ABSTRACT
Parartemia is endemic to Australia where it is widely encountered and common. Indeed, although Artemia is recorded from Australia, it is almost entirely restricted to coastal, manmade solar ponds into which it may have been introduced. Major taxonomic works concerning Australian Anostraca are those of Sars, Sayce, Linder, and Geddes. Branchinella, judging from its geographical distribution, is clearly an old genus, and may have originated in Australia given its species diversity there. The occurrence in Western Australia of environmentally similar localities in close proximity to each other, each with a different species of Parartemia, can be seen as a reflection of the evolutionary scenario. Exceptions to this evolutionary scenario appear to be P. minuta, P. cylindrifera, and P. contracta. The first, is recorded from localities as far apart as Lake Eyre and Lake Buchanan, the second, from localities in both Western Australia and South Australia, and the third, from acid salt lakes in Western Australia.
