Nematodes from saline and freshwater lakes of the Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica, including the description of Hypodontolaimus antarcticus sp. n

• Published in: Polar Biology
• Main Authors: Andrassy, Istvan, Gibson, JAE
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Springer 2007
• Subjects: Biological Sciences; Evolutionary Biology; Biogeography and Phylogeography; Antarctic; East Antarctica; Highway Lake; Vestfold; Vestfold Hills; Antarc*; Antarctica; antarcticus; Polar Biology
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-006-0224-4; http://ecite.utas.edu.au/43218

The invertebrate fauna of many Antarctic ice-free areas, even those close to permanent research stations, can be poorly known. Here we describe some nematodes from freshwater and saline, marine-derived lakes of the Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica. The freshwater lakes contained the widespread East Antarctic endemic species, Plectus frigophilus Kirjanova, 1958. The saline lakes were inhabited by two recently described species, Halomonhystera halophila Andrssy, 2006 and Halomonhystera continentalis Andrssy, 2006, and by a new species described in this report, Hypodontolaimus antarcticus sp. n. Originally marine but now brackish Highway Lake contained a nematode fauna with both freshwater and marine-derived components. The nematode fauna of Antarctica now consists of 54 named species, 22 of which are found in East Antarctica.