Tag Archives: Ameiridae

Paranitocrella bastiani Tang & Knott

Bastian’s Copepod (Paranitocrella bastiani)

Bastian’s Copepod was described in 2009 based on several specimens that were collected between 1992 and 1996 from underground freshwater streams in the extensive karstic cave system within the Yanchep National Park in Western Australia.

The species inhabited floating root mats produced by so-called Tuart trees (Eucalyptus gomphocephala DC.) growing above the caves; these root mats provide an abundant and constant food source for several aquatic invertebrates, including this highly specialized copepod.

However, unsustainable use of the Gnangara Mound, which feeds the area’s underground streams, has led to a loss of water and consequently to the loss of the only habitat of this species, which hasn’t been found since the 1990s and which is now believed to be extinct. [1]

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References:

[1] Danny Tang; Brenton Knott: Freshwater cyclopoids and harpacticoids (Crustacea: Copepoda) from the Gnangara Mound region of Western Australia. Zootaxa 2029: 1-70. 2009

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edited: 20.01.2020