Water diviners described: six new species of the Niphargus aquilex complex (Crustacea, Amphipoda)

This dataset contains the digitized treatments in Plazi based on the original journal article Weber, Dieter, Brad, Traian, Weigand, Alexander M. (2025): Water diviners described: six new species of the Niphargus aquilex complex (Crustacea, Amphipoda). European Journal of Taxonomy 1011: 1-79, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2025.1011.3023, URL: europeanjournaloftaxonomy.eu/index.php/ejt/article/download/3023/13575 Abstract. With the onset of molecular taxonomy, it has been recognized that groundwater crustaceans in the family Niphargidae Bousfield, 1977 (Crustacea, Amphipoda) can demonstrate either highly variable or static phenotypes.

Thus, it is recommended that new species descriptions follow an integrative taxonomic approach, considering morphotaxonomic and molecular characteristics to establish new taxa. The morphospecies Niphargus aquilex Schiødte, 1855 has its main distribution area in Central Europe, spanning southern England, the northern half of France, the Benelux countries, Germany and the Czech Republic. Genetic analyses have shown that it comprises a highly diverse species complex, including amongst others the well-recognized morphospecies Niphargus schellenbergi S. Karaman, 1932.