Freshwater copepod taxonomy has been neglected
in southern Africa for more than 50 years and this has
placed a constraint on research on the biology and ecology
of this important component of the freshwater invertebrate
fauna. In this review of the calanoid family Diaptomidae
of southern Africa, keys to the freshwater families, the
African genera and southern African species are presented
as well as diagnoses of the family Diaptomidae and the
subfamilies Paradiaptominae and Diaptominae. The genus
Lovenula has been revised. All available information on
each species has been collated. This includes illustrations
of the most important identifying characters, synonymies,
a record of material examined and a map of distribution.
The discovery of 11 new species, four Paradiaptomus,
two, Metadiaptomus and five Tropodiaptomus, indicates
that the diaptomid fauna of southern Africa is more diverse
than was previously envisaged. Biogeography and evolution
of the group is discussed with reference to vicariance,
dispersal and palaeoenvironments of the African continent.
The Paradiaptominae (Lovenula, Paradiaptomus and Metadiaptomus)
are endemic to Africa, while the Diaptominae have
one endemic African genus Thermodiaptomus and the other,
Tropodiaptomus, is not limited to the African continent.
The latter genus has speciated throughout the warmer regions of Africa, with more than 30 described species.
Additional collections from isolated regions will, without
doubt, substantially increase this number. Included in
the account is a glossary of copepod terminology, an explanation
of local limnological terms in current use, and a
gazetteer. Biographical information on the pioneers of
copepod research in southern Africa is included. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1990.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ukzn/oai:http://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za:10413/10858 |
| Date | 06 June 2014 |
| Creators | Rayner, Nancy Alison. |
| Contributors | Heeg, Jan. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en_ZA |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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