CYCLOPINAE Kiefer, 1927 MESOCYCLOPS G.O. Sars, 1914 The genus Mesocyclops G.O. Sars, 1914 today includes 70 valid, nominal species/subspecies, distributed worldwide in continental and coastal waters. The genus has diversified to a great extent in the Palaeotropics, appearing to be rare or absent from the Arctic, Antarctica and temperate regions (Dussart & Fernando, 1984; Samraoui et al., 1998; Holynska, 1997, 2000) (left: M. chaci). From an ecological point of view, the genus includes species which live in large lakes, caves, and large groundwater bodies, cenotes, hypogean karstic crevices and wells; some species are known as predators on smaller freshwater animals, such as mosquito larvae, cladocerans, rotifers and other copepods. Until the 1980's the taxonomy of the genus remained poorly known; later on, Kiefer (1981) reviewed the Old World species of Mesocyclops, pointing out that the type-species of the genus (Mesocyclops leuckarti), previously considered as cosmopolitan, is confined to the Palaearctic area. More recently Van de Velde (1984) provided a complete and updated review of the genus in the African continent; Mirabdullayev (1996) and Holynska (2000) reviewed the genus in Uzbekistan and the Australasian region, respectively. Map with number of species/subspecies of Mesocyclops from different geographical regions (after Holynska, 2000) Within the genus Mesocyclops a "thermocyclopoides species-group" has been defined by Holynska & Fiers (1994, 1997) on the basis of the distinct spinule pattern on the frontal surface of the maxillary coxa, and other characters as well: most members of the this group show a common biogeographical feature in the easy dispersal and/or early colonization (Holynska & Fiers, 1994; Holynska, 1997; Fiers et al., 2000). To date the group should include the following taxa: Mesocyclops aequatorialis aequatorialis Kiefer, 1929 [Africa, Madagascar; fresh waters] Mesocyclops aequatorialis similis Van de Velde, 1984 [Africa, Uzbekistan; fresh waters] [PDF] Mesocyclops affinis Van de Velde, 1987 [from New Guinea to Indochina; holes with green algae] Mesocyclops arcanus Defaye, 1995 [Israel; inland waters] [PDF] Mesocyclops aspericornis (Daday, 1906) [Asia, Africa, central and south America, Philippines, Malaysia, Oceania, Australia; fresh waters, marshes, karst holes, wells] [PDF] [PDF2] Mesocyclops australiensis (G.O. Sars, 1908) [Australia, Tasmania; fresh waters] [PDF] Mesocyclops brooksi Pesce et al., 1996 [Australia; hyporheic] [PDF] Mesocyclops dadayi Holynska, 1997 [India; fresh waters] Mesocyclops dissimilis Defaye & Kawabata, 1993 [Japan, China, north Vietnam; lakes] [PDF] Mesocyclops dussarti Van de Velde, 1984 [West-Africa; fresh waters] [PDF] Mesocyclops friendorum Holynska, 2000 [Indonesia; ricefields] Mesocyclops geminus Holynska, 2000 [Borneo; stream pools] Mesocyclops granulatus Dussart & Fernando, 1988 [India, Pakistan; lakes, pond] [PDF] Mesocyclops guangxiensis Reid & Kay, 1992 [China; muddy ponds] (8) Mesocyclops kieferi Van de Velde, 1984 [Yemen, Africa, Brazil, Sri Lanka; fresh waters, wells] [PDF] [PDF2] [PDF3] Mesocyclops isabellae isabellae Dussart & Fernando, 1988 [India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka; water reservoirs] [PDF] Mesocyclops isabellae var. nepalensis Dussart & Fernando, 1988 [Nepal; fresh waters] Mesocyclops medialis Defaye, 2001 [New Caledonia;fresh waters] Mesocyclops microlasius Kiefer, 1981 [Philippines; fresh waters] Mesocyclops notius Kiefer, 1981 [Australia; fresh waters] [PDF] Mesocyclops ogunnus Onabamiro, 1957 [Africa, Near East, south and southeast Asia, Malaysia, Brazil, Cayman Islands; fresh waters] [PDF] Mesocyclops parentium Holynska, 1997 [Sri Lanka, south India; fresh waters] Mesocyclops thermocyclopoides thermocyclopoides Harada, 1931 [from Flores through Burma, Malaysia, Java, Indochina, Taiwan to the Ryukyus; fresh waters] [PDF] Mesocyclops thermocyclopoides acutus Dussart & Fernando, 1988 [Laos; lakes, large ponds] [PDF] (1) Mesocyclops tobae Kiefer, 1933 [Indonesia, Sumatra; fresh waters] Mesocyclops woutersi Van de Velde, 1987 [Australia, Papua, Indochina, south China, Ryukyus, Honshu; coral gravel pit] Mesocyclops wraniki Baribwegure & Dumont, 2000 [Island of Soqotra, Indian Ocean; interstitial] [PDF] Within the above group, a "woutersi-superspecies