The harpacticoid copepods (Crustacea) of the saline lakes in southeast Australia, with special reference to the Laophontidae
Abstract
The bottom-living copepods collected by Dr I. A. E. Bayly in the saline lakes include the cyclopoid Halicyclops ambiguus Kiefer and six species of harpacticoid, namely Mesochra baylyi Hamond, Onychocamptus bengalensis (Sewell), Cletocamptus deitersi (Richard), Heterolaophonte wellsi sp. nov., Robertsonia propinqua (Scott), and an undescribed species of Amphiascoides. M. baylyi was by far the most widespread and numerous harpacticoid, and in many of the samples it was the only harpacticoid present. O. bengalensis was the second most numerous and widespread harpacticoid, the other harpacticoids all being scarce; H. ambiguus was about as common as O. bengalensis, and had a substantially similar distribution. R. propinqua, O. bengalensis, and C. deitersi are new records for Australia. H. wellsi has been found only in high-salinity localities lacking weeds, and therefore appears to favour the bottom sediments; none of the other species showed any distinct preference for localities with or without weeds. The present paper also contains the description of H. wellsi, a redescription of O. bengalensis, and notes on C. deitersi.
