CANTHOCAMPTIDAE Sars, 1906, emend. Monard, 1927, Lang, 1948


MORARIA T. & A. Scott, 1893

The boreal harpacticoid genus Moraria includes more than 65 named species and subspecies. In most recent taxonomic review, Lang (1948) recognized 22 valid species. Most of the taxa added since then are members of the subgenus Baikalomoraria Borutsky 1931, which is found mainly in Siberia and Mongolia; many of these were described by Borutsky (1931, 1952, 1972).

The remaining species, all in subgenus Moraria, occur in Europe, temperate Asia, and North America. Since 1948, nine new species have been described from Europe, four from Asia, and two from North America. Dussart and Defaye (1990), in their world checklist of continental harpacticoid copepods, included nearly all of the taxa in the genus and commented briefly on taxonomic problems associated with some of them.

Since then, four new species have been described: M. tsukubaensis Kikuchi 1991a from central Japan, M. terrula Kikuchi 1991b from northern Japan, M. jana Karanovic 1997 from Montenegro, and M. alpina Stoch 1998 from the Italian Alps. Stoch (1998) also described the male of M. pectinata radovnae Brancelj 1988, a species of small alpine rivers in Slovenia, and raised the taxon to species rank.

Brancelj (2001) provided additional details of the morphology of M. radovnae and expanded its distribution in Slovenia (Reid & Lesko, 2003)


  • Moraria (Moraria) affinis Chappuis, 1927 [north America, Romania; moss]
  • Moraria (Moraria) alpina Stoch, 1998 [North Italy ; crenal]
  • Moraria (Moraria) arboricola Scourfield, 1915 [Europe; moss]
  • Moraria (Moraria) arctica Flossner, 1988 [Greenland, Canada; rivers and lake interstitial]
  • Moraria (Moraria) brevipes (G.O.Sars, 1863) [Europe; fresh, brackish waters]
  • Moraria (Moraria) bureschi Basamakov & Apostolov, 1976 [Bulgaria; fresh waters]
  • Moraria (Moraria) catalana Chappuis & Kiefer, 1952 [France; ground waters]
  • Moraria (Moraria) colchica Borutzky & Michailova-Neikova, 1970 [Caucasia; cave waters]
  • Moraria (Moraria) cornuta Borutzky, 1948 [Caucasia; cave waters]
  • Moraria (Moraria) cristata Chappuis, 1929 [north America, Mexico; fresh waters]
  • Moraria (Moraria) denticulata Chappuis, 1938 [south Italy; cave waters]
  • Moraria (Moraria) duthiei (T. & A. Scott, 1869) [north Europe, Japan, north America; lakes]
  • Moraria (Moraria) fontinalis Flössner, 1970 [Germany; cave waters]
  • Moraria (Moraria) frondicola Klie, 1943 [Italy; fresh waters] *
  • Moraria (Moraria) glitzae Gaviria & De Faye, 2017 [Germany; interstitial]
  • Moraria (Moraria) gracilipes Borutzky & Okuneva, 1972
  • Moraria (Moraria) hostensis Borutzky, 1972 [Caucasia; cave waters]
  • Moraria (Moraria) hudsoni Reid & Lesko, 2003 [U.S.A.; lakes]
  • Moraria (Moraria) jana Karanovic, 1997 [Balkan Peninsula; cave waters]
  • Moraria (Moraria) kummeroworum Ebert & Noodt, 1975 [Chile; ground waters] **
  • Moraria (Moraria) ilami (Dumont & Maas, 1988) [Nepal; leaf litters]
  • Moraria (Moraria) insularis Fefilova, 2008 [Barent Sea]
  • Moraria (Moraria) laurentiaca Willey, 1927 [north America; fresh waters]
  • Moraria (Moraria) littoralis Borutzky & Okuneva, 1972
  • Moraria (Moraria) michielettoae Brian, 1955 [Italy; cave waters]
  • Moraria (Moraria) mongolica (Daday, 1913) [Mongolia; fresh waters]
  • Moraria (Moraria) monticola (Menzel, 1912) [Switzerland; fresh waters]
  • Moraria (Moraria) mrazeki mrazeki Scott, 1903 [Europe, north America; fresh, brackish waters]
  • Moraria (Moraria) mrazeki f. macedonica Petkovski, 1956 [Yugoslavia; fresh, ground waters]
  • Moraria (Moraria) operculata Borutzky, 1948 [Caucasia; cave waters]
  • Moraria (Moraria) pectinata pectinata Thiebaud & Pelosse, 1928 [Europe; fresh waters]
  • Moraria (Moraria) poppei poppei (Mrazek, 1893) [Europe, north Africa, Japan; fresh, brackish waters, damp moss]
  • Moraria (Moraria) poppei meridionalis Chappuis, 1929
  • Moraria (Moraria) pseudobrevipes Borutzky & Okuneva, 1972
  • Moraria (Moraria) radovnae (Brancelj, 1988) [Slovenia; interstitial]
  • Moraria (Moraria) similis (Lilljeborg, 1902) [URSS; fresh waters]
  • Moraria (Moraria) sphagnicola Gurney, 1930 [Europe; fresh waters, moss]
  • Moraria (Moraria) spinulosa Borutzky & Okuneva, 1972
  • Moraria (Moraria) stankovitchi Chappuis, 1924 [Yugoslavia, Greece; ground waters]
  • Moraria (Moraria) subterranea (Carl, 1904) [Crimea; cave waters]
  • Moraria (Moraria) terrula Kikuchi, 1991 [Japan; forest litters]
  • Moraria (Moraria) tsukubaensis Kikuchi, 1991 [Japan; forest litters]
  • Moraria (Moraria) valkanovi Michailova-Neikova, 1973 [Bulgaria; fresh waters]
  • Moraria (Moraria) varica (Graeter, 1911) [Europe, Japan; fresh, ground waters, leaf litter]
  • Moraria (Moraria) virginiana Carter, 1944 [USA; lakes]

