Abstract

Using polymerase chain reaction and cycle sequencing techniques, nucleotide sequence data from the 16S region of the mitochondrial genome was obtained from representatives of six of the nine genera of freshwater crayfish naturally inhabiting Australia. These data were used to estimate the phylogenetic relationships among the six genera, including: Astacopsis, Cherax, Engaeus, Euastacus, Geocharax, and Parastacoides. The resulting phylogeny was then compared to each of five previous hypotheses of the phylogenetic relationships among Australian crayfish genera. Of these five alternatives, three were rejected as incompatible with this preliminary data set. We demonstrate the usefulness of nucleotide sequence data to establish and test alternative hypotheses of systematic relationships and describe the levels of nucleotide divergence both within and between the crayfish families Cambaridae and Parastacidae.

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