Morphometric and biometric observations in frontal knobs of Artemia populations from Chile and Iran (Crustacea, Anostraca) Patricio De los Rios1and Alireza Asem2 1. Escuela de Ciencias Ambientales, Facultad de Recursos Naturales, Universidad Católica de Temuco, Casilla 15-D, Temuco, CHILE 2. Artemia & Aquatic Animals Research Institute, Urmia University, Urmia, IRAN Summary: It was compared the diameter of frontal knobs (right and left) and their ratio with total lenght and head wide in four populations of Artemia urmiana (Gunther 1899), that were collected in Urmia lake. The aim of the present study was the use of similar methodology described for comparative studies of Artemia populations from Chile and Argentina. The results do not denote significant differences in studied populations, and this result agree about that the studied populations belong to the same specie. The results of cluster analysis denoted the existence of small differences between studied populations. The shape of frontal knobs in studied populations denoted a sub-spherical shape, and this description would be similar with shape of American Artemia populations. The results of morphometric analysis were compared preliminary with South American populations of Artemia. Also, it was discussed on the basis of ecological information of A. urmiana studied populations with Artemia Northern Chilean populations (A. franciscana) and Southern Chilean populations (A. persimilis). Home