Paracyclops chiltoni (Thomson, 1882)

Tang, Danny & Knott, Brenton, 2009, Freshwater cyclopoids and harpacticoids (Crustacea: Copepoda) from the Gnangara Mound region of Western Australia, Zootaxa 2029, pp. 1-70 : 16

Paracyclops chiltoni (Thomson, 1882)

Material examined. Boomerang Cave ( YN99 ), Yanchep National Park, Western Australia (31°32'33''S, 115°41'24''E): 1 ♂, 14 November , 1996; Cabaret Cave ( YN30 ), Yanchep National Park , Western Australia (31°32'31''S, 115°41'24''E): 1 ♀, 1 June , 1990; 2 ♀ and 1 ♂, 19 June , 1990; Spillway Cave ( YN565 ), Yanchep National Park , Western Australia (31°32'41''S, 115°40'37''E): 2 ♀ (1 dissected and mounted on slide), 8 November , 2005; Twilight Cave ( YN194 ), Yanchep National Park , Western Australia (31°34'05''S, 115°41'21''E): 1 ♀ and 4 ♂, 27 November , 1996; Water Cave , Yanchep National Park , Western Australia (31°33'02''S, 115°40'59''E): 1 ♀ and 1 copepodid, 9 October , 2007; YN3 bore, Yanchep National Park , Western Australia (31°32'28''S, 115°41'30''E): 1 ♀, 28 August , 1994; YN5 bore, Yanchep National Park , Western Australia (31°32'35''S, 115°41'07''E): 4 ♀ and 1 ♂, 28 August , 1994; Bevan Peters’ spring, Ellenbrook , Western Australia (31°35'14''S, 115°57'47''E): 1 ♂, 21 December , 1992; 5 ♀, 4 ♂ and 16 copepodids, 11 September , 1993; Edgecombe spring, Ellenbrook , Western Australia (31°47'39''S, 115°59'43''E): 15 ♀, 10 ♂ and 18 copepodids ( AM P.78717), 4 November, 1995; Egerton spring, Ellenbrook, Western Australia (31°46'18''S, 115°58'51''E): 1 ♂, 1995; Sue’s spring (South), Bullsbrook, Western Australia (31°38'42''S, 115°58'17''E): 1 ♀ and 3 ♂, 1 February, 2008; 1 ♀, 22 August, 2008 .

Remarks. Although Paracyclops chiltoni (Thomson, 1882) was recorded previously from temporary freshwater pools in Victoria ( Morton & Bayly 1977), springs in South Australia ( Zeidler 1989) and rivers and swamps in Western Australia ( Storey et al. 1993; Pinder et al. 2004), these records were not included in Karaytug’s (1999) treatise of the genus Paracyclops Claus, 1893 nor in Dussart & Defaye’s (2006) world directory of the inland cyclopoids. The material of P. chiltoni examined in this study agrees in every detail with the excellent redescription of this species given in Karaytug (1999). Paracyclops chiltoni is indeed widespread in Australia as evidenced by Morton’s (1977) accurate account in his unpublished M.Sc. thesis of this species obtained from numerous freshwater bodies in Tasmania, South Australia, New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria. This distribution pattern is not unexpected given that this species is a cosmopolitan taxon, with populations occurring in extremely isolated places, such as New Zealand, Easter Island, Hawaii and Crozet Island ( Karaytug 1999).