5S rRNA genes are linked to the histone genes in the 13 populations of the crustacean Artemia that we have studied. In all cases, two types of repeat units are found. Southern blot analysis of all populations shows that they can be grouped into three classes: a) American bisexuals; b) Eurasian bisexuals, and c) parthenogenetic organisms (all from Eurasia). Restriction analysis of a bisexual population from San Francisco Bay shows that the two repeat units are of 9.0 and 8.5 kb (with minor heterogeneities of restriction sites). In parthenogenetic organisms, the two repeat units are of approximately 12 kb. Sequencing data from the region of the 5S rRNA from the San Francisco Bay population, shows that in both types of units, the single 5S rRNA gene (315 bp in length), is located 430 bp downstream the 3' regulatory sequences of the H2A gene, the last gene in the histone cluster. We have isolated three clones that contain 5S rRNA sequences. Two of them (one from an American bisexual and the other from a parthenogenetic population) contain histone and 5S rRNA genes, both with the same transcriptional polarity. The third clone, lacking histone genes, is likely to be an orphon derived from the parthenogenetic population.