To what extent are ephippia of Mexican Anomopoda (Crustacea, Cladocera) identifiable?

By

Guerrero Jimenez, Gerardo
Álvarez-Solís, Frida Sabine
Aguilar Nazare, Elaine
Adabache Ortiz, Araceli
Baquero Mariaca, Aleksandra
Wallace, Robert
Silva-Briano, Marcelo

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2024

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

1205

Pages

169--189

Subjects

Diapausing embryos , dormancy , ephippia , sediment , SEM , taxonomy , ultrastructure

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1205.115506

 

Abstract

Diapausing embryos encased within cladoceran ephippia result from sexual reproduction and increase genetic diversity. They are also important means by which species bypass harsh environmental conditions and disperse in space and time. Once released, ephippia usually sink to the benthos and remain there until hatching. Using the Sars’ method (incubating sediments to identify cladoceran hatchlings), ephippial egg bank biodiversity can be evaluated. Yet, even when samples are incubated under a variety of conditions, it is not possible to warrant that all have hatched. Few keys are available that facilitate the identification of cladocerans by using only ephippial morphology. Our goal was to analyze some cladoceran ephippia from Mexico, to develop a means to identify them using easily recognizable characteristics. Ephippia of 23 cladoceran species from waters in Aguascalientes (México) in 11 genera (Alona, Biapertura, Ceriodaphnia, Chydorus, Daphnia, Dunhevedia, Ilyocryptus, Macrothrix, Moina, Pleuroxus, and Simocephalus) were analyzed. In our analysis six morphological features were selected that permitted the identification of ephippia to species(-group) level. The results demonstrate that with a proper catalog of features, some ephippia can be identified.