High taxonomic resolution as a determinant on finding new species and new records in the Río de La Plata basin: a case on Chydoridae (Crustacea: Branchiopoda: Cladocera)

Abstract

Recent worldwide taxonomical research on Cladocera is discovering a number of new species but hardly in South America. The Río de La Plata is the second largest basin in the continent and the knowledge on cladocerans of the different sub-basins is uneven. The recent increase in the number of cladocerans species worldwide inspired this survey in the Río de La Plata basin. It was expected that new species, or at least a significant number of new records, could be found which would contribute to the richness of the least studied sub-basins. Twenty three sampling locations were selected and the Cladocera were analyzed in detail to the species level. The family Chydoridae was targeted due to its high species richness. Fifty species of Chydoridae were recorded, two of them probably new for science and a third one whose taxonomical status could not be further addressed, due to insufficient material for analysis. All sub-basins had at least one specimen of one or both new species. The contribution of new species was more homogeneous among subbasins when compared to the total contribution of new registers. It was concluded that the improvement of the taxonomical resolution and extensive samplings are fundamental in assessing the real cladoceran richness in the basin and that knowledge based on just a few research centers is not enough to promote secure taxonomical and biogeographical considerations yet.

An annotated checklist of the freshwater cladocerans (Crustacea: Branchiopoda: Cladocera) of Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands

“…Remarks. The species was initially described from souther U.S.A., in South America, it have been found in the Peruvian Andes (Valdivia Villar, 1988), a Venezuelan Andean lake (López, 1993) and more recently in different water bodies in Brazil (Serafim et al, 2003 and Paraguay (Debastiani-Júnior et al, 2015). Several species of Ephemeroporus are present in the Neotropics, identifications should be checked thoroughly.…”

An update for cladoceran fauna (Crustacea, Branchiopoda) from Lake Paranoá, Central Brazil, with the first description of a male of Leydigiopsis ornata Daday, 1905

“…Distribution: Neotropics (Rey and Vasquez, 1986;Sinev and Elmoor-Loureiro, 2010;Debastiani-Júnior et al, 2015). In Brazil, A. tupinamba occurs in the Amazônica, Paraguai, Paraná, São Francisco, Parnaíba and Atlântico Sudeste hydrographic regions (ElmoorLoureiro, 2017).…”

Position of the dentifera-group in the Coronatella-branch and its relocation to a new genus: Magnospina gen. n. (Crustacea, Chydoridae, Aloninae)

“…Alona dentifera (Sars, 1901): Sinev et al 2004: 101, 103–104, figures 1–39; Güntzel et al 2010: 95, table 1; Sousa and Elmoor-Loureiro 2012: 356, table 2; Debastiani-Júnior et al 2015: 24, table 2.…”

“…Alona broaensis : Matsumura-Tundisi and Smirnov 1984: 327–328, figures 15–21; Güntzel et al 2010: 95, table 1; Debastiani-Júnior et al 2015: 24, table 2.…”