Research Article

Faunal diversity of Cladocera (Crustacea: Branchiopoda) with notes on biogeographically important species in the floodplain wetlands of the Subansiri river basin, India

¹ Department of Zoology, Rajiv Gandhi University, Rono Hills, Doimukh 791112, Arunachal Pradesh, India
² Department of Zoology, North Bank College, Ghilamara 787053, Assam, India
³ Unidade Acadêmica Especial de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Jataí – UFJ, BR364 km 195 n°3800, CEP 75801615, Jataí, GO, Brazil

^* Corresponding author: budhinrgu2012@gmail.com

Received: 10 October 2017
Accepted: 16 July 2018

Abstract

The plankton samples collected from the Subansiri floodplain wetlands revealed a rich Cladocera assemblage of 55 species belonging to 30 genera and 7 families. The species richness represents 42% and 75% of the total amount of fresh water species reported from India and Assam, respectively. Chydoridae was the most speciose family, with 31 species, while Ilyocryptidae was represented by a single species. Sididae, Daphniidae, Bosminidae, Moinidae and Macrothricidae were represented by four, five, three, two and four species, respectively. The faunal composition is represented by cosmopolitan, tropical and oriental elements. The documentation of Diaphanosoma dubium, Latonopsis australis, Simocephalus mixtus, Chydorus sphaericus, Chydorus parvus, Chydorus ovalis, Alonella clathratula, Pleuroxus cf. denticulatus, Picripleuroxus quasidenticulatus, Celsinotum macronyx, Coronatella anodonta and Kurzia (Rostrukurzia) brevilabris has biogeographic importance. We provide brief geographical distributional remarks about these 12 species from the collected samples. This was a preliminary study, as the fauna from the Indian subcontinent is poorly documented, and requires a taxonomic revision as a whole. The faunistic diversity of cladocerans comprises a clear representation of a tropical cladoceran assemblage.