The diversity of Indian Brachionidae (Rotifera: Eurotatoria: Monogononta) and their distribution

2014·7.6 MB·

by  Sharma, B K

Opusc. Zool. Budapest, 2014, 45(2): 165–180

The diversity of Indian Brachionidae (Rotifera: Eurotatoria:
Monogononta) and their distribution

B. K. SHARMA and S. SHARMA

B. K. Sharma and Sumita Sharma, Freshwater Biology Laboratory, Department of Zoology, North-
Eastern Hill University, Permanent Campus, Shillong-793022, Meghalaya, India
E-mails: [email protected] (corresponding author), [email protected]

Abstract. We evaluate diversity status of the Brachionidae of India and present an annotated checklist of 46 species
excluding dubious and unconfirmed reports. These merit biodiversity value as ~27% of the global diversity of the taxon and
~81% of its Oriental species. We observed two Australasian elements, two Oriental endemics, one Indian endemic, one paleo-
tropical and one cosmo (sub) tropical species. The cold-water Keratella serrulata and Notholca squamula are new records from
eastern Himalayas. Maximum brachionid diversity (32 species) from Assam state of northeast India (NEI) is followed by the
reports of 27 and 26 species from Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, respectively; 25 species each from Tripura and Maharashtra;
and 24 species from Jammu & Kashmir. Brachionus, the most diverse brachionid genus, is widely distributed in India with low
richness in hill states of NEI and coastal waters in particular. The Indian brachionid taxonomy is confounded with unconfirmed
reports, misidentifications, invalid taxa, and inconsistent treatment of morphological variants, while analysis of cryptic
diversity in Brachionus calyciflorus, B. caudatus, B. forficula, B. plicatilis, B. quadridentatus, B. urceolaris, Keratella coch-
learis and K. quadrata species-groups awaits attention.

Keywords. Brachionids, biodiversity, dubious report, interesting taxa, misidentification, taxonomic status.

INTRODUCTION valid species with comments on their richness and
composition known till date from different states /
B rachionidae, an important family of mono- union territories (UT) of India, biogeographically
gonont Rotifera and of the rotifer fauna of important elements, distribution of interesting
India (Sharma 1996, 1998a, Sharma & Sharma taxa and on anomalous reports.
2008) has received relatively more attention of the
Indian workers relying on limnetic collections. MATERIALS AND METHODS
The rotiferologist effect (Fontaneto et al. 2012)

resulted in reasonably good number of regional
This review is based on analysis of our ex-
reports including those primarily on the family
tensive samples collected, during the last two and
(Sharma 1979, 1981, Sharma & Sharma 1990)
half decades, from Northeast India (NEI) and
while Sharma (1983, 1987) dealt with the diver-
collections from scattered localities from different
sity of Brachionus and the Brachionidae of the
states of Northern, Eastern, and Southern India;
country, respectively. A resurgence of interest on
our earlier reports; and evaluation of various
the family, during more than last two and half
decades, added interesting brachionids to the published Indian reports. The plankton and littoral
Indian Rotifera but indiscriminate listing of periphytic samples were collected from the lit-
unconfirmed reports of dubious and ambiguous toral, semi-limnetic and limnetic regions of di-
taxa, and misidentifications nevertheless con- verse aquatic ecosystems by towing a plankton
founded brachionid taxonomy necessitating its net (# 50 µm) and were preserved in 5% formalin.
critical evaluation. All of the collections were screened, different
brachionids were isolated and mounted in Poly-
We assess diversity status of the Indian Bra- vinyl alcohol-lactophenol mixture, and were ob-
chionidae and provide an annotated checklist of served with Leica (DM 1000) stereoscopic phase
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
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HU ISSN 2063-1588 (online), HU ISSN 0237-5419 (print)
Sharma & Sharma: The diversity of Indian Brachionidae (Rotifera) and their distribution

