During the Cenozoic, the constant northward movement of the African plate led to the
division of the Tethys Ocean into two: the Palaeomediterranean and the Paratethyan
branches. The latter was represented by a huge epicontinental sea and brackish to
freshwater lakes that extended across central Europe and western Asia. Neogene and
Quaternary ostracods from the Paratethys originated through major adaptive radiations,
which gave rise to endemic brackish taxa. Unfortunately, much confusion surrounds
their taxonomy, due to the quality of descriptions and images in the original literature
and the incompleteness of the type material, making necessary a taxonomic revision.
In this paper, we propose a systematic revision of several Paratethyan endemic candonid
genera based on the analysis of the type material, new material collected from the
type localities, and new fossil material from the Ponto-Caspian area. The study focuses
on the description of the valve morphology and particularly on the geometric morphometric
analysis of the valve outline. Thirty-three genera were taken into account of which
four (Advenocypris, Candoniella, Graviacypris, Telekia) were considered to be junior
synonyms of Typhlocypris, Pseudocandona or Candona. Moesiella is considered a nomen
nudum. In the case of Caspiollina, Dacicandona, Liventalina and Turkmenella the scarcity
of material and/or the poor descriptions reported in the literature prevented us from
performing a full revision. The monospecific genus Thaminocypris possibly includes
a teratological form. The remaining 23 genera were merged into nine valid, endemic,
genera (Bakunella, Camptocypria, Caspiocypris, Hastacandona, Lineocypris, Pontoniella,
Propontoniella, Typhlocyprella and Zalanyiella). Emended diagnoses and descriptions
are proposed for these genera and a new species, Bakunella anae sp. nov., is described.
This study considerably reduces the taxonomic uncertainty within the Paratethyan candonids,
providing new data for the evaluation of the palaeobiodiversity of the Paratethyan
domain. Finally, the palaeobiogeography of Paratethyan candonids during the Neogene
and Quaternary is also discussed.
