Ampelisca lusitanica (Crustacea: Amphipoda): new species for the Atlantic coast of Morocco

Background This study reports for the first time the presence of the Lusitanian ampeliscid amphipod Ampelisca lusitanica Bellan-Santini & Marques, 1986 in the northwestern Atlantic coast of Morocco. Methods Specimens were collected in January 2015 from intertidal rock pools along the El Jadida shoreline associated with the brown algae Bifurcaria bifurcata and Sargassum muticum. Results Systematic description of the species is presented, as well as a discussion of its ecological and geographical distribution. Conclusion This new finding extends the geographical distribution from the Lusitanian (Europe) to the Mauritanian (Africa) region and increases knowledge of the ecology and the global distribution of A. lusitanica found, previously, only on Portuguese and Spanish coasts.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A first AFLP-based genetic linkage map for brine shrimp Artemia franciscana and its application in mapping the sex locus

We report on the construction of sex-specific linkage maps, the identification of sex-linked markers and the genome size estimation for the brine shrimp Artemia franciscana. Overall, from the analysis of 433 AFLP markers segregating in a 112 full-sib family we identified 21 male and 22 female linkage groups (2n = 42), covering 1,041 and 1,313 cM respectively. Fifteen putatively homologous linkage groups, including the sex linkage groups, were identified between the female and male linkage map. Eight sex-linked AFLP marker alleles were inherited from the female parent, supporting the hypothesis of a WZ-ZZ sex-determining system. The haploid Artemia genome size was estimated to 0.93 Gb by flow cytometry. The produced Artemia linkage maps provide the basis for further fine mapping and exploring of the sex-determining region and are a possible marker resource for mapping genomic loci underlying phenotypic differences among Artemia species