Notes on the distribution of the genus Artemia in the former USSR countries (Russia and adjacent regions) GRAZIELLA MURA1* and LIUBOV NAGORSKAYA2 1 Dipartimento di Biologia Animale e dell'Uomo, viale dell'Università 32, 00185 Roma, Italy 2 Institute of Zoology, NAS Belarus, 27 Academicheskaya st., Minsk 220072, Belarus Abstract In this study we review the Russian literature on Artemia distribution in several saline lakes and ponds of former USSR, and report on the results of our studies for a number of populations, aiming to update available information and to identify species, often erroneously designated as A. salina in the existing literature. Most of the populations recorded/examined belong to parthenogenetic Artemia while a number of bisexual populations were also found. The morphology of the basal part of penis, investigated by means of SEM revealed that not all of these bisexuals belong to the species A. salina, known to occur only in the Mediterranean area. The males of some populations are characterized by the presence of a spine-like outgrowth at the basal part of the penis, a character shared by all bisexuals but Mediterranean. More detailed SEM morphological studies of the frontal knobs and the eversible penis reinforced biomolecular and morphometrical data will certainly contribute to species identification. The need for extensive sampling of the territory is stressed to bridge the gap about Artemia distribution and status in the countries of former USSR.   < back .