group" has been recently defined (Holinska, 2000), including the following taxa: M. woutersi; M. parentium; M. friendorum; M. dissimilis [distinguishing characters of the species in : Holynska (2000)]. More recently, Gutierrez-Aguirre & Suarez-Morales (2001) reviewed the distributional and taxonomic status of the genus, pointing out that "the main characters to recognize species (i.e. presence/absence of a spine on the basipodite ofthe first trunk limb, the presence/absence of teethlike projections on the intercoxal sclerite of the fourth trunk limb, and the shape of the seminal receptacle) have not been strong enough to make a clear, confident taxonomic border between morphologically similar species", and this is most evident in species of the following groups: "thermocyclopoides", "meridianus-brasilianus" and "reidae-ellipticus". OTHER SPECIES AND SUBSPECIES IN THE GENUS MESOCYCLOPS Mesocyclops acanthoramus Holinska & Brown, 2003 [Australia, Queensland; service manhole] [PDF] Mesocyclops americanus Dussart, 1985 [north America; fresh waters] Mesocyclops annae Kiefer, 1930 [Madagascar, India, Sri Lanka; fresh waters] Mesocyclops annulatus annulatus (Wierzejski, 1892) [south America; lakes] Mesocyclops annulatus diversus Herbst, 1962 [Brazil; fresh waters, rivers] Mesocyclops arakhlensis Alekseev, 1993 [Siberia; lakes, plancton] (2) Mesocyclops borneoensis Dussart & Fernando, 1988 [Indonesie; water reservoirs] (4) [PDF] Mesocyclops bosumtwii Mirabdullayev et al., 2007 [Africa, Ghana; lakes] [PDF] Mesocyclops brasilianus Kiefer, 1933 [central and south America; fresh and brackish waters] [PDF] Mesocyclops brevisetosus Dussart & Sarnita, 1986 [Borneo; fresh waters] [PDF] Mesocyclops chaci Reid 1996 [Mexico, Yucatan; wells] Mesocyclops cuttacuttae Dumont & Maas 1985 [north Australia; caves] Mesocyclops darwini Dussart & Fernando, 1988 [North-Australia, Indonesia, New Guinea; lagoons, ponds, ephemereal waterbodies] [PDF] Mesocyclops dayakorum Holynska, 2000 [Indonesia; swamps] Mesocyclops edax (S.A. Forbes, 1891) [north and central America, Mexico, Cuba; fresh waters] Mesocyclops evadomingoi Gutierrez-Aguirae & Suarez-Morales, 2001 [Mexico;ponds] [PDF] Mesocyclops ellipticus Kiefer 1936 [central and south America, Cuba; surface and ground waters, temporary water bodies] [PDF] [PDF2] Mesocyclops ferjemurami Holinska & Sinh Nam, 2000 [Vietnam, north India, Sri Lanka; wells] [PDF] Mesocyclops francisci Hoynska, 2000 [Malaysia; lakes] Mesocyclops holynskae Karanovic, 2006 [Australia; fresh waters,springs] Mesocyclops insulensis Dussart, 1982 [Madagascar; fresh waters] Mesocyclops intermedius Pesce 1985 [West Indies; wells] [PDF] Mesocyclops iranicus Lindberg, 1936 [Iran; fresh waters] (3) Mesocyclops kayi Holinska & Brown, 2003 [Northern Burma; fish pond] [PDF] Mesocyclops leuckarti leuckarti (Claus, 1857) [Palaearctic region; fresh waters] (9) Mesocyclops leuckarti araklensis Alekseev, 1993 [Siberia; fresh waters] Mesocyclops leuckarti f. bodanicola Kiefer, 1929 [Europe; fresh waters] Mesocyclops leuckarti f. fortii Mann, 1940 [Turkey; fresh waters] Mesocyclops longisetus longisetus (Thiébaud, 1914) [north, central and south America; fresh and brackish waters, marshes, ground waters] [PDF] Mesocyclops longisetus araucanus Loffler, 1961 [Chile; fresh waters] Mesocyclops longisetus curvatus Dussart, 1987 (Canada, Yucatan, Cuba, south America; fresh waters, ponds, reservoirs] [PDF] Mesocyclops major G.O. Sars, 1927 [Africa; fresh waters] Mesocyclops mariae Guo, 2000 [China; fresh waters] [PDF] Mesocyclops meridianus (Kiefer, 1926) [central and south America; fresh and brackish waters] [PDF] [PDF2] [PDF3] Mesocyclops meridionalis Dussart & Frutos, 1985 [Brazil, Argentina; ricefields, fresh water ponds] [PDF] Mesocyclops mongoliensis Kiefer, 1981 [Mongolia; fresh waters] Mesocyclops nicaraguensis Herbst, 1960 [Nicaragua; fresh waters] (5) Mesocyclops paludosus Lindberg, 1956 [Africa; swamps] Mesocyclops papuensis Van de Velde, 1987 [Australia, New Guinea, Indonesia; swamps] Mesocyclops paranensis Dussart & Frutos, 1985 [south America; water reservoirs] [PDF] Mesocyclops pehpeiensis Hu, 1943 [China, Birmania, Korea, Vietnam, India?, Japan, Sri Lanka, Mexico, Cuba; introduced in the USA; fresh waters] [PDF] [PDF2] [PDF3] Mesocyclops pescei (Petkovski 1986) [Crooked