title: A new interstitial ostracod species of the genus Paracobanocythere from Vietnam, with mitochondrial CO1 sequence data of three Asian species.
abstract: This study is a first report of an interstitial ostracod from Southeast Asia. The ostracod species, Paracobanocythere vietnamensis sp. n., was found in the marine interstitial environment of Phu Quoc Island, Vietnam. Thus far, three species of this genus have been described. The morphology of the carapace as well as the appendages of this new species are quite similar to Paracobanocythere hawaiiensis and Paracobanocythere watanabei. However, we found that they could be easily distinguished according to the morphology of the male copulatory organ. Additionally, we estimated the evolutionary distances among these three species based on nucleotide and amino acid sequences of the mitochondrial CO1 gene. Similar morphologies of carapaces and appendages, and relatively small evolutionary distances according to CO1 between Paracobanocythere vietnamensis sp. n. and Paracobanocythere watanabei suggest that these two species are very closely related.
authors.affiliation: Takehara Marine Science Station, Graduate School of Biosphere Science, Hiroshima University, 5-8-1 Minato-machi, Takehara, Hiroshima, 725-0024, Japan.
authors.forename: Hayato
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.affiliation: Environment and Energy Systems, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Shizuoka University, 836 Oya, Suruga-ku, Shizuoka, 422-8529, Japan; Research Institute for Marine Fisheries (RIMF), 224 Le Lai, Hai Phong, Vietnam.
authors.forename: Le Doan
authors.initials: le D
authors.lastname: Dung
authors.affiliation: Fujieda Higashi High School, 1-7-1 Tennoucho, Fujieda, 426-8577, Japan.
authors.forename: Ryouichi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Higashi
authors.affiliation: Environment and Energy Systems, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Shizuoka University, 836 Oya, Suruga-ku, Shizuoka, 422-8529, Japan.
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tsukagoshi
keywords: DNA barcode; Southeast Asia; interstitial animals; meiofauna