Copepod crustaceans of Great Smoky Mountains National Park
2015. Copepod crustaceans of Great Smoky Mountains National Park
PI inventoried copepods and similar crustaceans throughout the park for the ATBI. As reported in 2006, the park has 76 taxa (species and subspecies] of copepods. One cyclopoid and four harpacticoids are probably new to science and have been or will be described. Voucher specimens of all species were deposited in the GRSM Museum, and extra specimens were also deposited in the Virginia Museum of Natural History. 1998 collections are entered in ATBI database. History. 1998 collections are entered in ATBI database. One calanoid copepod (a group planktonic in lakes and ponds and not diverse in the park) was found in Fontana Lake at the extreme northern part of its range (Epischura fluviatilis) and another (Skistodiaptomus carolinensis) had only previously been known from a lake at Highlands, NC, and was listed as IUCN Red Book threatened/vulnerable for its limited distribution. Two other copepods known only from substrate-bound, groundwater-related situations were found in only a second location and represent major range extensions from where they were described: Stolonicyclops heggiensis, described from seeps in a granite monadnock in Georgia, and Rheocyclops indiana, described from a streambed in Indiana. Itocyclops (Diacyclops) yezoensis had previously only been known from Japan and Alaska. Endemism is fairly high for groundwater-associated species, and there may be more in the park's subterranean streams that have not been sampled.
- Type
- Generic Dataset
- Date of Issue
- 2015
- Units
- GRSM
- Keywords
- APHN, Appalachian Highlands Network, copepod, Crustaceans, cyclopoid, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Harpacticoids, SER, Southeast Region, StudyID:GRSM-00202
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Freshwater Communities , Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Terrestrial Invertebrates