ISSN:
1573-5117
Keywords:
Daphnia obtusa
;
Australia
;
Cladocera
;
biogeography
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Biology
Notes:
Abstract Specimens of Daphnia found in Lake Burley Griffin in December 1994 (austral summer), were taken into laboratory culture where males and ephippial females were generated. All the key morphological features of the females, males and ephippia (resting eggs) fitted those described for Daphnia obtusa Kurz, 1874 emend Scourfield, 1942 not yet recorded from Australia. There were major differences between the specimens from Lake Burley Griffin and descriptions of D. jollyi, the only other species from the subgenus Daphnia in Australia which has a fringe of long setae in the mid-region of the ventral margin of the carapace. In addition, D. jollyi is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. The discovery of D. obtusa does not provide evidence for the existence of this taxon in Australia since the breakup of Gondwana in the Cretaceous. Its discovery in an artificial lake opened in 1964, and which has been extensively sampled without detection of this species over the last 10–20 years, suggests a recent introduction from overseas.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00013433
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