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Implication of the feeding limb morphology for herbivorous feeding in some freshwater cyclopoid copepods
Author(s) -
HOPP ULRICH,
MAIER GERHARD
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
freshwater biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.297
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1365-2427
pISSN - 0046-5070
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2427.2005.01362.x
Subject(s) - biology , seta , arthropod mouthparts , crustacean , cyclops , plankton , ecology , zoology , algae , copepod , genus
Summary 1. The mouthparts of five species of adult planktonic cyclopoid copepods ( Cyclops vicinus , C. abyssorum , Acanthocyclops robustus , Mesocyclops leuckarti and Thermocyclops crassus ), in particular the distance between setae and setules of the maxilliped (which can indicate the ability to retain small particles), were compared using electron and light microscopy. 2. The mesh‐sizes of the food‐collection grid formed by these setae and setules ranged between 4.6 and 13.2 μ m; the area covered by the grid ranged between 6000 and 32 000 μ m 2 . 3. Mesh‐size was not simply correlated with body size. Cyclops abyssorum and M. leuckarti have the coarsest meshes and T. crassus the finest, while C. vicinus and A. robustus were intermediate. 4. The results suggest that cyclopoid copepods are able to retain particles in the size range of nanoplankton and that differences in mesh‐sizes between species may explain differences in the ability to subsist and reproduce on a diet of small algae.