B. Sket, Fuxiana yangi g.n., sp.n. (Crustacea : Amphipoda), a "baikaloid" amphipod from the depths of Fuxian Hu, an ancient lake in the karst of Yunnan, China, ARCH HYDROB, 147(2), 2000, pp. 241-255
The first search for endemic invertebrate fauna in the lesser-known ancient
lake Fuxian Hu revealed a depths inhabiting amphipod. Fuxiana yangi g.n.,
sp.n. is a ca, 2-3 mm long, stout, gammaroidean amphipod inclined to develo
p lateral protuberances. Taxonomically, the animal is a double enigma. (1)
In spite of great polymorphism in its superficial trunk morphology - smooth
, with a pair of horns, with pairs of lobes - the strong resemblance in app
endage morphology speaks for the conspecificity of four specimens. (2) In s
pite of the absence of the most striking character peg-shaped palmar spines
- the shape of female gnathopods and some other characters speak for its p
hylogenetic relation to the north Pacific anisogammarid stock rather than t
o original (probably) Tethyan gammarid (s.str.) stock that reportedly gave
rise to the rich amphipod flock of species and genera in Bajkalskoe Ozero (
Lake Baikal). Morphologically, Fuxiana is convergent with many phylogenetic
ally unrelated stocks of ancient lake amphipods. Biologically, it is a K-st
rategist with a small number of large eggs. It is accompanied by a very sca
rce fauna in the lake's depths. A small endemic flock of anisogammarid spec
ies inhabits the richer shallows.