contrast microscope fitted with an image analyzer. Syn. B. calyciflorus var. hymani Dhanapathi,
The different taxa were identified following Koste 1974
(1978), Sharma (1983, 1998b), Koste & Shiel 10. B. caudatus Barrois & Daday, 1894
(1987), and Sharma & Sharma (1999, 2000, 2008, B. caudatus var. aculeatus Hauer, 1937
2013). The remarks on biogeography were made (including f. lateralis Hauer, 1937)
following Segers (2007). The community similari- B. caudatus f. apsteini Fadeev, 1925
ties between the rotifer assemblages of different B. caudatus f. majusculus Ahlstrom, 1940
states and union territories (UT) of India were cal- B. caudatus f. vulgatus Ahlstrom, 1940
culated vide Sørensen’s index and SPSS (version 11. B. dichotomus reductus Koste & Shiel, 1980
20) was used for the hierarchical cluster analysis. 12. B. dimidiatus Bryce, 1931
13. B. diversicornis (Daday, 1883)
RESULTS 14. B. donneri Brehm, 1951
15. B. durgae Dhanapathi, 1974
We present, hereunder, an annotated check- 16. B. falcatus Zacharias, 1898
list of 46 valid species of the Brachionidae of 17. B. forficula Wierzejski, 1891
India: Syn. B. forficula var. keralensis Nayar & Nair,
1969
B. forficula f. minor (Voronkov, 1913)
Phylum: Rotifera Cuvier, 1817
18. B. kostei Shiel, 1983
Class: Eurotatoria De Ridder, 1957
Subclass: Monogononta Plate, 1889 19. B. leydigii Cohn, 1862
Order: Ploima Hudson & Gosse, 1886 20. B. mirabilis Daday, 1897
Family: Brachionidae Ehrenberg, 1838 21. B. plicatilis O.F. Müller, 1786 s. lato
B. plicatilis murrayi Fadeev, 1925
1. Anuraeopsis coelata De Beauchamp, 1932 22. B. pterodinoides Rousselet, 1913
2. A. fissa Gosse, 1851 23. B. quadridentatus Hermann, 1783
3. A. navicula Rousselet, 1911 B. quadridentatus f. melhemi Barrois &
Daday, 1894
4. Brachionus ahlstromi Lindeman, 1939
B. quadridentatus f. brevispinus Ehrenberg,
Syn. B. caudatus var. personatus Ahlstrom, 1940
1832
B. caudatus var. indica Novotoná-Dvořáko-
B. quadridentatus f. cluniorbicularis
vá, 1963
Skorikov, 1894
5. B. angularis Gosse, 1851
B. quadridentatus f. rhenanus Lauterborn,
B. angularis bidens Plate, 1886
1893
6. B. bennini Leissling, 1924
24. B. rotundiformis Tschugunoff, 1921
7. B. bidentatus Anderson, 1889
25. B. rubens Ehrenberg, 1838
B. bidentatus f. adornus Wulfert, 1966
26. B. sessilis Varga, 1951
B. bidentatus f. crassispineus Hauer, 1963
27. B. urceolaris O. F. Müller, 1773
B. bidentatus f. inermis Rousselet, 1906
28. Kellicottia longispina (Kellicott, 1879)
B. bidentatus f. jirovci Bartoš, 1946
B. bidentatus f. testudinarius Jakubski, 1912 29. Keratella cochlearis (Gosse, 1851)
8. B. budapestinensis Daday, 1885 30. K. edmondsoni Ahlstrom, 1943
9. B. calyciflorus Pallas, 1766 31. K. javana Hauer, 1937
B. calyciflorus f. anuraeiformis Brehm, 1909 32. K. hiemalis Carlin, 1943
B. calyciflorus f. amphiceros Ehrenberg, 33. K. lenzi Hauer, 1953
1838 34. K. procurva (Thorpe, 1891)
B. calyciflorus f. dorcas Gosse, 1851 35. K. quadrata (O. F. Müller, 1786)
B. calyciflorus borgerti Apstein, 1907 36. K. serrulata (Ehrenberg, 1838)

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Sharma & Sharma: The diversity of Indian Brachionidae (Rotifera) and their distribution

37. K. tecta (Gosse, 1851) recorded 25 species each; Jammu & Kashmir
38. K. ticinensis (Callerio, 1921) showed 24 species; 23 species each are observed
39. K. tropica (Apstein, 1907) from Delhi and Kerala, and 22 species each are
40. Notholca acuminata (Ehrenberg, 1832) listed from Andhra Pradesh, Meghalaya, Orissa
and Punjab. On the other hand, only seven species
41. N. labis Gosse, 1887
are known from Andaman and 11 species each are
42. N. squamula (O.F. Műller, 1786)*
documented from the states of Arunachal Pradesh,
43. N. striata (O. F. Müller, 1786)
Himachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland.
44. Plationus patulus (O.F. Müller, 1786)

P. patulus macracanthus (Daday, 1905)
DISCUSSION
45. Platyias leloupi (Gillard, 1967)

Syn. P. longispinosus Arora, 1966
Richness and composition
46. P. quadricornis (Ehrenberg, 1832)

