International study on Artemia. LX. Allozyme data suggest that a new Artemia population in southern Chile (50 degrees 29 ' S; 73 degrees 45 ' W) is A-persimilis

An Artemia population from a site recently described in Chile and located i n a semi-arid and humid hydrographical zone (Torres del Paine National Park ), was electrophoretically characterized and cross-bred (followed through F -3) to reference samples of A. franciscana (San Francisco Bay, California, U.S.A.) and A. persimilis (Buenos Aires, Argentina), which are the species most likely to be found in Chile. The population exhibited high levels of g enetic variability as judged by the percentage of polymorphic loci (P=53.3) , mean number of alleles per locus (n=2.2) and mean heterozygosity ((H) ove r bar=0.176). Based on the analysis of 15 loci it seems to be closer to A. persimilis (D Nei=0.211) than to A. franciscana (D=0.591). Laboratory cross -fertility tests do not suggest barriers to gene flow or infertility in acc ordance with eletrophoretic results (genetic distance values or population- specific alleles), though offspring quality tended to be biased toward the production of cysts rather than nauplii, most obviously in F-3, which may b e an indication of post-zygotic reproductive isolation.