Branchiopoda

Branchinecta brushi is a new species of fairy shrimp described from a pool within the volcanic crater of Cerro Paniri, northern Chile. Its occurrence represents a new altitude record for anostracans (5930 m), and it shares the title for highest altitude occurrence across all of Crustacea with a cladoceran from the same pool, Boeckella palustris. Branchinecta brushi is similar to another Chilean anostracan, B. valchetana. However, B. brushi differs from B. valchetana in the detailed morphology of the male second antennae and gonopods. Male specimens of B. brushi possesses a bulbous, distally spinose medial apophysis on the proximal article of its second antenna as well as short, stout, inwardly curved gonopods. Both sexes are distinguished by very short cercopods. Bringing phylogenetic order to the monogeneric family Branchinectidae will require increased levels of morphological documentation and a better understanding of intra-specific variation. Most crustaceans are not well suited to life at high altitudes; those that thrive at high elevations offer insights not only to their biological tolerances, but also to their various modes of dispersal.

The early Cretaceous Jehol Biota of northeastern China contains a diverse group of ‘notostracans’, including two genera, Chenops and Jeholops, newly described here. Chenops is characterized by the combination of an ovate carapace, narrow anal plate, and equant distal endites and endopod on the anterior thoracic limbs. In addition to the new species, C. yixianensis, the genus also provisionally includes Prolepidurus oblongus Oleynikov, 1968. Jeholops, however, is monotypic, represented by the new species J. hongi. It is characterized by a combination of kazacharthran and notostracan features unique to this taxon. Both new genera are provisionally placed in the taxon Notostraca. More detailed work exploring the morphology of exceptionally preserved branchiopod crustaceans is needed. The difficulties in placing fossil notostracans into a phylogenetic framework are discussed.

ABSTRACT A new notostracan crustacean, Strudops goldenbergi gen. et sp. nov., is described from the well-preserved terrestrial arthropod fauna of the Upper Devonian of Strud, Belgium. The fossil notostracan bears a close resemblance to modern notostracans in possessing a large, simple head shield covering almost half of the whole body, a set of phyllopodous thoracic appendages and a legless posterior abdomen with a telson bearing a caudal furca. The differentiation and relative size of mouthparts and limbs suggest that these specimens are all adults. The notostracans described herein are the earliest clear members of the total group Notostraca.

In order to understand relationships between living and fossil groups of spinicaudatan clam shrimp, it is important to review historical and contemporary attempts at evaluating the evolutionary history of the group. A comprehensive review of previous phylogenetic and paleontological work is presented here and considered in an evolutionary context in an attempt to bridge the gap between neontological and fossil works and to present a foundation upon which future studies may contribute to the understanding of spinicaudatan evolutionary history. In order to understand relationships between living and fossil groups of spinicaudatan clam shrimp, it is important to review historical and contemporary attempts at evaluating the evolutionary history of the group. This study is broken into three discrete sections dealing with various aspects of spinicaudatan neontology and paleontology. First, a brief review of the current state of branchiopod systematics is presented, followed by reviews of contemporary efforts in the paleontological study of fossil Spinicaudata with familial and super-familial descriptions of major fossil groups. Finally, an effort to establish biologically sound hypotheses of relatedness between fossil and living lineages of ‘clam shrimp’ is presented, In which we report that attempts to integrate modern and extinct representatives of the Spinicaudata in a holistic approach result in many of the fossil families become paraphyletic or polyphyletic, highlighting the persistent rift between biological and palaeontological studies of the group. It is our hope that the hypotheses presented here will aid in a more synthetic studies of the Spinicaudata and also allow biological patterns to be investigated across the groups over geologic time.

Sampling in two freshwater bodies near Pune City, Maharashtra State located in the northern region of the Western Ghats revealed the presence of three species of clam shrimps. In this paper we provide new locality records of genera Caenestheriella sp. and Lynceus sp. from the northern region of the Western Ghats in Maharashtra State, India. We also provide some habitat description and information on ecological parameters of the water bodies.

The first fossil ephippia (cladoceran exuvia containing resting eggs) belonging to the extant genus Ceriodaphnia (Anomopoda: Daphniidae) are reported from the Lower Cretaceous (Aptian) freshwater Koonwarra Fossil Bed (Strzelecki Group), South Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. They represent only the second record of (pre-Quater-nary) fossil cladoceran ephippia from Australia (Ceriodaphnia and Simocephalus, both being from Koonwarra). The occurrence of both of these genera is roughly coincident with the first occurrence of these genera elsewhere (i.e., Mongolia). This suggests that the early radiation of daphniid anomopods predates the breakup of Pangaea. In addition , some putative cladoceran body fossils from the same locality are reviewed; though they are consistent with the size and shape of cladocerans, they possess no cladoceran-specific synapomorphies. They are thus regarded as indeterminate diplostracans.