Gaviria, Wittmann & Ariani 2014
Gaviria, Wittmann & Ariani 2014
GAVIRIA, S., K.J. WITTMANN & A.P. ARIANI, 2014. Distribution of the copepod genus Pseudodiaptomus (Crustacea: Maxillopoda: Calanoida: Pseudodiaptomidae) in the coastal waters of the world, with remarks on invasive species in Europe. In: Oral presentation at the session no. 10 "Global Marine Biodiversity" at the 3rd International Conference on Marine Biodiversity, 12-16 Oct. 2014 in Qingdao, China, Abstract booklet S4-8: 73.
Copepods represent a highly diverse crustacean group with more than 13.000 species, distributed in 8 orders and 180 families dwelling in all kinds of freshwater, brackish and marine environments. Many of them developed to parasitic life. Copepods reach their highest diversity in the sea and constitute there up to 80 % of zooplankton biomass. Copepod density reaches up to 300 000 animals/m3 in the pelagic zone and 1000 individual/m2 in benthos. They also are an important element of the aquatic food web. Members of the family Pseudodiaptomidae inhabit coastal waters and are represented by three genera Pseudodiaptomus (74 species), Calanipeda (1) and Archidiaptomus (1). Archidiaptomus arrorus is known only from Indian brackish waters. The euryhaline species Calanipeda aquaedulcis inhabits estuaries of the Mediterranean, Black and Caspian Sea. Species of Pseudodiaptomus inhabit fresh- to hypersaline waters. All species of these genera show a demersal type of life in shallow coastal water, carrying out daily migrations from ground-level during the day to the pelagic zone at dawn. In contrast to the other genera, Pseudodiaptomus is more diversified and globally found in tropical and temperate waters. Recently, Pseudodiaptomus marinus was found at the Mediterranean and the North Sea. We detected Pseudodiaptomus serricaudatus in southern Italy, representing the first report in the Mediterranean. The known 74 species of Pseudodiaptomus are divided into 8 sub-groups with 54 species recorded from the Indo Pacific region, 14 from American waters and 4 from Africa (southern west and east coasts). We discuss possible ways of migration of Pseudodiaptomus species to Europe, particularly of P. serricaudatus in the Mediterranean Sea. Its morphological variability is discussed as well.
distribution; global biodiversity; invasive species; marine biodiversity
Pseudodiaptomus serricaudatus; Pseudodiaptomus marinus; Archidiaptomus arrorus; Calanipeda aquaedulcis