TY - JOUR AU - Biju, Y. AU - Krishnakumar, S. AU - Krishnaveni, M. PY - 2023/04/21 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Morphometric and molecular sequencing evidence for the identification of Artemia franciscana (Kellogg, 1906) in Southern India JF - Environmental and Experimental Biology JA - EEB VL - 21 IS - 1 SE - Original Papers DO - 10.22364/eeb.21.03 UR - https://journal.lu.lv/eeb/article/view/461 SP - 21-26 AB - <p>A native of North America, the brine shrimp&nbsp;<em>Artemia franciscana</em>&nbsp;is now a very invasive foreign species that has already been imported to most of the world. Before the introduction of&nbsp;<em>A.&nbsp;franciscana</em>, Asia was home to a wide range of bisexual&nbsp;<em>Artemia</em>&nbsp;species, which is no longer the current case. The collected&nbsp;<em>Artemia</em>&nbsp;samples from salt pans in south India were subjected to exact species identification and determination of phylogeographic origin through morphometric and molecular phylogenetic analysis. The&nbsp;<em>Artemia</em>&nbsp;species was validated with the observation of spiny subspherical frontal knob and distinctive lateral triangular ovisac lobes with projections on its body. The phylogenetic analysis of these&nbsp;<em>Artemia</em>&nbsp;species from two sampling localities was carried out after nucleic acid sequencing. After DNA barcoding of the cytochrome oxidase COI gene, the samples were identified as belonging to&nbsp;<em>A.&nbsp;franciscana</em>.</p> ER -