Uncovering a hidden diversity: a new species of freshwater shrimp Macrobrachium (Decapoda: Caridea: Palaemonidae) from Neotropical region (Brazil) revealed by morphological review and mitochondrial genes analyses

A freshwater palaemonid shrimp from the Sao Francisco river basin in Brazil has been found to be a new species and is herein nominated as Macrobrachium veredensis sp. nov. It is morphologically similar to M. brasiliense (Heller, 1862), which is found in many rivers of South America. However, M. veredensis sp. nov. has a smooth carapace and few spinules on the second pereopods, while M. brasiliense has the anterolateral surface of the carapace with small spinules and the palm of the second pereopods with spines, spinules and setae. Despite their similar morphology with these subtle differences, the remarkable genetic different evidenced in DNA analysis. Molecular analyses were based on 43 sequences with 528 base pairs (bp) for 16S rDNA, and 16 new sequences with 581bp, without pseudogenes, for COI mtDNA. The nucleotide divergence between M. veredensis sp. nov. and M. brasiliense (7.0-8.5% for 16S and 11.8-12.5% for COI.), the phylogenetic topology and the haplotype network configuration and it is endemism to a region of the Sao Francisco river basin support the recognition of a new taxon.