Research Article

Cladocera (Crustacea: Branchiopoda) from the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil

Biodiversity of Cladocera (Crustacea: Branchiopoda) from the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil: new records and species richness in hydrographic regions

¹ Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Conservação da Biodiversidade, Departamento de Botânica e Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Cuiabá, MT, Brazil
² Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia de Ambientes Aquáticos Continentais, Laboratório Zooplâncton, Núcleo de Pesquisa em Limnologia, Ictiologia e Aquicultura (Nupélia), Universidade Estadual de Maringá, PR, Brazil
³ Departamento de Botânica e Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Cuiabá, MT, Brazil
⁴ Laboratório de Taxonomia Animal, Unidade Acadêmica Especial de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Goiás − Regional Jataí, Jatai, GO, Brazil
⁵ Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zoologia, Universidade de Brasília, Campus Darcy Ribeiro, Brasília, Brazil

^* Corresponding author: maiaratabatha@hotmail.com

Received: 19 October 2019
Accepted: 10 March 2020

Abstract

Studies on Cladocera biodiversity in Brazilian freshwater ecosystems are intensifying. However, the fauna of some hydrographic regions is still poorly known. We investigated the richness and species composition of cladocerans in lakes of the Pantanal from the state of Mato Grosso (Paraguay hydrographic region), Brazil. In addition, we cataloged the known cladoceran species in each hydrographic region of the state. Occurrence data were obtained from the literature and samples collected from 50 lakes in the northern Pantanal. We recorded 120 cladoceran species from eight families in the state of Mato Grosso. The occurrence of these species was recorded in the Amazon and Paraguay hydrographic regions. We are unaware of studies on cladocerans conducted in the Tocantins-Araguaia hydrographic region. We reported 17 new records in the Pantanal samples (Paraguay hydrographic region). Overall, richness estimates reveal that 72.6% of the state's cladoceran fauna is already known, while for the Paraguay hydrographic region this estimate is 72.2%. In general, the cladocerans from the Amazon and Paraguay regions did not differ. Our findings allow us to infer the need for further studies in the different hydrographic regions found in Mato Grosso in order to improve the knowledge of cladoceran biodiversity. We suggest a greater sampling effort, particularly in the littoral zone of aquatic ecosystems in this state, which can harbor great biodiversity.