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ABSTRACT Intertidal mudflats are highly productive ecosystems and contribute significantly to the coastal dynamics in the northwestern Indian Ocean. The endemic to the northwestern Indian Ocean crab, Leptochryseus kuwaitense , is the predominant species in this ecosystem and is responsible for most bioturbation through burrow construction. The present study aims to investigate the phylogeography of L. kuwaitense by collecting samples from five localities along the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, using COX1 sequences and geometric‐morphometric analyses. Phylogeographic analyses revealed some degrees of genetic differentiation among the five localities, but did not detect any obvious geographic pattern, and no isolation was recovered between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Morphometric analysis also revealed no notable differences in shape between the two gulfs. This pattern of population structure is likely due to the disconnection between the sheltered mudflats, the typical habitat of L . kuwaitense , along the studied localities. The lack of geographic pattern in the genetic structure is probably imposed by the complex surface currents in this area. Demographic results indicate a recent population expansion for L . kuwaitense along the northwestern Indian Ocean. The Bayesian Skyline Plot revealed that the increase in effective population size happened during the last glacial maximum, through which a large proportion of mudflats in the northwestern Indian Ocean were unsuitable for this crab.
Azizi et al. (Sat,) studied this question.