Rao, G.C. (1993). Littoral meiofauna of Little Andaman. Records of the Zoological Survey of India Occasional Paper. 155: 1-120.

259276

Rao, G.C.

1993

155: 1-120.

Publication

https://faunaofindia.nic.in/PDFVolumes/occpapers/155/index.pdf

Annelidabase (starting with Archiannelida) pages 46-64., Copepoda pages 64-117, Note that for this author 'Rao' is the family lineage name and 'Chandrasekhara' is a given name - some usages wrongly use Chandrasekhara as part of the family name.

Available for editors  

None. Introduction: "The meiofauna of Little Andaman is quite rich and varied with a large number of species of diverse invertebrate groups of animals inhabiting the algae, sand and mud sediments in the littoral region. Our present knowledge on the taxonomy, ecology and distribution of the meiofauna of these habitats on the island is limited to the few works of Rao (1970, 1972, 1975, 1980, 1989) and Salvini-Plawen and Rao (1973). Hence, a detailed investigation of the meiofauna of Little Andaman was considered necessary to have a comprehensive idea of the nature of the faunal element of the island. Keeping this in view, under the Annual Plan of work of Zoological Survey of India for the years 1989-91, a faunistic survey of the island was undertaken, diverse groups of the meiofauna eollected and the material studied. Based on the results of the investigation, the present paper gives a systematic account of 120 species of the different groups, of which 8 species are described here as new to science. Part of the material of the different groups still remains to be studied in detail, identified and reported. " Summary "The diverse groups of marine meiofauna of Little Andaman Island inhabiting the sand, mud and algae in the littoral region were investigated. Based on the results, the present paper gives a systematic account of 120 species of the following groups: Hydrozoa (3), Turbellaria (3), Nematoda (22), Gastrotricba (13), Kinorhyncha (2), Archiannelida (8), Polychaeta (14) ,Copepoda (50), Isopoda (2), Tardigrada (1) and Gastropoda (2). Eight species of the following groups are described as new to science: Hydrozoa (1), Gastrotricha (4), Polychaeta (1) and Copepoda (2). Sixty-eight spec;es of the meiofauna proved new records to the fauna of the island. Part of the material belonging to various groups remains to be studied, identified and reported. The meiofauna of Little Andaman Island proved to be sufficiently rich, both in their density and diversity. A majority of the faunal groups characteristic of littoral habitats are encountered around the island. But, their abundance varied considerably at different tidal levels, depths, habitats and localities, depending on the nature of the substratum. Their total population densities varied from 220 to 1860 individuals per 10 cm2 of the sediment. The free-living Nemetoda and Copepoda constituted the major groups comprising 70 to 90% of the total meiofauna, while the rest of the groups are reduced to a minor status. The composition of genera and species of the fauna are in close conformity with those known from other parts of the world. The faunal element exhibited a limited percentage of endemism and is largely dominated by eurytopic species, which are widely distributed in Indian Ocean as well as those of the warm temperate and tropical regions. "

Indian Ocean

Ecology
Systematics, Taxonomy
Zoogeography, Biogeography (generalities), Geographic distribution

Annelida
Copepoda
Hydrozoa

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