New morphological characters useful for the taxonomy of the genus Microcyclops (Copepoda, Cyclopoida)

Traditionally, Microcyclops species have been defined according to differences in a few morphological characters of antennule segmentation, swimming legs 1 and 4, caudal rami, and mainly leg 5. Moreover, these characters have been very often referred to as variable. In five species of Microcyclops f...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of marine systems 1998-06, Vol.15 (1), p.425-431
Main Author: da Rocha, Carlos Eduardo Falavigna
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Brackish
Copepoda
Crustacea
Cyclopoida
Freshwater
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Invertebrates
Marine
Microcyclops
new characters
systematics
Systematics. Geographical distribution
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Summary:Traditionally, Microcyclops species have been defined according to differences in a few morphological characters of antennule segmentation, swimming legs 1 and 4, caudal rami, and mainly leg 5. Moreover, these characters have been very often referred to as variable. In five species of Microcyclops from Brazil, namely M. alius, M. anceps anceps, M. ceibaensis, M. finitimus, and M. mediasetosus, new or rarely mentioned structures were found to be useful in separating the species, such as the border ornamentation of the prosomal somites, the shape and ornamentation of the terminal spine on the endopod of leg 1, the presence and number of integumental pores on the terminal endopodal segment of leg 1, and details in the ornamentation of the middle caudal setae. Since no intraspecific variation has been observed in these features, it is proposed to consider them in future descriptions of Microcyclops species in order to have better characterized taxa.
ISSN:0924-7963
1879-1573
DOI:10.1016/S0924-7963(97)00091-2