Cladistic analysis of the Eudaniela species complex (Crustacea: Decapoda: Pseudothelphusidae)

Freshwater crabs of the genus Eudaniela s.l. (Pseudothelphusidae: Kingsleyini) are found along the Andean and Coastal Cordillera of Venezuela and in the highlands of Isla Margarita, Trinidad and Tobago. Four of the five species in the genus are very similar in both genital and somatic morphology and may constitute a sibling species complex. A cladistic analysis of morphological characters was conducted to test the monophyly of the genus by using multiple outgroups from the tribe Kingsleyini and to resolve the relationships of the sibling species complex. As presently constituted, Eudaniela is a paraphyletic group, with E. pestai positioned as the most basal taxon within all kingsleyinine taxa compared. The internal relationships within Eudaniela s.s. are [E. garmani [E. iturbei [E. ranchograndensis, E. trujillensis]]].