Ostracoda

Rogers, D. Christopher & Cruz-Rivera, Edwin, 2021, A preliminary survey of the inland aquatic macroinvertebrate biodiversity of St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, Journal of Natural History 55 (13 - 14), pp. 799-850 : 810

Ostracoda

Seed shrimp are small bivalved crustaceans that attain a very high diversity in estuarine and fresh waters (e.g. Brady and Robertson 1870; Dole-Olivier et al. 2000; Martens et al. 2007) and are key indicator organisms in palaeoecological and contemporary studies ( Boomer et al. 2003; Ruiz et al. 2005, 2013). The earliest record for this group in the Virgin Islands is Cypretta sarsi , described from a well in St. Thomas ( Brady 1902). Broodbakker (1984) reviewed the freshwater ostracods collected from the Caribbean, focusing on the fauna of wells and springs. He reports Physocypria sp. and Hemicypris reticulata (Klie, 1930) from St. Croix, Cypretta sp. and Strandesia stocki Broodbakker, 1983 from St. John and St. Thomas, and Cypridopsis sp. from all three islands. In addition to similar taxa to those in St. Thomas and St. John, Broodbakker (1984) found Stenocypris major (Baird, 1859) , H. exigua Broodbakker, 1983 , Diaphanocypris meridana (Furtos, 1936) , Heterocypris antilliensis Broodbakker, 1982 , Cypris subglobosa Sowerby, 1840 , C. decaryi Gauthier, 1933 , and Neocypridopsis inaudita (Furtos, 1936) in Puerto Rico. The same work lists Candonopsis humelincki Broodbakker, 1983 and Pseudocandona antilliana Broodbakker, 1983 from Vieques, Strandesia longula Broodbakker, 1983 from Culebra, Pseudocandona sp. , C. humelincki , H. antillensis , Neocypridopsis sp. , and Darwinula stevensoni ( Brady and Robertson, 1870) from Virgin Gorda, and Neocypridopsis sp. and N. inaudita (Fuertos, 1936) from Anegada; all of these taxa from wells and springs. Additional endemic genera are known from Haiti and Cuba, plus widespread species are known from other parts of the Caribbean ( Higueti and Martens 2020).