P. quadricornis andhraensis Dhanapathi,
We recognize a total of 46 valid species (53
1974
taxa, including subspecies) of Brachionidae from
* New record from NEI. India. These are of biodiversity value as ~27% of
the global diversity and ~81% of Oriental species
Infrasubspecific categories indicated above have no no- (Segers 2008) of the taxon. Notholca squamula
menclatural validity as per ICZN; these are invariably cited
and Keratella serrulata, from Arunachal Pradesh,
in the Indian literature and, hence, require cautious use by
amateur workers. are new records from NEI. The former is known
from Kashmir Himalayas (Shah et al. 2014) while
Brachionus includes 24 species; 11 species be- the latter is known by its un-validated reports
long to Keratella; Notholca, Anuraeopsis and Pla- from Kashmir and elsewhere from India (BKS
tyias are represented by four, three and two spe- unpublished). This report is the first validation of
cies respectively, and Plationus and Kellicottia K. serrulata from India and extends the distri-
include one species each. Our collections parti- bution of both species to eastern Himalayas; it is
cularly from NEI indicate several interesting taxa incidentally the first report of genus Notholca
namely Brachionus dichotomus reductus (Fig. 1), from NEI. Our inventory provides a notable up-
B. donneri (Fig. 2), B. durgae (Fig. 3), B. kostei date (~48.0%) to earlier Indian reports of 31 spe-
(Fig. 4), Keratella edmondsoni (Fig. 5) and K. cies of the Brachionidae (Sharma & Michael
javana (Fig. 6). Notholca squamula (Fig. 7) and 1980, Sharma 1987). All seven genera of the
Keratella serrulata (Fig. 8), observed in our family (Segers 2007, 2008) are represented in the
recent samples from Arunachal Pradesh, are new rotifer fauna of India.
records from NEI. Platyias quadricornis andhra-
ensis is the sole Indian endemic. The richness of the Indian Brachionidae is
higher than 41 species known from Thailand (Sa-
The richness of Brachionidae and Brachionus Ardrit et al. 2013); their composition compares
from different parts of India varies between 7–32 well with the latter (~73.0% similarity vide Søren-
(19±6) species and 5–18 (11±4) species, respect- sen’s index) but differs in the absence of Notholca
tively. The community similarities (vide Søren- and Kellicottia in Thai fauna in particular. The
sen’s index) and dendrogram depicting the hierar- cosmopolitan species form main component
chical cluster analysis of the Brachionidae occur- (~48.0%) of the brachionids known from India
ring in different states / Union territories of this while the pantropical (~24.0%) and the biogeogra-
country are indicated in Table 1 and Figure 9, phically important (~15.5%) species form impor-
respectively. Their community similarities range tant fractions. Five species (~11.0%) are charac-
between 22.2–96.7%. We observed 32, 27, 26 terized by restricted distribution and Brachionus
species from Assam, Tamil Nadu and West mirabilis and Platyias leloupi are tropicopolitan
Bengal, respectively; Tripura and Mahrashtra elements.
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Sharma & Sharma: The diversity of Indian Brachionidae (Rotifera) and their distribution

Figure 1. Brachionus dichotomus reductus Figure 2. Brachionus donneri Brehm,
Koste & Shiel, after Sharma (2014) after Sharma & Sharma (2008)

Figure 3. Brachionus durgae Dhanapathi Figure 4. Brachionus kostei Shiel
(from Mizoram state, NEI) after Sharma (2014)
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Sharma & Sharma: The diversity of Indian Brachionidae (Rotifera) and their distribution

Figure 5. Keratella edmondsoni Ahlstrom , Figure 6. Keratella javana Hauer
after Sharma (2014) (from Mizoran state, NEI)

Figure 7. Notholca squamula (O.F. Müller) Figure 8. Keratella serrulata (Ehrenberg)
(from Arunachal Pradesh, NEI) (from Arunachal Pradesh, NEI)
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Sharma & Sharma: The diversity of Indian Brachionidae (Rotifera) and their distribution