    * questionable taxon

    ** Recently (Reid & Da Rocha, 2003) transferred to the genus Antarctobiotus.


    The following species from Baikal sea were described by Borutzky (1931, 1949, 1952) and Okuneva (1981, 1983) who ascribed them to a new subgenus: Baikalomoraria

    A werestchagini - group has beeen separated by Borutzky (1949) for the species M. (B.) stylata, M. (B.) coronata, M. (B.) magna, M.(B.) werestchagini having a massive apical tooth on the proximal segment of the male leg 2 and distinct serration on posterior dorsal margin of the body somites. Later on the species M. (B.) linevitchi, M. (B.) mazepovi and M. (B.) utulikensis were respectively added in the above group by Okuneva (1983) and Estingneeva (2001).


  • Moraria (Baikalomoraria) acuta Borutzky, 1952
  • Moraria (Baikalomoraria) arenosa Okuneva, 1983
  • Moraria (Baikalomoraria) baikalensis Borutzky, 1931
  • Moraria (Baikalomoraria) brevicauda Borutzky, 1952
  • Moraria (Baikalomoraria) coronata Borutzky, 1949
  • Moraria (Baikalomoraria) dentata Borutzky, 1931


  • Moraria (Baikalomoraria) intermedia Borutzky, 1931
  • Moraria (Baikalomoraria) laticauda Borutzky, 1931
  • Moraria (Baikalomoraria) linevitchi Okuneva, 1981
  • Moraria (Baikalomoraria) longicauda Borutzky, 1952
  • Moraria (Baikalomoraria) magna Borutzky, 1949
  • Moraria (Baikalomoraria) mazepovi Okuneva, 1983
  • Moraria (Baikalomoraria) minor Okuneva, 1983
  • Moraria (Baikalomoraria) ovicauda Borutzky, 1952
  • Moraria (Baikalomoraria) phyllura Borutzky, 1952
  • Moraria (Baikalomoraria) sinuata Borutzky, 1952
  • Moraria (Baikalomoraria) stylata Borutzky, 1949
  • Moraria (Baikalomoraria) tenuicauda Borutzky, 1931
  • Moraria (Baikalomoraria) utulikensis Estingneeva, 2001 (left)
  • Moraria (Baikalomoraria) werestchagini Borutzky, 1949

    • The following other species from the same subgenus was described by Borutzky (1952) from the Khubsugul lake (Mongolia):

  • Moraria (Baikalomoraria) tomilovi Borutzky, 1952


    NO SUBGENUS DEFINED

  • Moraria harbei Fefilova et al. 2024 [Russia]
  • Moraria catracha Fiers & Jocque, 2013 [Honduras; cloud forest mountain]
  • Moraria cusuca Fiers & Jocque, 2013 [Honduras; cloud forest mountain]

    INCERTAE SEDIS

  • Moraria longiseta Henry, 1922 [north Europe; fresh waters?]




    MORARIOPSIS Borutzky, 1931


  • Morariopsis baicalensis Borutzky & Okuneva, 1975
  • Morariopsis dumonti Brancelj, 2000 [Slovenia; karstic waters] (LEFT)
  • Morariopsis grygieri Karanovic & Yuji Abe, 2010 [Japan; caves]
  • Morariopsis kieferi Petkovski, 1959 [Yugoslavia; cave waters]
  • Morariopsis latifurcata Borutzky, 1931 [Baikal sea]
  • Morariopsis scotenophilus (Kiefer, 1930) [Italy, Yugoslavia; cave waters] *
  • Morariopsis typica Borutzky, 1931 [Baikal Sea]

    * incertae sedis according to Borutzky (1952)

    KEY TO SPECIES OF MORARIOPSIS




    • PINDAMORARIA Reid & Da Rocha, 2003

  • Pindamoraria boraceiae Reid & Da Rocha, 2003 [Brazil; semiterrestrial habitat]



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