Once known only throughout the Palaearctic region, this group of specialized crustaceans at present show a wider distribution, since new genera and several species fairly recently have been described in South America, Australia, New Zealand and Africa. Their evolutionar history shows that the Bathynellids could represent extremely ancient relicts of a freshwater fauna of the Corboniferous.

Syncarids are the most characteristic members of the freshwater interstitial biocoenoses of Italy.In this country they are represented by four genera, viz. Antrobathynella, Bathynella, Meridiobathynella and Sardobathynella, the first two from interstitial waters of the Alpine province, the last two from the interstitial of the central Apennines and Sardinia, respectively.

Bathynellids, as a rule, are critically endangered since they are facing an high risk of extintion in the immediate future. Particularly, as regard Italy, the species Anthrobathynella stammeri was never found after its discovery in the hyporheic habitat of the Adige river, near Verona (NorthEast Italy).

Genus Antrobathynella

Antrobathynella stammeri stammeri (Jakobi 1954) (1)

Genus Bathynella

Bathynella ruffoi Serban 1973 (1)
Bathynella lombardica Serban 1973 (1)

Genus Meridiobathynella

Meridiobathynella rouchi Serban, Coineau & Delamare Deboutteville 1971 (3)

Genus Sardobathynella

Sardobathynella cottarellii Serban 1973 (2)

A selected World bibliography on subterranean syncarids can be found in: Schminke H.K. (1984). Syncarida. Stygofauna Mundi: 389-404. See also the Bibliography of the Italian Groundwater Fauna

Other URLS with Syncarids Information

Fossil Syncarids

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