First freshwater microcrustacean record in the bottom sediments of arctic ponds in Bellsund area (SW Spitsbergen)

Abstract

First finds of small freshwater Crustacea in southern Bellsund (SW Spitsbergen) are presented. The remains of seven species of ostracods and three species of cladocerans were recovered from the bottom sediments of seven ponds in the region. The most abundant Arctocypris fuhrmanni Petkovski, Scharf and Keyser, 2016 was accompanied by the most widespread Candona rectangulata Alm, 1914, Limnocythere liporeticulata Delorme, 1968 and Tonnacypris glacialis (Sars, 1890) which are endemic to Arctic regions. New to the area Tonnacypris cf. mazepovae (Van der Meeren, Khand and Martens, 2009) was also encountered, being the first record of this species outside Northern Mongolia. Cladocerans were represented by the remains of Chydorus sphaericus (Müller, 1776), Daphnia pulex group Leydig, 1860 and Bosmina longirostris (Müller, 1785) for the first time noted in the bottom sediments in Spitsbergen.Significant differences in crustacean distribution occurred both between and within studied ponds presumably connected with the duration of active vegetation period and/or melt water delivery. The physical and chemical properties of the hostwater and/or some post-depositional processes could also affect the microcrustacean faunal distribution.