Higher Taxon CLADOCERA

Museums

Regional Maps

• Cladocera Latreille, P. A. 1829. Les crustacés, les arachnides et les insects, distribués en famille naturelles, ouvrage formant lest tomes 4 et 5 de celui de M. le Baron Cuvier sur le Règne animal. Paris : Deterville Tome Premier (deuxième édition), 584 pp. [151] (https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/1646169).

Introduction

As summarised by Rogers (2024) the extant Phyllopoda consist of two superorders: Calmanostraca and Diplostraca. Diplostraca was formally defined morphologically by Olesen (2007, 2009) and strongly supported molecularly by, among others, Stenderup et al. (2006), Richter et al. (2007) and Schwentner et al. (2017). In this scheme, Cladocera is treated as an unranked monophyletic clade of four orders, all of which are water fleas. Three of the orders occur in Australia: Anomopoda, Ctenopoda and Onychopoda. The fourth, Haplopoda is widespread in the freshwater lakes of the Holarctic. The orders and other hight taxa were diagnosed by Dumont & Negrea (2002). Olesen (1998) treated Conchostraca and Cladocera using a cladistic analysis of morphological characters. He found that all orders except Ctenopoda were monophyletic. This conclusion was discussed further by Olesen et al. (2003) and Olesen (2007) but remains problematic.

Smirnov & Timms (1983) noted that 'besides including many cosmopolitan and pantropical forms [the fauna of Australia] has some species widely distributed in the Holarctic, some Gondwanaland [sic] species, and a large number of endemics'. This opinion is still supported by the current list of species.

The information given here is based on Smirnov & Timms (1983) and later publications. Data were entered by Jo Wood, South Australian Museum and revised and reorganised by Gary Poore, 2024.

General References

Dumont H.J. & Negrea, S.V. 2002. Introduction to the Class Branchiopoda Guides to the Identifcation of the Microinvrtebrates of the Continuental Waters of the World. Leiden : Backhuys Publishers Vol. 19 398 pp.

Olesen, J. 1998. A phylogenetic analysis of the Conchostraca and Cladocera (Crustacea, Branchiopoda, Diplostraca). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 122: 491–536

Olesen, J. 2007. Monophyly and phylogeny of Branchiopoda, with focus on morphology and homologies of branchiopod phyllopodous limbs. Journal of Crustacean Biology 27: 165–183

Olesen, J. 2009. Phylogeny of Branchiopoda (Crustacea)—character evolution and contribution of uniquely preserved fossils. Arthropod Systematics & Phylogeny 67: 3–39

Olesen, J., Richter, S. & Scholtz, G. 2003. On the ontogeny of Leptodora kindtii (Crustacea, Branchiopoda, Cladocera), with notes on the phylogeny of the Cladocera. Journal of Morphology 256: 235–259

Rogers, D.C. 2024. Current status of the systematics of large branchiopod crustaceans (Branchiopoda: Anostraca, Notostraca, Laevicaudata, Spinicaudata, Cyclestherida). Journal of Crustacean Biology 44: ruae046

Schwentner, M., Combosch, D.J., Pakes Nelson, J. & Giribet, G. 2017. A phylogenomic solution to the origin of insects by resolving crustacean-hexapod relationships. Current Biology 27: 1818–1824

Smirnov, N.N. & Timms, B.V. 1983. Revision of the Australian Cladocera (Crustacea). Records of the Australian Museum, Supplement 1: 1-132

Stenderup, J.T., Olesen, J. & Glenner, H. 2006. Molecular phylogeny of the Branchiopoda (Crustacea) - Multiple approaches suggest a 'diplostracan' ancestry of the Notostraca. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 41: 182-194

Tippelt, L. & Schwentner, M. 2018. Taxonomic assessment of Australian Eocyzicus species (Crustacea: Branchiopoda: Spinicaudata). Zootaxa 4410(3): 401–452

History of changes