Clausocalanus paululus
Farran (1926)
Download a fact sheet for Clausocalanus paululus (PDF 343KB)
Taxonomy
| Phylum | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum | Crustacea |
| Class | Maxillopoda |
| Subclass | Copepoda |
| Order | Calanoida |
| Family | Clausocalanidae |
| Genus | Clausocalanus |
| Species | paululus |
Size
- Female: 0.65 - 0.86 mm
- Male: 0.47 - 0.56 mm
Distinguishing characteristics
- Form of seminal receptacle - often inconspicuous in lateral or ventral view
- Prosome : Urosome ratio
- Shape of forehead and rostrum
Male
- Body short and stocky
- Rostrum in lateral view knob-like and protruding ventrally
- Longer ramus of P5 and genital pore on left side
- Left P5 longer than urosome, right P5 2 segmented, distal segment small
Female
- Body robust
- Rostrum in lateral view slender curved ventroposteriad
- Terminal points of P5 segment 3 not divergent and may have spinules on inner and outer margins
- Prosome:urosome ratio 2.59-3.00:1
- Ventral profile of genital somite in lateral view with a step posterior to the genital pores
- Genital somite more than 1.5 times as long as urosome somite 3
- Seminal receptacle often inconspicuous in lateral or ventral view
- Dorsal lobe of seminal receptacle not well separated from ventral lobe in lateral view, but well demarcated in ventral view
Distribution
- Epipelagic
- Subtropical, circumglobal
- Coastal, offshore
Ecology
- Generally herbivorous – omnivorous
- Feeding strategy is to rapidly explore small volumes of water
- Female can carry 2 spermatophores
- Multiple generations (up to 5) per year
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.
- Frost B, Fleminger A (1968). A revision of the genus Clausocalanus (Copepoda: Calanoida) with remarks on distributional patterns in diagnostic characters. Bulletin of Scripps Institution of Oceanography 12:1-235
- 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
- Shmeleva & Kovalev (1974)