SREL Reprint #2366

Rheocyclops, a new genus of copepods from the southeastern and central U.S.A. (Copepoda: Cyclopoida: Cyclopidae)

Janet W. Reid1, David L. Strayer2, J. Vaun McArthur3, Suzanne E. Stibbe4, and Julian J. Lewis5

1Department of Invertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, District of Columbia 20560- 0163, USA
2Institute ot Ecosystem Studies, Box AB, Millbrook, New York 12545-0129, USA
3Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Drawer E, University of Georgia, Aiken, South Carolina 29802, USA
4Box 4718, Mississippi State, Mississippi 39762, USA
5217 W. Carter Avenue, Clarksville, Indiana 47129, USA

Abstract: The new genus Rheocyclops is proposed to accommodate the cyclopoid copepods Diacyclops virginianus Reid, from Virginia, and the new species R. carolinianus from South Carolina, R. talladega and R. hatchiensis from Alabama, and R. indiana from Indiana, U.S.A. Most species were collected from the hyporheic zones of stream beds, except R. indiana which was found in a drip pool in a cave. The new genus is distinguished by a combination of characters: anal operculum produced; antennule 11-segmented; antenna lacking exopodite seta; rami of legs 1-4 all 3-segmented, or some rami 2-segmented; leg 5 with proximal segment fused to somite and reduced to small protrusion bearing seta inserted near distal (free) segment, and free segment cylindrical with 2 terminal setae.

SREL Reprint #2366

Reid, J.W., D.L. Strayer, J.V. McArthur, S.E. Stibbe, and J.J. Lewis. 1999. Rheocyclops, a new genus of copepods from the southeastern and central U.S.A. (Copepoda: Cyclopoida: Cyclopidae). Journal of Crustacean Biology 19:384-396.

This information was provided by the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (srel.uga.edu).