Our analysis of distinct variations in compo- The brachionid paucity from the greater Anda-
sition of the Brachionidae of different States / UT man (George et al. 2011) and from certain coastal
of India (7–32, 19±6 species) is supported by wide ecosystems and backwaters of India (Varghese
range of community similarities (22.2–96.7% vide 2006, 2011, Varghese & Krishnan 2008, Mani-
Sørensen’s index). The lowest similarity between kannan et al. 2011, Prabhahar et al. 2011, Janaki-
species occurring in Andaman and Meghalaya is raman et al., 2012, Mohapatra & Patra 2012, 2013)
hypothesized to contrasting ecological conditions. is attributed to influence of salinity on the rotifers
The geographical proximity, however, explains in general (Sladecek 1983, Attayde and Bozelli
maximum affinity between Delhi vs. Haryana and 1998) and Brachionidae in particular (Athibai et
again between Delhi vs. Jammu & Kashmir, and is al., 2013). Low richness in Arunachal Pradesh,
followed by 93.3% similarity between Haryana vs. Mizoram and Nagaland of NEI (Sharma & Sharma
Jammu & Kashmir. Ten more instances in the mat- 2014a) and Sikkim (BKS, unpublished) is attri-
rix register higher values of ~ or < 90.0% similari- buted to slightly acidic waters of hilly areas of NEI
ty. The cluster analysis reiterates distinctness of (Sharma & Sharma 2005, 2014a) and is also hy-
brachionids of Andaman followed by certain deg- pothesized to lack of permanent limnetic habitats
rees of distinctness in their composition from As- (BKS, unpublished).
sam, Jammu & Kashmir, Nagaland and Manipur as
well as Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim The predominantly ‘tropic-centered’ and most
in particular. The affinities in their composition, diverse genus Brachionus (Segers 2007, 2008)
result in main cluster groupings between Haryana, registers rich diversity in India (24 species) rep-
Jharkhand, Chandigarh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Ut- resenting ~37.0% and ~72.0% of its global and
trakhand; Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Orissa, Kera- Oriental species, respectively. It shows consi-
la, Tripura; and Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, derable richness variations in different states / UT
Bihar, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Delhi (5–18, 11±4 species) with the reports of 18 and 17
while homology is indicated between species species from Assam and Tripura, respectively; 16
known from Gujarat and Punjab; Assam and Me- species each from Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and
ghalaya; and Nagaland, Himachal Pradesh and Sik- West Bengal, and 15 species each from Andhra
kim. Pradesh, Delhi and Kerala. Low Brachionus rich-
ness in brackish waters of Andaman (George et al.
Our collections from Assam record the richest 2011) and coastal ecosystems (Varghese &
diversity (~71.0% of the Indian Brachionidae) and Krishnan 2008, Manikannan et al. 2011, Prabhahar
represent total richness of the taxon known from et al. 2011, Varghese 2011, Janakiraman et al.
NEI. This salient feature is hypothesized to envi- 2012) is attributed to influence of salinity. A pau-
ronmental heterogeneity of sampled aquatic eco- city of Brachionus spp. in several hill states of
systems as well as to our intensive sampling. Our India namely Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pra-
reports of 30 species from the floodplains of the desh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Uttrakhand
Brahmaputra basin (BKS unpublished) and 26 spe- and Sikkim is hypothesized to lack of permanent
cies (Sharma & Sharma 2013) from Deepor Beel (a limnetic habitats as well as to slightly acidic waters
Ramsar site) in particular support the former hypo- of certain states of NEI.
thesis. In addition, the reports of 27 and 26 species
from Tamil Nadu (Sharma & Sharma 2009) and The ‘temperate centered’ Keratella (11 species)
West Bengal (Sharma 1998b) respectively, 25 ranks second with ~22.0% its global diversity and
species each Tripura (Sharma & Sharma 2000) and ~92.0% of the Oriental richness. Its richness in
Maharashtra (BKS unpublished); 24 species from India is to be considered with caution as we ob-
Jammu & Kashmir, and 23 species (BKS unpub- served more richness only from Assam, and Tamil
lished) from Delhi and Kerala exhibit rich diversity Nadu. Notholca, Anuraeopsis and Platyias include
in these states of India. four, three, and two species, respectively.

