Gammarus hegmatanensis Hekmatara, Sari & Heidari Baladehi, 2011

Zamanpoore, Mehrdad, Grabowski, Michal, Poeckl, Manfred & Schiemer, Friedrich, 2011, Taxonomic review of freshwater Gammarus (Crustacea: Amphipoda) from Iran, Zootaxa 3140, pp. 1-14 : 5

Gammarus hegmatanensis Hekmatara, Sari & Heidari Baladehi, 2011

Gammarus hegmatanensis Hekmatara, Sari & Heidari Baladehi, 2011: 40 –49, Figs. 2–7.

Locus typicus. Gardaneh Asadabad spring (N 34º 49ʹ, E 48º 0 4ʹ), W of Hamadan city, Hamadan Province, Iran.

Material examined. Paratypes. ( ZUTC Amph. 2238), September 2008, leg. M. Hekmatara.

Distribution. The species was found in a small area of northern Zagros, west and north-west from the city of Hamadan.

Ecological notes. Although no ecological data were recorded, the region lying in altitudes of 1677–2109 m asl, has relatively cold and harsh climate.

Taxonomic remarks. Sharply pointed and extended posterior corner of epimeral plate 3 with a distinctly lobate anterior corner make G. hegmatanensis easy to distinguish from all other species. Only G. lordeganensis Khalaji-Pirbalouty & Sari, 2004 has similar features, however it differs from G. hegmatanensis by having much less setose antenna 2 and lobate posterodistal corner of pereopods 6–7. Gammarus hegmatanensis is also similar to G. shirazinus and G. loeffleri in having highly setose antenna 2. However, both latter species display dense setation in pereopod 3–7, in contrast to lack of such setation in G. hegmatanensis .