Systematics of the European endangered crayfish species Austropotamobius pallipes (Decapoda : Astacidae)

Mitochondrial DNA sequence variation in the 16S rRNA gene was used to estim ate the phylogenetic relationships of Austropotamobius pallipes. The progra m ModelTest was used to test alternative models of evolution for our data u sing likelihood ratio tests. Both the minimum evolution tree with the HKY85 model and the maximum likelihood analysis supports the separation of two m ajor clades (A and B) and three clades within clade A. The two major groups A and B showed genetic differentiation of 4.6% and could be in accordance with the classification on the specific status of A. italicus and A. pallip es. Within clade A, three clades were found corresponding to crayfish sampl ed in Spain-Italy-France, Austria, and Slovenia. In accordance with morphol ogical data extracted from recent papers, a new classification based on the presence of three subspecies (italicus, carinthiacus, and carsicus) within A. italicus is proposed.