Moina heilongjiangensis sp. nov. (Crustacea, Cladocera) from the northeast of China

A new species of Moina Baird, 1850 (Cladocera, Moinidae), is described from a brackish lake in the northeast of China based on morphology and molecular phylogenetics. The morphological description of Moina heilongjiangensis sp. nov. includes details of the thoracic limb structure, and we compare the new species with other members of the genus Moina based on key morphological characteristics. Moina heilongjiangensis sp. nov. is one of the few members of the genus with two eggs in the ephippium and lacking superficial hairs on the body.

We also applied two genetic markers (COI and ITS- 1) to assess its position in the genus Moina. Our molecular phylogenetic tree indicates that M. heilongjiangensis sp. nov. is close to Moina affinis Birge, 1893, based on mitochondrial sequences.