Morphometric differentiation of Branchinecta orientalis populations from Northwest of Iran (Crustacea: Anostraca)

Four Branchinecta orientalis populations from different parts of West Azarbaijan were compared using morphometric and ecological characteristics. Filed studies showed that, B. orientalis widely distributed in the lagoons around the Urmia Lake and also Northern regions of province. The discriminant function analysis based on morphological characteristics (12 in female and 10 male) measurements showed that there are significant differences between the studied populations, where 96 % of males, 91 % of females and cumulatively 85.3% of original grouped cases were correctly classified. As a general result, it may be concluded that discriminant function analysis using male morphological characters is a powerful tool in discrimination of populations under study.