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Distribution of the endemic amphipod species Echinogammarus thoni (Schäferna, 1922) in watercourses of the Balkan Peninsula

An overview of all records of the Balkan endemic Echinogammarus thoni is given for streams in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Albania, based on literature data and data from our field studies. For the first time E. thoni was found on 3 of 49 studied localities in Albania. In Montenegro a new record comes from the Orahovica River. In Croatia the species was recorded at 23 of 415 sites in total, with new records in 3 small rivers. The current distribution is from the Jadro River near the town of Split to the Zuzës River system in Albania. In the center of the distribution area, in the southern part of the Neretva River catchment inhabiting populations are characterized by a well developed dorsal keel on meso- and metasoma. Isolated populations from the Jadro and Ljuta Rivers, as well as from Montenegro and Albania have a less pronounced dorsal keel. E. thoni is well adapted to both freshwater and oligohaline conditions and it is more abundant in waters with high summer temperature.

Echinogammarus; Amphipoda; Crustacea; Balkan Peninsula; endemic species; distribution; habitat; faunistics

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