Abstract

Cladocera (Crustacea: Branchiopoda) biodiversity was examined in sediment assemblages in La Tembladera Lake, on the southern coast of Ecuador. We found remains from 14 Cladocera taxa belonging to three families: Sididae, Daphnidae and Chydoridae. One taxon is planktonic (Ceriodaphniaspp.) and 13 taxa are littoral (Sarsilatonaserricauda,Chydorussp.,Dunheveniasp.,Leberissp.,Alonasp.,Magnospina dentifera,Kurziasp.,Acroperus tupinamba,Camptocercussp.,Oxyurella longicaudis,Leydigiopsissp.,Euryalonasp. andNotoalonacf.sculpta). Descriptions and pictures of the remains were included in this article to help palaeolimnologists identify tropical cladoceran remains in the sediment. These results enlarge the crustacean biodiversity data for dry tropical forests in South America and help to constrain our understanding of their geographical distribution. Further studies should focus on capturing living cladocerans to make identifications at the species level and to help interpret the sedimentary signal using ecological data.

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