Four new species of groundwater crustaceans (Syncarida, Bathynellacea, Parabathynellidae) endemic to the Iberian Peninsula

Four new species of the genus Iberobathynella from the Iberian Peninsula are described and complementary diasgnostic features are provided to the original description of Iberobathynella ( Asturibathynella ) cavadoensis . Two of the new species were found in the interstitial environment (gravel bank) of two streams in Portugal (in Ponte de Lima and Coimbra) and two others in Spain. One of the latter was in a subterranean river in the largest cave in Spain (Ojo Guarena Cave, Burgos, 100 km in length), and the other was in the gravel bank of a small stream in Lora del Rio (Sevilla). Specimens of I . ( A .) cavadoensis from the type locality (Cavado river in Barcelos, Portugal) are examined in this paper. Of the 22 species of iberobathynells so far described none show the combinations of characters present in the four new species described here. These new character combinations will be very useful in resolving current phylogenetic problems in this group.