Artemia show substantial differences in their characteristics not only between species, but also between populations of the same species. There are multiple parthenogenic lineages with distinct genesis. A new IAAC paper addresses the persistent issue of failing to correctly document the provenance of Artemia used in research.

Abstract

Brine shrimp (Artemia) are indispensable in global aquaculture and widely utilized as model organisms across diverse biological disciplines. Nevertheless, a considerable proportion of published studies suffer from irreproducibility and reduced reliability, often due to inadequate consideration of taxonomic resolution. In particular, the persistent and erroneous application of the binomial designation Artemia salina as a generic reference to all species, populations, and parthenogenetic lineages represents a major source of confusion. This article emphasizes that taxonomy is not merely a formal exercise in classical biology but a fundamental scientific framework for cataloguing and conserving Artemia wild biodiversity at both the population/lineage and species levels, in accordance with the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN). In the absence of taxonomic verification and clear documentation of the geographic origin of Artemia specimens, the findings of most studies committing this A. salina fallacy cannot be reliably reproduced or independently validated.

Full paper available from:

• Asem A, Gajardo G, Sui L, Sung YY and Sorgeloos P (2026). The "Artemia salina" fallacy: resolving taxonomic misidentification in the brine shrimp model organism used across diverse biological disciplines. Zoological Joural of the Linnean Society 207(2):zlag103.