Family THALESTRIDAE Sars, 1905

Museums

Regional Maps

• Thalestridae Sars, G.O. 1905. Copepoda Harpacticoida. Parts VII & VIII. Idyidae (continued), Thalestridae (part). pp. 81-108 in Sars, G.O. (ed.). An Account of the Crustacea of Norway, with short descriptions and figures of all the species. Bergen : Bergen Museum Vol. V 489 pp. [102].

  Type genus:

   Thalestris Claus, 1862.

Introduction

Most thalestrids occur in shallow marine environments and the family does include some phytal species (Boxshall & Halsey 2004). There are currently five subfamilies in the Thalestridae. Although Willen (1999) raised the Pseudotachidiinae to the family level, as Pseudotachidiidae Lang 1936, this was rejected by Boxshall and Halsey (2004) as was Willen's (2000) phylogeny of the Thalestridae. Six genera and seven species are listed here for Australia.

Database Notes

There are 7 genera in this family.

thalestrids are often brightly coloured. They are capable of swimming and often have appendages modified for clinging to plant material. Thalestrids are most common in phytal habitats, but in calm waters have been found to live on substrates tich in detritus (Noodt, 1971).

Bodin's (1997) list of valid Thalestridae genera has been superseded by the new classification of Willen (2000).

Diagnosis

see Boxshall & Halsey (2004)

ID Keys

See Boxshall & Halsey (2004).

Diagnosis References

Boxshall, G.A. & Halsey, S.H. 2004. An Introduction to Copepod Diversity. London : The Ray Society 966 pp. [398]

General References

Boxshall, G.A. & Halsey, S.H. 2004. An Introduction to Copepod Diversity. London : The Ray Society 966 pp.

Willen, E. 1999. Preliminary review of the Pseudotachidiidae Lang, 1936 (Copepoda: Harpacticoida). Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg 215: 221-225

Willen, E. 2000. Phylogeny of the Thalestridimorpha Lang, 1944 (Crustacea, Copepoda). Gottingen : Cuvillier Verlag pp. 1-223.

History of changes