Abstract
The embryogenesis of the family Chydoridae, in which 60 genera are recognized, is poorly understood compared to that of the family Daphniidae, which contains only five genera. Therefore, studies of the evolution of Anomopoda suffer from a paucity of data on chydorids. Here, I studied the embryogenesis of two cladocerans, Pleuroxus aduncus and Chydorus sphaericus s. lato of the Chydoridae, using scanning electron microscopy. Various ontogenetic stages were compared with those of Dunhevedia crassa, as described by Kotov etal. (2013). I confirmed an evolutionarily conserved pattern of instar development among these three species. Cladoceran families were analysed in relation to their numbers of thoracopods, an important taxonomic trait, and the numbers of thoracopods in ancestral states were proposed. Chydorus sphaericus s. lato lacks six thoracopods in the adult stage, but this study revealed their brief presence during embryonic development.
Published Version
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