Mesocyclops longisetus (Thiebaud, 1912)

Suárez-Morales, Eduardo, Mendoza, Fredy & Mercado-Salas, Nancy, 2010, A new Allocyclops (Crustacea, Copepoda, Cyclopoida) from bromeliads and records of freshwater copepods from Mexico, Zoosystema 32 (3), pp. 393-407 : 395

Mesocyclops longisetus s.s. (Thiébaud, 1912)

MATERIAL EXAMINED. –– Mexico. El Castillo, Jalapa, Veracruz (19°32’45”N, 96°51’44”W), 18.IX.2007, Ruth Hernández Xoliot, 3 adult ♀♀, 2 copepodites (ECO-CHZ-05503).

REMARKS

The strict form of this species appears to have a neotropical distribution; it has been known to occur in Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Peru, Colombia, Chile, Honduras, Panama, southern United States, and Caribbean islands (Pilati & Menu-Marque 2002; Dussart & Defaye 2006). In Mexico it has been recorded only from states in the southeast: Campeche, Chiapas, Mexico, Tabasco, and Yucatan (Gutiérrez-Aguirre & Suárez-Morales 2001; Gutiérrez-Aguirre et al. 2006). Because of its size, mandibular morphology and its effectiveness in predating larval mosquitoes (Suárez-Morales et al. 2003), this species has become one of the main candidates to develop local strategies for biological control of mosquitoes in Mexico.This has also been observed by Pernía et al. (2007) in Venezuela, where this copepod species was evaluated as a biological control of larval stages of Anopheles together with its congener M. meridianus Kiefer, 1926 . Both species of Mesocyclops were shown to have a similar predatory potential.