Nitocra lacustris pacifica Yeatman, 1983

Tang, Danny & Knott, Brenton, 2009, Freshwater cyclopoids and harpacticoids (Crustacea: Copepoda) from the Gnangara Mound region of Western Australia, Zootaxa 2029, pp. 1-70 : 49

Nitocra lacustris pacifica Yeatman, 1983

Material examined. Fridge Grotto Cave ( YN81 ), Yanchep National Park , Western Australia (31°31'21''S, 115°40'17''E): 1 ♀ dissected and mounted on slide ( AM P.78923), 17 July, 1992 .

Remarks. This subspecies was established originally as Nitocra lacustris pacificus by Yeatman (1983) to accommodate specimens collected from crab holes in Fiji, Western Samoa and Tonga. Subsequently, Fiers (1986) corrected the subspecific name (i.e., from pacificus to pacifica to agree with the gender of the genus name) and documented a slightly variable form of N. l. pacifica from temporary brackish water pools on Laing Island, Papua New Guinea, and Karanovic (2004a) redescribed in great detail this subspecies (given as Nitokra lacustris pacifica —for valid usage of Nitocra vs. Nitokra , see Wells 2007) obtained from two bores in the Murchison region of Western Australia. This subspecies is indeed relatively widespread in Western Australia, as we have examined five adult specimens of both sexes collected from one bore locality in the Shark Bay region (Tang & Knott, unpublished data). There is a distinct possibility that N. l. pacifica occurs in other Australian states given that the nominate species N. lacustris (Schmankevitsch, 1895) was recorded previously, without descriptions or illustrations, from springs in South Australia by Mitchell (1985) and Zeidler (1989). Whether these authors’ specimens represent N. lacustris s. str. or N. l. pacifica requires further investigation. The collection of just one female N. l. pacifica during our 14-year study period supports Karanovic’s (2004a) supposition that this species “is only an occasional guest in the subterranean waters of Western Australia.”