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Sharma & Sharma: The diversity of Indian Brachionidae (Rotifera) and their distribution

Figure 9: The hierarchical cluster analysis of Brachionidae known from different states/Union territories of India

Abbreviations. 1. AP-Andhra Pradesh; 2. AN-Andamans (UT); 3. ARN-Arunachal Pradesh; 4. ASS-Assam; 5. BH-Bihar; 6. CHD-
Chandigarh (UT); 7. DEL-Delhi; 8. GOA-Goa(UT); 9. GUJ-Gujarat; 10. HP-Himachal Pradesh; 11. HRY- Haryana; 12. JK-Jammu
& Kashmir; 13. JKD-Jharkhand; 14. KAR-Karnataka; 15. KRL-Kerala; 16. MS-Maharashtra; 17. MP-Madhya Pradesh; 18. MNP-
Manipur; 19. MEG-Meghalaya; 20. MIZ-Mizoram; 21. NGL-Nagaland; 22. ORS-Orissa; 23. PUN-Punjb; 24. RAJ-Rajasthan;
25. TN-Tamil Nadu; 26. TRP-Tripura; 27. UP-Uttar Pradesh; 28. UK-Uttarakhand; 29.WB-West Bengal;
30. SKM-Sikkim (not included Chhattisgarh-insufficient information)

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Sharma & Sharma: The diversity of Indian Brachionidae (Rotifera) and their distribution

Kellicottia and Plationus are known by one Interesting taxa
species; the latter is invariably identified as Pla-
tyias or Brachionus from this country indicating a Brachionidae contains taxa with well-docu-
casual approach on its nomenclatural change. We mented ranges (Pejler 1977, Dumont 1983). Like-
are yet to confirm the reports of Kellicottia longi- wise, various interesting taxa known from India
spina and Notholca striata from Kashmir Hima- including the Australasian Brachionus dichotomus
layas in particular notwithstanding their ‘dubious reductus and B. kostei, two Oriental endemics B.
records’ elsewhere from India. The Indian litera- donneri and Keratella edmondsoni, and the sole
ture shows notorious reports of Notholca species. known Indian endemic: Platyias quadricornis
We seek re-examination of Plationus patulus mac- andhraensis. The paucity of endemics from this
racanthus as earlier reports indicate specimens country concurs with low endemicity model of the
with longer posterior species but not confirming to Oriental Brachionidae (Segers 2008) in particular
this taxon sensu stricto. and also with their paucity in well studied Thai
Rotifera (Sa-Ardrit et al. 2013).
Morphological plasticity inherent in certain
Brachionidae infrequently resulted in designation We support the hypothesis of Segers (2001) on
of infra-subspecific categories from India as al- possible Australian origin of Brachionus dicho-
ready commented earlier by Sharma (1983). This tomus reductus by its relation with the Australian
trend has continued unabated in recent reports, by B. dichotomus dichotomus with recent expansions
amateur workers, without recourse even to stan- of populations of the former to the Indian sub-
dard taxonomic works (Segers 2007, Jersabek et al region (Sharma 2004, Sharma & Sharma 2005,
2012, Jersabek & Leitner 2013) thus confounding 2014a). Contrastingly, Sa-Ardrit et al. (2013)
the Indian literature with records without any no- indicated occurrence of names of both taxa in
menclatural validity. literature on Thai Rotifera with comments on
need for confirmation of the latter.
Analysis of cryptic diversity in the Indian
populations of Brachionus calyciflorus, B. cau- Brachionus kostei, the second Australasian spe-
datus, B. forficula, B. plicatilis, B. quadridenta- cies, is known elsewhere from Australia, Papua
tus, B. urceolaris, Keratella cochlearis and K. Guinea and Thailand while its unpublished report
quadrata species-groups awaits attention con- from northeast China is a possible example of
current with such global initiatives particularly on introduction (Sa-Ardrit et al. 2013). Jersabek &
the B. plicatilis complex (Ciros-Perez et al. 2001, Leitner (2013) indicated verification of conspe-
Suatoni et al. 2006). Anitha & George (2008) cifity of the forms of B. kostei known from SE Asia
analyzed the latter complex and classified its vari- and northeast India with the ‘typical form’ from
ants into B. plicatilis, B. rotundiformis and B. mur- Australia.
rayi describing new infrasubspecific variants with
no taxonomic validity i.e., B. plicatilis f. ovalis f. The Oriental Keratella edmondsoni, described
nov. and B. murrayi f. divergispinus f. nov. Of from Tamil Nadu (Ahlstrom 1943) as K. quadrata
these, B. murrayi itself is a junior synonym of B. var. edmondsoni, was raised to the status of a
plicatilis murrayi and B. rotundiformis is a distinct distinct species by Nayar (1965). It is reported
taxon. A global rotifer community initiative on elsewhere from Northeast Thailand (Sanoamuang
“Cryptic speciation in B. plicatilis” launched at et al. 1995, Sa-Ardrit et al. 2013). Brachionus
Rotifera XIII held at Shillong in 2012 is likely to donneri, another Oriental species described by
resolve status of this species-complex. We allo- Brehm (1951), was erroneously listed as pantro-
cated Brachionus caudatus var. personatus to B. pical species (Sharma & Sharma 2001, 2005). Its
ahlstromi following Giri & Jose De Paggi (2006). unconfirmed report from Panama Canal i.e. be-

