Findings of Daphnia (Ctenodaphnia) Dybowski et Grochowski (Branchiopoda: Cladocera) in Cenozoic volcanogenic lakes in Germany, with discussion of their indicator value

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to describe fossil representatives of the Daphniidae Straus, 1820 (Eucrustacea: Cladocera) from German Cenozoic Maar lakes and lacustrine sediments and discuss an indicator value of their ephippia for palaeoecological reconstructions. All females and ephippia (modified moulting exuvia of females containing resting eggs) from the late Early/early Middle Miocene Randeck Maar (about 17-15 m.y.a., mammal zone MN5) and ephippia from the Late Oligocene lacustrian locality Rott (23-24 m.y.a., mammal zome MP30) belong to Daphnia (Ctenodaphnia) Dybowski et Grochowski, 1895. We conclude that these cladocerans were very common in European Eocene-Miocene water bodies. In case of German volcanogenic Maars, numerous ephippia of Daphnia (Ctenodaphnia), including their clusters, in a fossil layer could indicate shallow water conditions and seasonality in such water body.

A fossil-calibrated phylogenomic analysis of Daphnia and the Daphniidae

“…47 Mya;Lutz, 1991) and that well-preserved D. "magnasimilis"-like ephippia and parthenogenetic females were found in Cenozoic German paleolakes (ca. 24 Mya and 17-15 Mya, respectively; Kotov and Wappler, 2015). However, the diagnostic resolution of these ephippia's morphological features does not allow a full identification at the species level.…”

New species of Kuqaia from the Lower Jurassic of Sweden indicates a possible water flea (Crustacea: Branchiopoda) affinity

“…Similar ephippia with a single-egg/embryo loculus were recorded in the Lower Cretaceous Jehol Biota, northeastern China [ 51 ]. Daphnia fossils, including their associated ephippia, have also been documented from Cenozoic deposits in Germany [ 52 ]. These bear two-egg loculi located obliquely or at acute angles to the dorsal margin.…”

“…from Cenozoic deposits in Germany [52]. These bear two-egg loculi located obliquely or at acute angles to the dorsal margin.…”

Ephippia of the Daphniidae (Branchiopoda: Cladocera) in Late Caenozoic deposits: untapped source of information for palaeoenvironment reconstructions in the Northern Holarctic

“…Caenozoic ephippia are known since the pioneering work of Heydon (1862), but in general, records of Palaeogene and early Neogene cladocerans are relatively rare in the palaeontological literature (Dickinson, Swain, 1967;Goulden, 1968;Xing-rong, Li Ying-pei, 1987;Lea et al, 1991;Lutz, 1991;Wappler et al, 2014;Kotov, Wappler, 2015) as compared with a great number of the Late Holocene records. Some localities are found to be especially remarkable, for example, Richter & Wedman (2005) described the ephippia of presumably "recent" species Moina macrocopa (Straus, 1820), Daphnia pulex De Geer, 1778 and Daphnia magna Straus, 1820) from Eocene Lake Messel, although their identifications seem to be not well-justified.…”