Cosmocalanus darwinii
Lubbock (1860)
Download a fact sheet for Cosmocalanus darwinii (PDF 529KB)
Taxonomy
| Phylum | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum | Crustacea |
| Class | Maxillopoda |
| Subclass | Copepoda |
| Order | Calanoida |
| Family | Calanidae |
| Genus | Cosmocalanus |
| Species | darwinii |
Size
- Female: 1.6 - 2.58 mm
- Male: 1.6 - 2.35 mm
Distinguishing characteristics
- Inner margin of coxa of P5 finely serrated in both sexes
- Form of male P5
- Spinules on posterior margin of genital and 2nd urosome somite in female
Male
- P5 extremely large and very asymmetrical, left exopod highly modified, right leg not modified
- Tooth on inner edge of external spine of left P5 is placed about 1/3 of length from the from base of the spine
Female
- A1 reaches almost to the end of urosome
- 5 swimming legs, all similar in form
- Posterior prosome corners drawn into points
- Genital somite bulges quite strongly and comes to blunt point towards the anterior somite
Distribution
- Epipelagic
- Pacific, Indian and Atlantic
- Subtropical and tropical
Ecology
- Eggs released into water column
- Fine particle feeders, probably omnivorous
- Usually restricted to surface layers
- Females often found with 2 or more spermatophores
References
- Bradford-Grieve, J. M. (1994). The marine fauna of New Zealand: Pelagic Copepoda: Megacalanidae, Calanidae, Paracalanidae, Mecynoceridae, Eucalanidae, Spinocalanidae, Clausocalanidae. National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, Wellington, New Zealand.
- Conway DVP, White, R.G., Hugues-Dit-Ciles, J., Gallienne, C.P. and Robins, D.B. (2003) Guide to the coastal and surface zooplankton of the south-western Indian Ocean, Vol Occasional Publications No. 15. Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom.
- Dakin, W. J. and Colefax A., (1940). "The plankton of the Australian coastal waters off New South Wales Part I." Publications of the University of Sydney: 210.
- Boxshall, G. A. and S. H. Halsey (2004). "An introduction to copepod diversity." Ray Society Publications 166: i-xv, 1-966.
- Chiba (1953)
- Grice G.D., (1961) 1962. - Calanoid copepods from equatorial waters of the Pacific Ocean. Fishery Bull. Fish Wildl. Serv. U.S., 61 (186): 167-246.
- Razouls C., de Bovée F., Kouwenberg J. et Desreumaux N., 2005-2009. - Diversity and Geographic Distribution of Marine Planktonic Copepods. Available at http://copepodes.obs-banyuls.fr/en