Hydrobiologia 441: 117–121, 2000. © 2000 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands. 117 A contribution to the knowledge of the anostracan fauna of Iran G. Mura ∗ & G. Azari Takami ∗∗ 1 Dipartimento di Biologia Animale e dell’Uomo, viale dell’Universit` a 32, 00185 Roma, Italy E-mail: graziella.mura@uniromal.it 2 Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, P.O. Box 14155, 6453 Tehran, Iran Received 21 December 1999; in revised form 14 September 2000; accepted 7 October 2000 Key words: Anostraca, distribution, Iran Abstract We report the finding of three anostracan species, Chirocephalus skorikowi Daday, 1913, Branchinecta orientalis Sars, 1901 and Branchinella spinosa. Milne-Edwards, 1840 in different localities in northwestern Iran. C. skorikowi was recorded in a lake at an elevation of 2400 m, whereas B. orientalis was found in a pond at 1280 m a.s.l. Co- existing B. spinosa and B. orientalis were collected in a pool close to the town of Tabriz, formerly indicated by Brehm (1954) as Estakr Chah, presently named EalGoli. Unlike Brehm (1954), we did not find Streptocephalus in the area of Tabriz. Introduction Currently, little is known about the anostracan fauna of the Arabian peninsula and neighbouring areas (see review in Thiéry, 1996). As to Iran, in particular, the first species ever men- tioned was a brine shrimp, cited by Gunther (1899) in his report on the Crustacea of Urmiah Lake, and described as a new species, Artemia urmiana. Later, Brehm (1954) when examining samples col- lected by Lindberg in former Persia, recorded the presence of a limited number of fairy shrimp species, mostly female specimens. He identified two species: Branchipus schaefferi Fischer, 1834 under B. stagnalis (see Belk & Brtek, 1995) and Streptocephalus torvic- ornis Waga, 1842 described as a new subspecies (S. auritus areva) under S. auritus Koch, 1841 (see Brtek, 1974). Branchipus schaefferi was found in one locality only (Fig. 1), whereas Streptocephalus torvicornis was collected at six different stations, mainly situated in the southwestern part of the country, apart from Estakr Chah (Shah Goli), presently named Eal Goli, which is northwest of the town of Tabriz (Fig. 1). In this paper, we contribute three new records, Chirocephalus skorikowi Daday, 1913, Branchinecta orientalis Sars, 1901 and Branchinella spinosa Milne- Edwards, 1840. Collecting sites The specimens were collected by G. Azari Takami in northwestern Iran from two astatic and one temporary water body. Zainal Hajilou, natural temporary pond (37 ◦ 57 ′ N; 45 ◦ 56 ′ E), 1280 m above sea level on a flat plane in Khaseban State (Fig. 1), 200–500 m 2 surface, 1 m average depth. Dried up in late summer. Aigher Goli natural astatic pond (38 ◦ 12 ′ N; 46 ◦ 10 ′ E), 2400 m above sea level, 3–5 hectar surface, 1 m average depth. Eal Goli man made pond (38 ◦ 05 ′ N, 46 ◦ 17 ′ E), 1368 m above sea level, in the region of Tabriz, 6 hectare surface, 5 m average depth. This pond cor- responds to Estakhr Chah (Shah Goli) mentioned in Brehm (1954). Materials Family Branchinectidae Daday, 1910, genus Branchinecta Verrill, 1869. Branchinecta orientalis G. O. Sars, 1903.