A taxonomy of the marine calanoid copepod genus Pseudocalanus
Apparent lack of interspecific morphological differentiation and potential co-occurrence of cryptic species have plagued the scientific study of marine planktonic copepods of the genus Pseudocalanus. This taxonomic analysis of Pseudocalanus, based on material collected throughout the geographical ra...
| Published in: | Canadian Journal of Zoology |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
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Canadian Science Publishing
1989
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| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z89-077 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z89-077 |
| Summary: | Apparent lack of interspecific morphological differentiation and potential co-occurrence of cryptic species have plagued the scientific study of marine planktonic copepods of the genus Pseudocalanus. This taxonomic analysis of Pseudocalanus, based on material collected throughout the geographical range of the genus, establishes the identities of the previously described species and provides evidence for the existence of three previously unrecognized species. As proposed here, the genus now contains seven species. It is confirmed that interspecific divergence in morphological, meristic, and morphometrical features is unusually weak in Pseudocalanus. Nevertheless, biochemical evidence (presented elsewhere), obtained for six of the seven species, supports the taxonomy proposed here. At least two species of Pseudocalanus were found at most localities within the geographical range of the genus; co-occurrences of three species were common, and the ranges of four species overlap in the eastern Bering Sea and coastal Arctic Ocean. |
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