Cladistic analysis of 37 Mediterranean Bogidiellidae (Amphipoda), including Bogidiella arista, new species, from Turkey

A new subterranean amphipod species, Bogidiella ( Medigidiella) arista, found in the mesopsammic ground waters of southern Anatolia, Turkey, is described, together with Bogidiella (Bogidiella) calicali Karaman, the latter being recorded for the first time in the eastern Mediterranean. A cladistic analysis of 37 Mediterranean species of the family Bogidiellidae is performed, using 4 species from the Canary Islands as an outgroup. Alternatively, 2 cladistic software packages, PAUP 3.1.1 and HENNIG86, are employed to calculate consensus trees of minimal length. The resulting trees show more or less identical robust clades, characterizing a central, a central-eastern, and an eastern Mediterranean group. Apart from this pattern of major geographical clusters, all species of the subgenus Medigidiella appear as a robust, monophyletic clade as well. This initial attempt to analyze the phylogeny of Mediterranean bogidiellids forms a useful basis for further, extended studies, using either different outgroup taxa or additional morphological data.