Island, Bahamas,Yucatan; ground waters] [PDF] Mesocyclops pilosus Kiefer, 1930 [Madagascar; fresh waters] Mesocyclops pseudoannae Van de Velde,1987 [New Guinea, Australia?; marsh] Mesocyclops pseudomeridianus Defaye & Dussart, 1988 [French Guyana; rivers] [PDF] Mesocyclops pseudospinosus Dussart & Fernando, 1988 [Indonesie; water reservoirs] [PDF] Mesocyclops pubiventris Holinska & Brown, 2003 [Australia, Queensland; service manhole] [PDF] Mesocyclops rarus Kiefer, 1981 [Africa; lakes] [PDF] [PDF2] Mesocyclops rectus Lindberg, 1937 [India; fresh waters] (6) Mesocyclops reidae Petkovski 1986 [Colombia, Honduras, Yucatan; ricefields, ground waters, cenotes] [PDF] Mesocyclops restrictus Dussart & Fernando, 1985 [Burma; fresh waters] Mesocyclops ruttneri Kiefer, 1981 [India, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan,China, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, USA; fresh waters] (7) [PDF] Mesocyclops salinus Onabamiro, 1957 [Africa, Madagascar?; brackish waters] [PDF] [PDF2] Mesocyclops salinus ssp. Samraoui et al., 1998 [Algerie; coastal wetlands] Mesocyclops shenzhenensis Guo, 2000 [China; fresh waters] [PDF] Mesocyclops spinosus Van de Velde, 1984 [Africa; fresh waters] [PDF] Mesocyclops splendidus Lindberg, 1943 [India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh; fresh waters] [PDF] Mesocyclops tenuisaccus (G.O. Sars, 1927) [south Africa; lakes] Mesocyclops varius Dussart, 1987 [south America; ponds] Mesocyclops venezolanus Dussart, 1987 [south America; ponds] [PDF] Mesocyclops yenae Holinska, 1998 [Vietnam; fresh waters] Mesocyclops yesoensis Ishida, 1999 [Malaysia, Japan; lakes, streams] Mesocyclops yutsil Reid 1996 [Mexico, Yucatan; cenotes] (1) synonym of M. affinis Van de Velde, 1987 (Holynska, in litt.) (2) Holinska (in litt.) suggest that this species could be an eastern subspecies of M. leuckarti rather than a genetically isolated species. (3) younger synonym of M. aspericornis (Ghenne & Fiers, 2000) (4) younger synonym of M. papuensis Van de Velde, 1987 (Holynska, 2000) (5) synonym of M. edax (Reid & Moreno, 1999) (6) it is unambiguously a species belonging to the genus Thermocyclops (Holinska, in litt.) (7) Guo (2000) synonymized M. ruttneri with M. pehpeiensis. (8) = M. woutersi (Holynska, 1997) (9) The record of this species by Knott & Jasinska (1998) from Australia is questionable. The species M. cokeri and M. forbesi, by Nisa & Mahoon (1987) from Pakistan, are inadequately and incompletely described; the species M. albicans and the subspecies M. leuckarti deccanensis Lindberg, 1935 are questionable. All the above taxa should be considered as "nomina dubia" (Holynska, 1997; in litt.). Recently, evolutionary relationships were investigated in the genus Mesocyclops by Holynska (2006), and the following clades were pointed out: reidae-clade (M. reidae, M. chaci, M. yutsil); rarus-clade (Mesocyclops annae, M. pseudoannae, M. splendidus, M. rarus, M. paludosus, M. darwini, M. dayakorum); annulatus-clade (Mesocyclops intermedius, M. ellipticus, M. paranaensis, M. annulatus, M. tenuisaccus); meridianus-clade (Mesocyclops meridionalis, M. varius, M. venezolanus, M. brasilianus, M. pseudomeridianus, M. meridianus); major-clade (Mesocyclops major, M. pilosus, M. insulensis); dussarti-clade (M. dussarti, M. dadayi, M. isabellae, M. thermocyclopoides); pubiventris-clade (M. pubiventris, M. medialis, M. brooksi, M. notius). In the above analysys, however, "there were some components for which the procedure, regardless of the outgroup choice and/or character set, suggested different relationships. Basal relationships of Mesocyclops[between M. edax (North and Central America), the Neotropical species (M. longisetus, M. araucanus, M. evadomingoi, meridianus- and annulatus-clade), Old World group (P1 basipodite without medial spine) and the rarus-clade (Old World; P1 basipodite with medial spine) remained unresolved" (from Holynska, 2006). KEY FOR AFRICAN SPECIES OF MESOCYCLOPS [PDF] RELEVANT LITERATURE | PAGE UPDATED NOVEMBER 19. 2008| | Thanks are due to Maria Holinska for helpful suggestions and improvements | Copyright © 1999-2008 G. L. Pesce - All Rights Reserved. Text and images on this website may not be redistributed or put as part of any collection (image archives, CDs etc) without prior written permission