New record of Phyllodiaptomus (Ctenodiaptomus) praedictus sulawensis Alekseev & Vaillant, 2013 (Hexanauplia, Copepoda, Calanoida, Diaptomidae) in the Philippines (Luzon Island)

A study originally intended to update the taxonomy and distribution of calanoid copepods in selected freshwater ecosystems of Central Luzon has led to the discovery of a new record of Phyllodiaptomus Kiefer, 1936 in Candaba Swamp, Pampanga. Since 1979, the only calanoid copepods recorded from this area included Filipinodiaptomus insulanus (Wright S., 1928) and Tropodiaptomus australis Kiefer, 1936. Later studies on calanoid copepods in the region have since been non-existent. Analyses of pertinent key morphological characters revealed that the specimens at hand belonged to Phyllodiaptomus (Ctenodiaptomus) praedictus sulawensis Alekseev & Vaillant, 2013, a freshwater diaptomid calanoid copepod subspecies discovered and known to be endemic only in Indonesia. Provided in this paper are baseline information on the morphological characters of the Philippine members of the subspecies accompanied by line drawings as well as a comparison between the recorded morphological data presented by Alekseev, Haffner, Vaillant & Yusoff (2013) and the current dataset to support the identification of the specimen. The discovery of P. (C.) praedictus sulawensis in the Philippines, which was thought to be endemic in Indonesia, presents a new record of this species in the country and the first such record outside of its country of origin.