Some crustacean zooplankton of Wular lake in Kashmir Himalaya

Abstract

In a taxonomic survey of crustacean zooplankton collected from Wular lake of Kashmir, a pictorial key was developed. Thirty-six (36) pictures of 25 species of crustacean zooplankton, out of which 21 represented 16 Cladocera taxa belonging to Chydoridae (Alona affinis, A. rectangula and A. monacantha, Chydorus sphaericus and C. ovalis), Daphnidae (Daphnia magna, D. catawba, D. magna, D. pulex; D. rosea, D. galeata, D. retrocurva and Moinodaphnia), Polyphemidae (Polyphemus pediculus) and Sididae (Sida crystallina) and 15 pictures of Copepoda belonged to 9 species being represented by three families viz Cyclopidae (Cyclops scutifer, C. bicuspidatus, C. vernalis, C. panamensis, Eucyclops agilis, Megacyclops viridis), Canthocamptidae (Bryocamptus hiemalis) and Diaptomidae (Diaptomus sp.).

Key words: Crustacean, Cladocera, Copepoda, taxonomy, Wular lake.