Five at once: southern Thailand's streams yield five shrimp species new to science

Wading the rivers and streams of southern Thailand with dip nets, researchers have given the region's tiny freshwater shrimp their first full census — and found five species that science had never named. The team combined old-fashioned close looking under microscopes with DNA family trees, and the two agreed: Caridina kuehnei, C. nangroma, C. srivijaya, C. takkola and C. tambralinga are each their own species. The review, published in the journal ZooKeys, brings southern Thailand's documented Caridina diversity to 21 species, with specimens now kept at Mahidol University's Museum of Natural History and Berlin's Museum für Naturkunde so other scientists can check the work. Five new neighbours, hiding in streams people walk past every day.

SDG 15 · Life on land