Morphometric and molecular sequencing evidence for the identification of Artemia franciscana (Kellogg, 1906) in Southern India

A native of North America, the brine shrimp Artemia franciscana is now a very invasive foreign species that has already been imported to most of the world. Before the introduction of A. franciscana, Asia was home to a wide range of bisexual Artemia species, which is no longer the current case. The collected Artemia 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 Artemia 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 Artemia 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 A. franciscana.