Abstract
An annotated checklist of the free-living freshwater Copepoda recorded in different regions in Ecuador (including the Amazon, the Andes, the coastal region, and the Galapagos Islands) is here provided. We revised all published records, critically evaluated the validity of each taxon and provided short taxonomic and biogeographical remarks for each one. A total of 27 taxa have been reported, including species and records at the generic level only. The species and taxa identified only up to the generic level belong to five families and 14 genera. The Cyclopoida is the most diverse group with 16 records belonging to species (or identified to the generic level only) and eight genera, followed by the Harpacticoida with six species, one identification to the generic level only, and four genera, and Calanoida with four species belonging to two genera. A total of 18 taxa are recorded for the Andes. Six have been recorded in the Amazon, two are recorded for the coastal region, and six for the Galapagos. One species is shared between the Amazon and the Andes. One species is shared between the coastal region and the Amazon. Seventeen are only reported from the Andes and four are only reported from the Amazon. At the current status of the knowledge, any attempt to analyze and generalize distributional patterns of copepods in Ecuador is premature due to the scarcity of available information, and evidently there is an urgent need for more extensive field collections. A few working hypothesis for future studies are identified.
Highlights
The first published studies on the Copepoda from the Neotropical region are those by Richard (1895, Haiti; 1897, South America), Sars (1901, South America), and Stingelin (1904a, 1904b)
Our goal is to identify the major information gaps and pave the way for future studies on the Ecuadorian freshwater copepods, which might allow better framing of the copepod fauna of Ecuador in the Neotropical region and understanding its origin and affinities
The Cyclopoida is the most diverse group with 16 records belonging to species and eight genera, followed by the Harpacticoida with six species, one identification to the generic level only, and four genera, and Calanoida with four species belonging to two genera (Table 1)
Summary
The first published studies on the Copepoda from the Neotropical region are those by Richard (1895, Haiti; 1897, South America), Sars (1901, South America), and Stingelin (1904a, 1904b). After a gap of almost two decades both faunistic and taxonomic studies became more common (e.g., Noodt 1965; Brandorf 1977; Paggi 1978; Löffler 1981; Collado 1983; Dussart 1984; Reid 1984 and 1985; Santos-Silva et al 1989, Rocha and Sendacz 1996; Corgosinho and Martínez Arbizu 2005; Perbiche-Neves et al 2014a). About 561 species of Copepoda are known for the Neotropical region (Boxshall and Defaye 2008). The most diverse families are Cyclopidae (174), Canthocamptidae (109), Diaptomidae (82), and Parastenocarididae (65) (approximate number of species is within parentheses). Our knowledge on inland water copepod diversity is quite unevenly distributed geographically, and most data refer to Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela, whereas other countries are inadequately known
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