Abstract
The vast and ecologically diversified hyporheic realm and the adjacent riparian areas of India have received scant attention from the standpoint of biodiversity studies. Analysis of about 2500 samples collected from the alluvial sediments of certain rivers and streams, besides some bores in the riparian zone, mainly in the coastal deltaic belt of the rivers Krishna and Godavari in Andhra Pradesh State during 2000-2012 yielded 41 copepod and bathynellacean species. Of these, 31 new species have been formally described during the ongoing studies whereas the remainder are previously known ones. An annotated checklist of all these taxa is presented, giving the type locality and other localities of occurrence, methods of sampling, chief references, and also some taxonomic and/or ecological remarks wherever necessary. The harpacticoid copepod family Parastenocarididae and the eumalacostracan order Bathynellacea are two significant, major groups of stygofauna that have been recorded for the first time from India. Both these groups and also some cyclopoid copepods have clear-cut Gondwanan lineages, representing the remnants of unique ancient fauna that require urgent attention from conservationists in order that the overall evolutionary history of the Indian biota is preserved. A note is also added on the devastating influence of the ongoing rampant sand mining activity on the hyporheic biodiversity.
Highlights
To save the earth’s fast-depleting biodiversity, which is due primarily to habitat loss and impairment, has become a matter of increasing concern for scientists and governments all over the world
The stray hypogean copepod and bathynellacean species encountered in the riparian bores and two caves are included in the checklist
The present faunistic survey covering only a fraction of the Indian hyporheic and riparian realm is rewarding in that it has yielded 41 copepod and bathynellacean species, of which as many as 31 species are new to science and formally described and the remaining one are previously known in the literature; an additional 20 new species in the samples are yet to be named and described
Summary
To save the earth’s fast-depleting biodiversity, which is due primarily to habitat loss and impairment, has become a matter of increasing concern for scientists and governments all over the world. What is even more disconcerting today is that certain unique and asyet unexplored habitats are imperiled even before the study of their biodiversity and functions has begun in right earnest. One such greatly threatened habitat is the hyporheic habitat present within the sandy banks of rivers and streams. This paper gives, after briefly referring to the general biodiversity and functions of the hyporheic zone, an annotated checklist of the hyporheic copepod and bathynellacean crustaceans The stray hypogean copepod and bathynellacean species encountered in the riparian bores and two caves are included in the checklist
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