Morphological and molecular characterization of freshwater prawn of genus in the coastal area of Cameroon.

(Bate, 1868) is a large and cosmopolitan crustacean genus of high economic importance worldwide. We investigated the morphological and molecular identification of freshwater prawns of the genus in South, South West, and Littoral regions of Cameroon. A total of 1,566 specimens were examined morphologically using a key described by Konan (Diversité morphologique et génétique des crevettes des genres Atya Leach, 1816 et Macrobrachium Bate, 1868 de Côte d'Ivoire, 2009, Université d'Abobo Adjamé, Côte d'Ivoire), leading to the identification of seven species of : (Herklots, 1857); (Herklots, 1851); (De Man, 1912); (Lenz, 1910); (Roux, 1935); (Holthuis, 1949); and an undescribed species .sp. To validate the genetic basis of the identified species, 94 individuals representing the species were selected and subjected to genetic characterization using 1,814 DArT markers. The admixture analysis revealed four groups: and ; ; and .sp; and and . But, the principal component analysis (PCA) separated .sp and to create additional group (i.e., five groups). Based on these findings, and may be conspecific, as well as and , while and .sp seems to be different species, suggesting a potential conflict between the morphological identification key and the genetic basis underlying speciation and species allocation for . These results are valuable in informing breeding design and genetic resource conservation programs for in Africa.