Comparative Phylogenetic Perspectives on the Evolutionary Relationships in the Brine Shrimp Artemia Leach, 1819 (Crustacea: Anostraca) Based on Secondary Structure of ITS1 Gene

This is the first study on phylogenetic relationships in the genus Artemia Leach, 1819 using the pattern and sequence of secondary structures of internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1). Significant intraspecific variation in the secondary structure of ITS1 rRNA was found in Artemia tibetiana. In the phylogenetic tree based on joined primary and secondary structure sequences, Artemia urmiana and parthenogenetic populations displayed new lineages, and two New World species (Artemia franciscana and Artemia persimilis) were located in a basal clade that was not detected in previous studies. The close evolutionary relationship between A. franciscana and A. persimilis are expressively supported by the previous empirical and experimental investigation on the ability of hybridization (in natural habitats and lab conditions) and analysis on allozyme markers.