Abstract:
A new species of freshwater crab, Potamonautes amathole sp. nov., is described from the WinterbergAmathole mountain range in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Morphologically, P. amathole Peer
& Gouws, sp. nov. most closely resembles P. tuerkayi but can be distinguished by key morphological characters including the variation in the shape of the subterminal segment of gonopod 2 between both species.
Genetically, P. amathole Peer & Gouws, sp. nov. is placed within the clade of small-bodied, mountaindwelling crabs including P. parvispina, P. parvicorpus, P. brincki, P. tuerkayi, P. baziya, and P. depressus. The
new species is found in slow-moving mountain streams and pools at high altitudes. The continued discovery and description of new freshwater crab species reinforces the need for ongoing research, especially
in under-sampled regions.
Description:
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Authors: Gavin Gouws Data type: phylogenetic Explanation note: TABLE S1: Representatives of valid southern African Potamonautes species included in the phylogenetic analysis used to contextualise divergences and confirm the affinities of specimens included in the current study. Four species of Maritomonautes were included as outgroup taxa. GenBank accession numbers for the 16S rRNA and cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) included and the data sources are provided; TABLE S2: Uncorrected sequence divergences, expressed as percentages, as calculated from a 549 nucleotide alignment of 16S rRNA mtDNA sequences (below diagonal) and a 660 nucleotide alignment of the protein-coding mtDNA cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) fragment (above diagonal), between representative of Potamonautes included in the present study. Newly-sampled specimens are identified as Potamonautes danielsi and P. amathole sp. nov. This dataset is made available under the Open Database License (http://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/1.0/). The Open Database License (ODbL) is a license agreement intended to allow users to freely share, modify, and use this Dataset while maintaining this same freedom for others, provided that the original source and author(s) are credited.
