Linderiella massaliensis, New Species (Anostraca: Linderiellidae), a Fairy Shrimp from Southeastern France, Its Ecology and Distribution

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Abstract
The authors present an illustrated description of Linderiella massaliensis, new species, collected in Provence''s temporary ponds (South of France). The characteristic descriptions are compared with the ones of two other species known in the genus, Linderiella occidentalis (Dodds, 1923) in California, U.S.A., and Linderiella africana Thiery, 1986, in the Middle Atlas Mountains, Morocco. The diagnosis is supplemented with biological and ecological notes on physical and chemical components of waters, vegetation, associated entomostracan Crustacea, and species growth rate. The morphologically similar congeners are established in remote areas restricted to Mediterranean climatic regions. Their distribution suggests a vicariant speciation from an ancestral toxon whose range would have extended across the junction of the African, American, and European continents before the end of the Primary Era.