by Tomislav Karanovic & Giuseppe L. Pesce

The genus Nitokra at present includes 60 described species and suspecies, widespread in different fresh, brackish and marine habitats; some species are inhabitants of subterranean waters, four species are known as commensals of marine invertebrates. Bowman (1988) stressed that the "commonly used spelling Nitocra is replaced by Boeck's correct original spelling Nitokra" notwithstandig that the name Nitocra has been usually used since then. Morales et al. (1996) followed this opinion, but Mielke proposed to maintain the spelling Nitocra which is recommended by the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. In the present list we follow the Bowman's spelling. Great interspecific variability caused in the past times several synonyms in the genus (Lang, 1948; Por, 1964; Apostolov & Marinov, 1988; Bodin, 1997), and to prove this it would be necessary to redescribe many species and subspecies since their descriptions do not fit within the standard of the modern alpha-taxonomy ( Marcus & Por, 1961; Kunz, 1975; Reid, 1988). Moreover, it will be necessary to rename the numerous homonyms in the genus (Karanovic & Pesce, in press). In this genus, examples of strong reduction of the armature of the female fifth leg basoendopodite can be observed. Most species possess the basoendopodite of this leg with 5 spines/setae; in other species (N. balli, N. blocki, N. cari, N. laingensis, N. pseudospinipes, N. reunionensis, N. uenoi) the same basoendopodite bears 4 spines/setae; N. phreatica and N. pseudospinipes have 3 spines/setae; N. bisetosa only 2 appendages. Nitokra affinis affinis Gurney, 1927 [ Italy, Bermuda ?, Egypt ] Nitokra affinis californica Kunz, 1975 [ Africa ] Nitokra affinis rijekana Petkovski, 1954 [ Yugoslavia ] Nitokra affinis stygia Por, 1968 [ Israel ] Nitokra arctolongus Shen & Tai, 1973 [ China ] Nitokra australis Soyer, 1974 [ Kerguelen ] Nitokra balli Rouch,1972 [ New Guinea ] Nitokra balnearia Por, 1964 [ Israel ] Nitokra baltica Arlt, 1983 [ Baltic sea ] [junior homonym of N. fallaciosa baltica Lang, 1965] Nitokra bdellurae (Liddell, 1912) [ Europe, Mexico ] Nitokra bisetosa Mielke, 1993 [ Costa Rica, Galapagos ] Nitokra blochi Soyer, 1974 [ Kerguelen ] Nitokra cari Petkovski, 1954 [ Yugoslavia ] Nitokra delaruei Soyer, 1974 [ Kerguelen ] Nitokra divaricata divaricata Chappuis, 1923 [ Europe ] Nitokra divaricata caspica Behning, 1936 [ Caspian Sea ] Nitokra dubia Sars, 1927 [ Africa, Brazil ] Nitokra elegans (T. Scott, 1904) [ Scotland ] (=Ameira?) Nitokra elongata Marcus, 1968 [ Romania ] Nitokra fallaciosa fallaciosa Klie, 1937 [ Spain, Bulgaria, Iran, north Africa ] * Nitokra fallaciosa baltica Lang, 1965 [ Europe, Africa, Asia ] * Nitokra fragilis fragilis Sars, 1905 [ New Zealand, India] Nitokra fragilis paulistana Jakobi, 1956 [ Brazil ] Nitokra galapagoensis Mielke, 1993 [ Galapagos ] Nitokra hamata Bodin, 1970 [ France ] ] Nitokra hibernica hibernica (Brady, 1880) [ Europe, Asia, URSS, Iran ] Nitokra hibernica bulgarica Apostolov, 1976 [ Bulgaria ] (?) Nitokra humphreysi Karanovic & Pesce (in press) [West-Australia; anchialine waters] Nitokra hyperidis Jacobi, 1956 [ Brazil ] Nitokra incerta (Richard, 1893) [Turkey, Iran ] Nitokra intermedia Pesce, 1983 [ Italy ] Nitokra inuber (Schmankevich, 1875) [ Italy, ? ] (= N. hibernica ?) Nitokra lacustris lacustris (Schmankevitch, 1875) [ cosmopolitan ] ** Nitokra lacustris azorica Kunz, 1983 [ Azorres ] Nitokra lacustris colombianus Reid, 1988 [ Colombia ] Nitokra lacustris incerta Chappuis, 1933 [ Curacao ] Nitokra lacustris pacificus Yeatman, 1983 [ Fiji islands; New Guinea ] Nitokra lacustris sinoi Marcus & Por, 1961 [ Romania ] Nitokra laingensis Fiers, 1986 [ New Guinea ] Nitokra malaica Kiefer, 1929 [ Indonesie ] Nitokra mediterranea mediterranea (Brian, 1928) [ Greece ] Nitokra mediterranea pontica Apostolov, 1980 [ Bulgaria ] [junior homonym of N. pontica Jakubisiak, 1938] Nitokra minor minor Willey, 1930 [Bermuda] Nitokra minor mozambicoe Wells, 1967 [ Mozambique ] Nitokra phreatica Bozic, 1964 [ Reunion Islands ] Nitokra pietschmanni (Chappuis, 1934) [ Hawai, Chine ] *** Nitokra platypus platypus