On the Estonian fauna of Harpacticoida (Crustacea, Copepoda)

Abstract

For the first time a faunistic and ecological review of 18 harpacticoid species and forms from Estonia is presented. They were sampled in May and September and inhabit different types of freshwater habitats: from micro-waterbodies among hygrophilous plants to large lakes of Peipsi and Vortsjarv. The harpacticoid species occurring in Estonia belong to thermophilic, cold- preferring, and eurythermic ecological groups. A new harpacticoid subspecies Maraenobiotus brucei estonicus E. Fefilova subsp. nov. from wet plants under a waterfall is described. It differs from the known subspecies of M. brucei in the structures of the exopodite of antenna, mandibular palp, endopodite of leg 2, and spines on abdominal somites.