The occurrence and description of male Daphnia similis Claus, 1876 (Cladocera, Daphnidae)
Seema Langer1 * and Yahya Bakhtiyar1
http://dx.doi.org/10.12944/CWE.3.1.34
The occurrence of male of Daphnia similis, a Cladoceran crustacean was recorded from the sub-tropical region of Jammu, India and described for the first time thus completing the description of the species.
Copy the following to cite this article:
Langer S, Bakhtiyar Y. The occurrence and description of male Daphnia similis Claus, 1876 (Cladocera, Daphnidae). Curr World Environ 2008;3(1):207-208 DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.12944/CWE.3.1.34
Copy the following to cite this URL:
Langer S, Bakhtiyar Y. The occurrence and description of male Daphnia similis Claus, 1876 (Cladocera, Daphnidae). Curr World Environ 2008;3(1):207-208. Available from: http://www.cwejournal.org/?p=813
Download article (pdf) Citation Manager Publish History
Introduction
Of the ninety species of Indian Cladocera reported so far, the aspects of the biology of six species have been investigated from this country (Michael and Sharma, 1982). All these studies are restricted to females. The biology of male Daphnia lumholtzi Sars. has been reported for the first time from India by Das et al., (1981). Afterwards Venkataraman and Krishnaswamy ((1984) reported the occurrence and description of male of Daphnia projecta from the Southern Tamilnadu. Likewise Malhotra and Langer (1994) gave the description of the male of Simocephalus serrrulatus from Jammu. Similarly, the descriptions available on the presently investigated species, Daphnia similis too, are restricted to the females.
This paper reports the presence of Daphnia similis in the sub-tropical region of Jammu (Jammu and Kashmir) and gives a full description of male for the first time, thus completing the description of the species.
 |
Figure 1: The figure showing Daphnia similis Click here to view figure |
Female with rounded helmet, rostrum pointed and recurved. Values oval in outline, narrowed posteriorly and continued into a tail, half the length of carapace (Fig. 1A). Tail with small spines which extend to the middle region of ventral margin of values, and on dorsal margin of values, and on dorsal margin extend to cervical region. Antennules very small and set close to rostrum. Eye large, ocellus small in the form of dot. Post-abdomen with 8-12 dorsal spines. Post-abdominal claw stout and curved with two well developed pectens. Maximum adult size 2.7 mm.
In males (Fig. 1B) rostrum is absent. Dorsal margin almost straight. Valves oblong, head ventrally rounded; eye large, ocellus small. Ventro-anterior margin with thick tuft of bristles. Antennules well developed and moveable; flagellum in the antennules not well developed. First leg modified with prolonged seta which emerges out of the carapace. Post-abdomen with 7-9 dorsal spines, Maximum size 1.4mm.
References
1. Michael, R. G and Sharma, B.K., Fauna of India. Indian Cladocera (Crustace: Branchiopoda: Cladocera). Zoological Survey of India, (1982) 62.
2. Das, S., Sharma, B.K. and Michael, R.G., Curr. Sci., (1981) 50: 200.
3. Venkataraman, K. and Krishnaswamy, S., Curr. Sci., (1984) 53: 591-592.
4. Malhotra, Y.R. and Langer, S., The Occurrence and Description of Male of Simocephalus serrulatus KOCH, 1841. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., (1994) India 64(B): II.