Daday, 1906 [ Asia ] Nitokra platypus bakeri Chappuis, 1930 [ Philippines, Japan ] Nitokra pontica (Jakubisiak, 1938) [ Bulgaria ] Nitokra psammophila Noodt, 1952 [Europe] * Nitokra pseudospinipes Yeatman, 1983 [ Fiji islands ] Nitokra pusilla Sars, 1911 [ Europe, Mexico ] Nitokra quadriseta Wells & Rao, 1987 [ Andaman and Nicobar islands ] Nitokra reducta reducta (Schafer, 1936) [ Europe, Near East ] Nitokra reducta fluviatilis Galhano,1968 [ Portugal ] Nitokra reunionensis Bozic, 1969 [ Reunion Island ] Nitokra sewelli sewelli Gurney, 1927 [ India ] Nitokra sewelli husmanni Kunz, 1976 [ Germany ] Nitokra sphaeromata Bowman, 1988 [ Costa Rica ] Nitokra spinipes Boeck, 1865 [ cosmopolitan ] **** Nitokra stygia (Apostolov,1969) [ Bulgaria ] [junior homonym of N. affinis stygia Por, 1968] Nitokra typica typica Boeck, 1865 [ Europe, Baltic sea, Africa, north and central America ] Nitokra typica adriatica Petkovski, 1954 [ Yugoslavia ] Nitokra uenoi Miura,1962 [ Japan ] INCERTAE SEDIS Nitokra chelifer Wilson, 1932 [ USA ] Nitokra gracilimana Giesbrecht, 1902 [ Antarctic ] Nitokra phlegraea Brehm, 1909 [ Italy ] Nitokra wolterecki Brehm, 1909 [ Italy ] * N. fallaciosa reported by Petkovski (1964) and Noodt, (1953) and N. fallaciosa baltica described by Lang (1965) are probably the same taxon; N. fallaciosa presented by Dussart (1981) most probably do not belong to any of the above mentioned taxa. Notwithstanding the scepticism of Noodt (1953) and Lang (1965), and the interpretation of Dussart & Defaye (1990), N. psammophila described by Nood (1952) could be a valid species since several characters, such as the shape of furcal rami, width and armature of the anal operculum, female fifth leg, quite separate this species from N. fallaciosa (Klie, 1937; Noodt, 1953). ** Synonyms: N. muelleri van Douwe, 1904; N. simplex Schmeil, 1894 *** Synonym of N. platypus (?) **** For this variable species, Well & Rao (1987) rejected all the described subspecies. Synonyms: N. medusae Humes, 1953; N. palustris Breemen, 1907; N. parafragilis Roe, 1959 RELEVANT REFERENCES Bodin, P. 1997. Catalogue of the new marine Harpacticoid Copepods. Studiedocumenten van Het K.B.I.N., 89, pp.1-304. Bowman, T.E. 1988. Nitokra sphaeromata, a new harpacticoid copepod crustacean associated with the wood-boring isopod, Sphaeroma peruvianum, in Costa Rica. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 101 (1):171-175. Defaye, D. 1996. Redescription of Nitokra divaricata Chappuis, 1923 (Copepoda, Harpacticoida) with first records from Austropotamobius torrentium Schrank. Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, Prague, 42 (2):145-155. Dussart, B. (H.) & D. Defaye. 1990. Répertoire mondial des crustacés copépodes des eaux intérieures. III. Harpacticoïdes. Crustaceana, suppl. 16:1-364. Karanovic T. & G.L. Pesce (in press). Copepods from ground waters of Western Australia, VII. The description of Nitokra humphreysi sp. nov. (Crustacea: Copepoda: Harpacticoida). J. Marine Systems. Mielke, W. 1993. Species of the taxa Orthopsyllus and Nitocra (Copepoda) from Costa Rica. J. Microfauna Marina, 8:247-266. Mielke, W. 1997. Interstitial Fauna of Galapagos. XXXIX. Copepoda, part 7. Microfauna marina, 11: 115-152. Por, F.D. 1964. The genus Nitocra Boeck (Copepoda, Harpacticoida) in the Jordan Rift Valley. Israel J. Zool. ,13: 78-88. Rouch, R. 1984. Copepoda: les harpacticoides souterraines des eaux douces continentales. Stygofauna Mundi: 321-355. Vervoort W. 1986. Bibliography of copepoda, up to and including 1980., 1-3. Crustaceana: 1-1316. Wells, J.B.J. 1976. Keys to aid in the identification of marine harpacticoid copepods. Aberdeen Univ. press, pp.1-215. Wells J.B. & G.C. Rao. 1987. Littoral Harpacticoida (Crustacea: Copepoda) from Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Mem. Zool. Survey India 16: 1-385 LINK TO THE COPEPOD WORLD AT THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION Copyright © 1999-2005 G. L. Pesce - All Rights Reserved. Text and images on this website may not be redistributed or put as part of any collection (image archives, CDs etc.) without prior written permission. [Previous Page] [HomePage] [Feedback]