Environmental DNA reveals cryptic diversity within the subterranean amphipod genus Pseudocrangonyx Akatsuka & Komai, 1922 (Amphipoda: Crangonyctoidea: Pseudocrangonyctidae) from central Japan

An environmental DNA (eDNA) detection method confirms the presence of the subterranean amphipod genus PseudocrangonyxAkatsuka & Komai, 1922 in the city of Kyoto, Honshu, Japan for the first time in more than 90 years. Phylogenetic trees using partial sequences of the 16S rRNA gene of eDNA samples from Kyoto and specimens collected from various locations in Japan and Korea highlight that two genetically distinct taxonomic units inhabit Kyoto’s subterranean environments. Results reveal that the ranges of distinct phylogroups of Pseudocrangonyx widely overlap with each other around Lake Biwa in central western Honshu. The eDNA results increase our understanding of the species richness and complicated evolutionary history of these stygobitic amphipods