. nov. and B. kimberleyensis sp. nov. (from the Pilbara and Kimberley regions respectively) in the
B. pinpi-lineage. For six of the nine species, we were also able to construct molecular phylogenies and to
test for cryptic diversity with two different methods based on the evolutionary genetic species concept,
namely Birky’s 4 x rule and the GYMC model. These analyses support the specific nature of at least four
of the five new species in the B. australis lineage and of the two new species in the B. pinpi lineage. We
also describe Bennelongiinae n.subfam. to accommodate the genus. With the nine new species described
here, the genus Bennelongia now comprises 15 species, but several more await formal description.
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