The distribution and ecology of species of cyclopoid copepods of the genus Thermocyclops in the western hemisphere are reviewed. These are: Thermocyclops brehmi (Kiefer), Thermocyclops crassus (Fischer), T. decipiens (Kiefer), T. hastatus antillensis Herbst, T. inversus (Kiefer), T. minutus (Lowndes), T. tenuis (Marsh), T. tenuis longifurcatus Pesce, and T. parvus, new species. T. brehmi is known from microlimnotopes in a restricted region in northern Argentina and Uruguay, while T. crassus has been reliably recorded only from small ponds in Costa Rica. T. decipiens, with many records from northern Argentina to Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Antilles, is often numerous in mesotrophic and eutrophic lakes and reservoirs. The range of T. minutus extends over tropical and subtropical lowlands of South America from northern Argentina to Venezuela; this species prefers oligotrophic and mesotrophic conditions in larger lakes. T. inversus may prefer mildly carbonate waters and inhabits large and small reservoirs, natural lakes, ponds, wells and caves from northeastern Brazil to Mexico and the Antilles. T. tenuis ranges from northern Argentina to the Antilles and the southern United States, inhabiting large and small, natural and artificial bodies of water. T. tenuis longifurcatus is known only from two wells on Bonaire, T. hastatus antillensis from a well on the island of Guadeloupe, and T. parvus only from plankton samples from the Florida Everglades.
1. Department of Invertebrate Zoology, MRC-163, National Museum of Natural History
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