Aquatic invertebrate community structure and phenology of the intermittent treed swamps of the semi-arid Paroo lowlands in Australia.

Unlabelled: The middle Paroo lowlands in semi-arid western New South Wales support numerous intermittent wetlands of various types. Differences between them are promoted by three ecological drivers: salinity, turbidity and hydroperiod. Community structure and phenology of the two most common types, saline lakes and claypans, are known but similar ecologies are lacking for the third most common wetland, the treed swamps.

Diagnosing and (Branchiopoda: Spinicaudata: Limnadiidae).

and are both strongly supported, monophyletic limnadiid lineages based on molecular studies. However, defining the two taxa morphologically relies on the presence/absence of a subcercopodal spiniform projection; otherwise there is considerable overlap and confusion in morphological characters between the two taxa. The most discriminatory of these characters are examined here and applied to Australasian species.

Three new species of spinicaudatan clam shrimps from Australia, all from gnammas (rock pools).

Recent collections from the remote Kimberley in Western Australia, have added three species to the known fauna of gnammas, Limnadopsis multilineata Timms, 2009 and two new species described herein, Eulimnadia kimberleyensis sp. nov. and Ozestheria pellucida sp.

A review of the Australian endemic clam shrimp, Paralimnadia Sars 1896 (Crustacea: Branchiopoda: Spinicaudata).

Paralimnadia was recently re-erected to accommodate Australian limnadiids formally placed in Limnadia. They are characterised by the lack of a spine on the posterior ventral corner of the telson, a cercopod divided by a spine midlength into a cylindrical seta bearing basal section and a narrowing denticle bearing distal section, males amplex females on the posterior body margin keeping the body in line, and gonochoristic reproduction, so typically sex ratios are broadly 1:1. These characters separate Paralimnadia from the closely related Eulimandia.

Large branchiopod (Crustacea: Branchiopoda) egg morphology of Western Ghats, Maharashtra, India.

The eggs of many large branchiopods have taxonomic value and are commonly used as traits in species and/or generic descriptions. In this paper we present detailed descriptions and SEMs of resting eggs of seven of the eight species of large branchiopods found in the Western Ghats of Maharashtra, India. We highlight the inter- and intrapopulation egg morphological variation in Streptocephalus.

A partial revision of the Australian Eulimnadia Packard, 1874 (Branchiopoda: Spinicaudata: Limnadiidae).

The worldwide genus Eulimnadia previously with only five species described from Australia, is known now to have at least 15 endemic species plus about 10 undescribed species detected by molecular means. Most have variable morphological features, though each has a distinctive resting egg morphology. Many occur in the known branchiopod hot spot of the Paroo/Bulloo catchments in western New South Wales and Queensland.

A review of the biology of Australian halophilic anostracans (Branchiopoda: Anostraca).

Australia has two species of Artemia: A. franciscana introduced to salt works and apparently not spreading, and parthenogenetic Artemia presently spreading widely through southwestern Australia. In addition, and unique to Australia, there are 18 described species of Parartemia in hypersaline lakes.

Anostracan (Crustacea: Branchiopoda) zoogeography III. Australian bioregions .

Anostracan bioregions were identified for Australia. These regions were quantitatively defined using species distributions compared through Jaccard's Coefficient of Community Similarity, and qualitatively defined using regional soils data. Community assemblages are quantified using Fager's Index of Recurring Species Groups.

A revision of the Australian species of Lynceus Müller, 1776 (Crustacea: Branchiopoda: Laevicaudata, Lynceidae).

Australia has had two species of Lynceus, L. macleayanus (King, 1855) and L. tatei (Brady, 1886) reported to date, both poorly described and without types, and supposedly both widely distributed.

Cyclestheria hislopi (Crustacea: Branchiopoda): a group of morphologically cryptic species with origins in the Cretaceous.

Cyclestheria hislopi is thought to be the only extant species of Cyclestherida. It is the sister taxon of all Cladocera and displays morphological characteristics intermediate of Spinicaudata and Cladocera. Using one mitochondrial (COI) and two nuclear (EF1α and 28S rRNA) markers, we tested the hypothesis that C.

Flying with the birds? Recent large-area dispersal of four Australian Limnadopsis species (Crustacea: Branchiopoda: Spinicaudata).

Temporary water bodies are important freshwater habitats in the arid zone of Australia. They harbor a distinct fauna and provide important feeding and breeding grounds for water birds. This paper assesses, on the basis of haplotype networks, analyses of molecular variation and relaxed molecular clock divergence time estimates, the phylogeographic history, and population structure of four common temporary water species of the Australian endemic clam shrimp taxon Limnadopsis in eastern and central Australia (an area of >1,350,000 km(2)).

Toward a global phylogeny of the "living fossil" crustacean order of the Notostraca.

Tadpole shrimp (Crustacea, Notostraca) are iconic inhabitants of temporary aquatic habitats worldwide. Often cited as prime examples of evolutionary stasis, surviving representatives closely resemble fossils older than 200 mya, suggestive of an ancient origin. Despite significant interest in the group as 'living fossils' the taxonomy of surviving taxa is still under debate and both the phylogenetic relationships among different lineages and the timing of diversification remain unclear.

Phylogeny of Spinicaudata (Branchiopoda, Crustacea) based on three molecular markers--an Australian origin for Limnadopsis.

Taxonomy and phylogeny within the branchiopod taxon Spinicaudata are still controversial. We analyzed sequences of three gene fragments (28S rRNA, 16S rRNA and COI) from up to 41 species of the Cyzicidae, Limnadiidae and Leptestheriidae to infer their phylogenetic relationships, focusing in particular on species from Australia and their phylogenetic position within Spinicaudata. Four major monophyletic lineages could be distinguished: Limnadiidae, Leptestheriidae, Eocyzicus and all Cyzicidae except Eocyzicus.