Awareness of pressures on subterranean habitats and their associated groundwater-dependent ecosystems has increased recently. Subterranean fauna provide critical services and can act as bioindicators; however, a significant portion of this diversity is unknown. The family Bathynellidae are neglected taxa of tiny subterranean crustaceans, with only 112 species described in 36 genera and three subfamilies worldwide. Their conservative morphology, small size, and delicate exoskeleton make their dissection, observation, and study very difficult. However, in recent years, molecular tools have been used to support morphology and reconstruct phylogenies to analyse the relationships among taxa and understand their origins. In this paper, using molecular and morphological data, we recognize 37–41 new Bathynellidae putative species from Australia, including a new genus and species (Queenslandbathynella gen. nov. spinosa sp. nov.), here described, belonging to a new subfamily (Queenslandbathynellinae subfam. nov.), expanding the morphological knowledge of the family. We present a multigene phylogeny inclusive of many described and undescribed taxa from Australia and worldwide, with four genes (cytochrome c oxidase subunit I and 16S, 28S, and 18S ribosomal RNA), that supports the erection of a new genus and subfamily, which provides a new molecular framework for Bathynellidae.

中文翻译：

---

揭示澳大利亚隐藏的 Bathynellidae （Crustacea： Bathynellacea） 多样性：一项综合研究揭示了显着的多样性和来自昆士兰的新亚科


最近，人们对地下栖息地及其相关的依赖地下水的生态系统所承受的压力的认识有所提高。地下动物提供关键服务，可以作为生物指标;然而，这种多样性的很大一部分是未知的。Bathynellidae 科是被忽视的小型地下甲壳类动物分类群，全世界只有 112 个属和 3 个亚科描述了 3 个物种。它们保守的形态、小尺寸和精致的外骨骼使它们的解剖、观察和研究变得非常困难。然而，近年来，分子工具已被用于支持形态学和重建系统发育，以分析分类群之间的关系并了解它们的起源。在本文中，使用分子和形态学数据，我们识别了来自澳大利亚的 37-41 个新的蝙蝠科推定物种，包括一个新属和种（Queenslandbathynella gen. nov. spinosa sp. nov.），这里描述了，属于一个新的亚科（Queenslandbathynellinae subfam. nov.），扩展了该科的形态学知识。我们提出了一种多基因系统发育，包括来自澳大利亚和世界各地的许多已描述和未描述的分类群，具有四个基因（细胞色素 c 氧化酶亚基 I 和 16S、28S 和 18S 核糖体 RNA），支持新属和亚家族的建立，这为 Bathynellidae 提供了新的分子框架。