ABSTRACT
The Middle East is an area of complex tectonic history through time, and this complexity is reflected in the biogeography of the region. Essentially, six historico-biogeographical ‘strata’ can be recognized among the crustaceans which currently inhabit the region. These are: 1) subterranean and interstitial forms which appear to extend back to the Permo- Triassic when Pangaea was still intact; 2) subterranean and interstitial species with an origin in the Mesozoic when the Tethys Sea was present; 3) euryhaline species related to the Miocene Messinian salinity crisis; 4) marine forms which originated with the Pliocene recolonization of the Mediterranean and Red Seas; 5) wet-tropical and wet-temperate species which migrated through adjacent river systems during the Pleistocene climatic fluctuations; and 6) Lessepsian migrants between the Mediterranean and Red Seas after the opening of the Suez Canal.
