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Importance of male and ephippial female characters fordifferentiating three Palaearctic species of Macrothrix Baird, 1843(Cladocera: Anomopoda), with a redescription of Macrothrix dadayiBehning, 1941

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2009

A. A. Kotov*
Affiliation:
A. N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Leninsky Prospect 33, Moscow 119071, Russia.
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Abstract

I examined ephippial females and males of the Palaearctic Macrothrix hirsuticornis Norman & Brady, 1867 and M.tripectinata Weisig, 1934 (Cladocera: Anomopoda: Macrothricidae). Parthenogenetic and ephippial females, and males of a thirdspecies, M. dadayi Behning, 1941, are redescribed on material from the Ciscaucasian coast of the Black Sea (Russia). A series ofmale characters, useful for species discrimination was found. Ephippia of M. tripectinata and M. dadayi are covered with smallspinules, a unique synapomorphy of these species. Recent progress in Macrothrix systematics allows us to predict that thetaxonomy will improve as more males and ephippial females (currently known only in half the species), yet especially valuablefor systematics, are described.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© Université Paul Sabatier, 2008

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