''Phallocryptus fahimii'', is a

fresh water Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salt (chemistry), salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include ...

anostraca Anostraca is one of the four orders of crustaceans in the class Branchiopoda; its members are referred to as fairy shrimp. They live in vernal pools and hypersaline lakes across the world, and they have even been found in deserts, ice-covered m ...

crustacean Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthrop ...

discovered in 2017 from a

seasonal lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from t ...

in the

Lut Desert The Lut Desert, widely referred to as Dasht-e Lut (, "Emptiness Plain"), is a salt desert located in the provinces of Kerman and Sistan-Baluchestan, Iran. It is the world's 33rd-largest desert, and was included in UNESCO's World Heritage List ...

in southeast Iran. This heat-resistant

fairy shrimp Anostraca is one of the four orders of crustaceans in the class Branchiopoda; its members are referred to as fairy shrimp. They live in vernal pools and hypersaline lakes across the world, and they have even been found in deserts, ice-covered mou ...

lives in a lake with water temperatures reaching . It is the fifth described species in the genus '' Phallocryptus''. The specific epithet commemorates the late Hadi Fahimii, a conservationist who took part in the expedition of the Lut Desert and died in 2018 from an

airplane crash An aviation accident is an event during aircraft operation that results serious injury, death, or significant destruction. An aviation incident is any operating event that compromises safety but does not escalate into an aviation accident. Pre ...

. Morphologically, this newly discovered species shows minimal differences from its relatives in the Phallocryptus genus. A distinguishing characteristic of this fairy shrimp is that it can lay its eggs in desert sand for decades while they await the rare presence of water. ''P. fahimii'' developed these unique characteristics due to its harsh environmental conditions throughout the Lut Desert, which in

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

, translates into “desert of emptiness.” Dr.Hossein Rajaei, one of the researchers that made the shrimp discovery, suggested, “they gave it this name because many people believed there was no life in this desert.”

Description

Size

The female shrimp is around long and the male shrimp is around long.

Morphology

''Phallocryptus fahimii'' is most closely related to the Mongolian '' P. tserensodnomi''. Males can be differentiated based on the relatively long frontal organ, the strong curvature of the labral distal process and the usual lack of a ventrolateral spine of the genital segment. The morphological differences between the new shrimp and the Mongolian fairy shrimp, ''P. tserensodnomi'', were slight: a longer frontal organ, and curvier antennae. For about 1–2 months, the fairy shrimp swim upside down around their lakes, laying eggs before they die or the pool dries up. Eggs can last decades, even when the lakes have been completely dried up. When water begins to come back due to rainfall, the eggs drink the water and begin to hatch.

Distribution

''Phallocryptus fahimii'' was discovered within an evaporating lake in the hottest desert in the world. The ''Phallocryptus'' genus has been known to consist of highly restrictive geographic distributions. One reason why its distributions are highly restrictive is because they rely on seasonal pond formation. Although ''P. fahimii'' hasn't been discovered anywhere else, its ''Phallocryptus'' relatives have been found in other environments such as ''P. tserensodnomi'' being found in

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

and ''P. spinosa'' being found elsewhere in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

Habitat and ecology

''Phallocryptus fahimii'' is located in the

, known as the “thermal pole of the Earth” where temperatures reach up to . Located between 33° and 28° parallels, this desert holds the current record for the highest ever-recorded surface temperature. The Lut desert is the second largest desert in Iran, at around . It harbors diverse animal and

archaeal Archaea ( ) is a domain of organisms. Traditionally, Archaea only included its prokaryotic members, but this has since been found to be paraphyletic, as eukaryotes are known to have evolved from archaea. Even though the domain Archaea cladis ...

life, but no permanent aquatic biotopes, such as ponds. The ephemeral pools are filled by seasonal floods which are derived from spring precipitation. Ephemeral pools are basins that remain flooded periodically throughout the year, but won't hold water if rainfall is insufficient. Temperatures can range from during the day to at night. Sabrina Imbler in

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

, September 21, 2020, described the living environment for this species when she wrote, “For a month or two, the fairy shrimp frolic, swimming upside-down in their ephemeral lakes and laying their eggs before they die or the pool dries up, whichever comes first.”

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q102346241 Anostraca Freshwater animals of Asia