Morphological Differentiation of Artemia urmiana Gunther 1899 (Crustacea: anostraca) in Different Geographical Stations from the Urmia Lake, Iran

摘要

The main objective of this study was to compare morphological differentiation between samples of Artemia urmiana in different stations from Urmia Lake. Male and female samples were analyzed separately because they are sexually dimorphic. Principal Components Analysis shows that male samples were almost clustered in two groups and these groups were separated. This finding was also confirmed by Discriminant Function Analysis. According to Principal Components Analysis the female samples were almost clustered in one group in all sites and it was not possible to make any separation among them. But Discriminant Function Analysis shows 2 separated groups. Therefore, suggested according to morphological characters, there are minimum two populations of Artemia urmiana in Urmia Lake.