Genetic variation and evolutionary origins of parthenogenetic Artemia (Crustacea: Anostraca) with different ploidies ALIREZA ASEM,AMIN EIMANIFAR &SHI-CHUN SUN Submitted: 7 August 2015 Accepted: 5 November 2015 doi:10.1111/zsc.12162 Asem, A., Eimanifar, A. & Sun, S.-C. (2016). Genetic variation and evolutionary origins of parthenogenetic Artemia (Crustacea: Anostraca) with different ploidies. — Zoologica Scripta, 45, 421–436. Using two nuclear (ITS1 and Na + /K + ATPase) and three mitochondrial (COI, 16S and 12S) markers, we determined the genetic variation and evolutionary relationship of partheno- genetic and bisexual Artemia. Our analyses revealed that mitochondrial genes had higher genetic variation than nuclear genes and that the 16S showed more variety than the other mitochondrial genes in parthenogenetic populations. Triploid parthenogens showed lower genetic variation than diploid ones, whereas the tetra- and pentaploids had greater genetic distance than diploid parthenogens. No shared haplotype was found between individuals of parthenogenetic populations and Asian bisexual species with the exception of Na + /K + ATPase (Artemia tibetiana). Only mitochondrial markers can demonstrate phylogenetic relationships, and showed that the parthenogenetic Artemia is a polyphyletic group in which the diploid lineages share a common ancestor with Artemia urmiana while tetraploids are closely related to Artemia sinica. The triploid and pentaploid linages are likely to be directly derived from diploid and tetraploid parthenogens, respectively. Subsequently, west Asia is origin for di-/ triploids, and tetra-/pentaploids rose from East Asia. Corresponding author: Shi-Chun Sun, Institute of Evolution & Marine Biodiversity, Ocean University of China, 5 Yushan Road, Qingdao 266003, China. E-mail: sunsc@ouc.edu.cn Alireza Asem, Institute of Evolution & Marine Biodiversity, Ocean University of China, 5 Yushan Road, Qingdao 266003, China. E-mail: asem.alireza@gmail.com Amin Eimanifar, Honey Bee Research and Extension Laboratory (HBREL), Department of Ento- mology and Nematology, University of Florida, Steinmetz Hall, Natural Area Dr., P.O. Box 110620, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA. E-mail: amineimanifar@ufl.edu Shi-Chun Sun, Institute of Evolution & Marine Biodiversity, Ocean University of China, 5 Yushan Road, Qingdao, 266003 China. E-mail: sunsc@ouc.edu.cn Introduction The brine shrimp Artemia (Crustacea: Anostraca), a cos- mopolitan halophilic crustacean, is the most conspicuous inhabitant of hypersaline lakes, salt ponds, salt lagoons and man-made saltworks. The genus Artemia consists of seven bisexual species and a large number of parthenogenetic populations (Van Stappen 2002; Eimanifar et al. 2014). Four bisexual species live in the Old World: Artemia salina (Linnaeus, 1758) (Mediterranean basin), Artemia urmiana G€ unther, 1899 (Lake Urmia, Iran and Crimean salt lakes, Russia), Artemia sinica Cai, 1989 (China and Mongolia) and Artemia tibetiana Abatzopoulos et al., 1998 (Qinghai–Tibe- tan Plateau, China). The other three bisexual species are native to the New World, namely Artemia monica Verrill, 1869 (Mono Lake, USA), Artemia franciscana Kellogg, 1906 (North America, Central America and South America) and Artemia persimilis Piccinelli and Prosdocimi, 1968 (Argen- tina and Chile). Obligate parthenogenetic Artemia consists of di-, tri-, tetra-, penta- and heteroploid populations and populations with mixtures of different ploidies (Sun et al. 1999; Abatzopoulos et al. 2002, 2003). Cyclical partheno- genesis has never been evidenced in Artemia (Zhang & King 1992). Parthenogenetic animals are thought to have a narrow genetic structure and broader geographical dispersion as compared with bisexual species (Johnson 2006; Mu~ noz et al. ª 2016 Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, 45, 4, July 2016, pp 421–436 421 Zoologica Scripta