Abstract
Benthic harpacticoids were collected for the first time at Lake Tahoe, California-Nevada, United States. Two species were identified as members of the genus Attheyella Brady, 1880. The genus Attheyella comprises about 150 species within six subgenera, but only twelve species have previously been reported from North American freshwater habitats. The two new species of Attheyella described here have a 3-segmented endopod on P1 and 2-segmented P2–P4 endopods, the distal segment of exopod of P2–P4 has three outer spines, and the P5 has five setae on the exopod and six setae on the baseoendopod. Attheyella (Attheyella) tahoensis sp. n. most closely resembles Attheyella (Attheyella) idahoensis (Marsh, 1903) from Idaho, Montana, and Alaska (United States) and Attheyella (Attheyella) namkungi Kim, Soh & Lee, 2005 from Gosu Cave in South Korea. They differ mainly by the number of setae on the distal endopodal segment of P2–P4. In addition, intraspecific variation has been observed on the caudal rami. Attheyella (Neomrazekiella) tessiae sp. n. is characterized by the extension of P5 baseoendopod, 2-segmented endopod of female P2–P3, and naked third seta of male P5 exopod. The two new species are likely endemic to Lake Tahoe, an isolated alpine lake within the Great Basin watershed in the western United States.
Highlights
Lake Tahoe is a large freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the United States
Samples were collected from the Lakeside Beach littoral zone, 5 m water depth, on south shore of Lake Tahoe near the California-Nevada border in July 2013
Due to the coarseness of sand typical of Lake Tahoe, vortexing was replaced with gentle agitation during the Ludox extraction procedure to prevent mechanical damage to animals
Summary
Lake Tahoe is a large freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the United States. Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America. Lake Tahoe is one of the largest lakes by volume (1.5 × 1011 m3) in the United States, only being exceeded by the Great Lakes. Some basic ecological investigations have occurred in Lake Tahoe (Flint and Goldman 1975, Frantz and Cordone 1996, Vander Zanden et al 2003), most recent investigations are focused on studies of water quality (Jassby et al 2003), invasive species (Denton et al 2012, Wittmann et al 2012), and loss of native biodiversity (Caires et al 2013). Meiobenthic (especially harpacticoid copepods) diversity has not been studied in Lake Tahoe until recently, and the ecological role of meiobenthos in Lake Tahoe remains unstudied
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