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Sharma & Sharma: The diversity of Indian Brachionidae (Rotifera) and their distribution

yond the classical distribution limit is a possible (c) Widely distributed: Fourteen species na-
example of its introduction (Segers 2007). mely Anuraeopsis fissa, Brachionus angularis, B.
bidentatus, B. budapestinensis, B. caudatus, B.
The sole Indian endemic Platyias quadricornis calyciflorus, B. falcatus, B. forficula, B. plicatilis,
andhraensis, described by Dhanapathi (1974a) B. quadridentata, Keratella cochlearis, K. tropica,
from Hussain Sagar reservoir, Hyderabad, Andhra Plationus patulus and Platyias quadricornis are
Pradesh, is known only from its ‘type-locality’. widely or nearly widely distributed in India.
The other interesting brachionids include Kera-
tella javana and Brachionus durgae. The latter Indeterminate species: Segers & Babu (1999,
was described from Andhra Pradesh (Dhanapathi Figs 1–2) examined single specimen of Keratella
1974b) and its distribution now extends to the species which appeared close to K. tropica. It is
African, Neotropical, Oriental and Palearctic differentiated by peculiar antero-median facet.
regions (Segers 2007). Insufficient material did not allow for a des-
cription of this taxon (Segers & Babu 1999).
Distribution
Anomalous reports: Various recent publicati-
ons spurted from amateur workers without ade-
The distribution of Brachionidae merits interest
quate taxonomic expertise, in several online jour-
for its relative paucity in various hill states of India
nals / even regular journals without expert peer-
and in coastal waters. We allocate brachionids
review, are an alarming impediment to Rotifera
known from this country into three categories:
biodiversity in India (Sharma & Sharma 2014b,

2014c). This generalization holds true to anoma-
(a) Species with restricted distribution: Kera-
lous Brachionidae reports categorized as follows:
tella javana, Brachionus dichotomus reductus and

B. kostei are examples with distribution restricted
Misidentifications
to NEI. The occurrence of the Australasian B.

dichotomus reductus and B. kostei impart special 1. Brachionus havanaensis Rousselet, 1911: It is
affinity of Rotifera of NEI with those of the Ori- known from Nearctic and Neotropical regions
ental region and Australia (Sharma & Sharma with possible introduction to Oriental and
2005, 2008, 2012, 2014a, Sharma 2014). We also Palearctic regions (Segers 2008). Its notorious
assign Keratella hiemalis, K. ticinensis, Kellicottia Indian reports from Tamil Nadu (Francis et al.
longispina and Notholca striata to this category 2003), Maharashtra (Ekhande et al. 2013),
because of restricted distribution to Kashmir Hi- Rajasthan (Paulose & Maheshwari 2008) and
Uttar Pradesh (Khan et al. 1986, Haque et al.
malayas notwithstanding their unconfirmed re-
1988, Ali et al. 1990) are considered as ex-
ports elsewhere from India. The halobiont Bra-
amples of misidentifications of its vicariant –
chionus rotundiformis is restricted to coastal
B. diversicornis.
brackish-waters of South India extending up to
2. Keratella valga (Ehrenberg, 1834): We agree
Andaman.
with Sa-Ardrit et al. (2013) considering that

the distinction between the cold-water, acido-
(b) Species with disjunct distribution: Eight-
philic K. valga and the warm-water, euryoe-
een species i.e. Anuraeopsis coelata, A. navicula,
cious K. tropica has long remained proble-
Brachionus bennini, B. dimidiatus, B. donneri, B. matic. K. valga is indiscriminately listed,
durgae, B. pterodinoides, B. urceolaris, Keratella without any validation from India, from Bihar
edmondsoni, K. lenzi, K. procurva, K quadrata, K. (Pandey et al. 2013), Jammu & Kashmir
serrulata, K. tecta, Notholca acuminata, N. squa- (Sharma J.P. & Srivastava 1986, Ahangar et
mula, N. labis and Platyias leloupi show disjunct al. 2012), Gujarat (Nirmal Kumar et al. 2011),
populations in India. Madhya Pradesh (Adohlia 1979), Maharashtra

174