A new species of Metacyclops Kiefer, 1927 (Copepoda, Cyclopidae, Cyclopinae) from the Chihuahuan desert, northern Mexico

Abstract

A new species of the freshwater cyclopoid copepod genus Metacyclops Kiefer, 1927 is described from a single pond in northern Mexico, within the binational area known as the Chihuahuan Desert. This species belongs to a group of Metacyclops species with a 3443 spine formula of swimming legs. It is morphologically similar to Metacyclops lusitanus Lindberg, 1961 but differs from this and other congeners by having a unique combination of characters, including a caudal rami length/width proportion of 3.5–3.8, a innermost terminal seta slightly longer than the outermost terminal seta, intercoxal sclerites of legs 1-4 naked, a strong apical spine of the second endopodal segment of leg 1 and one row of 6-8 small spinules at the insertion of this spine. The finding of this species represents also the first record of the genus in Mexico and the third in North America, where only two other species, Metacyclops gracilis (Lilljeborg, 1853)and Metacyclops cushae Reid, 1991 have been hitherto reported. This is also the first continental record of a species of Metacyclops from an arid environment in the Americas. This species appears to be endemic to the Chihuahuan Desert, thus emphasizing the high endemicity of this area.

Copepod Mandible Palynomorphs From the Nolichucky Shale (Cambrian, Tennessee): Implications for the Taphonomy and Recovery of Small Carbonaceous Fossils

“…Metacyclops (66 [sub] species), a predominantly tropical group, shows highest diversity in South America (19) and Africa (15). The further we are from these continents the lower species richness can be observed: ten species live in the Western Palearctic, nine in Middle America, seven in Australia (five of those are recently moved to the genus Pescecyclops erected by Karanovic et al 2011), five in the Oriental region (India + SE Asia), four in East Asia (two of which are shared with the Oriental), two in Siberia (shared with western Palearctic), two in North America, and one in Madagascar (shared with Africa) (Dussart and Defaye 2006;Defaye and Por 2010;Mercado-Salas et al 2013 Van Damme and Sinev (2013). According to this scenario, the ancestor of Apocyclops could have originated in North America and/or Eastern Palearctic in the Paleocene-Eocene, when a much warmer climate allowed dispersal of the warm-temperate-tropical fauna between Siberia and Alaska across Beringia (Sanmartín et al 2001;Brikiatis 2014).…”

Türkiye’den Metacyclops subdolus Kiefer, 1938 (Copepoda, Cyclopidae)’un İlk Kaydı

“…The second (3442) and third (3433) groups each contain one species, M. mortoni Pesce, De Laurentiis andHumphreys, 1996 andM. cushae Reid, 1991, respectively. The fourth group among the Metacyclops species is the trispinosus-group, which has 3333 spine formula (Karanovic, 2004b;Mercado-Salas et al, 2013).…”

Freshwater Diversity of Zooplankton from Mexico: Historical Review of Some of the Main Groups

“…It includes over 60 genera and a record of more than 800 species worldwide [29,207]. The most updated information for Mexico includes 82 cyclopid species with members of three subfamilies: Halicyclopinae, with five species in two genera considered as endemic for the Yucatan Peninsula [208,209], Cyclopinae with 46 species in 11 genera, and Eucyclopinae with 31 species in six genera (Supplementary Table S1). The latter two subfamilies are the most widespread in Mexico, with endemic, introduced, and exotic species [206,210,211].…”