Accepted Manuscript

First report of freshwater (Rotifera: ) from south Andaman, India: composition and interesting elements

Bhushan Kumar Sharma

PII: S2287-884X(17)30031-6 DOI: 10.1016/j.japb.2017.01.003 Reference: JAPB 208

To appear in: Journal of Asia-Pacific Biodiversity

Received Date: 18 August 2016 Revised Date: 19 December 2016 Accepted Date: 9 January 2017

Please cite this article as: Sharma BK, First report of freshwater rotifers (Rotifera: Eurotatoria) from south Andaman, India: composition and interesting elements, Journal of Asia-Pacific Biodiversity (2017), doi: 10.1016/j.japb.2017.01.003.

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First report of freshwater rotifers (Rotifera: Eurotatoria) from south Andaman, India: composition and interesting elements

Bhushan Kumar Sharma Freshwater Biology Laboratory, Department of Zoology, North-Eastern Hill University, Umshing, Shillong-793022, Meghalaya e-mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT: The plankton samples collected from freshwater lentic ecosystems of south Andaman, India revealed 70 species of Rotifera belonging to 25 genera and 16 families. The reports of Australasian Lecane batillifer , the Oriental endemic L. bulla diabolica and three paleotropical species, and 68 new records of Eurotatoria from the Andaman and Nicorbar contribute to biodiversity and biogeography of the Indian Rotifera. The rotifers are characterized by diverse Lecanidae > Lepadellidae > Brachionidae and common nature of species of ‘trophic centered’ Lecane and Brachionus . The occurrences of a large number of cosmopolitan species and several tropicopolitan and pantropical species are notable. This report indicates further scope for biodiversity update on these metazoans from insular freshwaters of Andaman and Nicorbar islands located in the Andaman Sea.

Key words : insular freshwaters, distribution, important taxa, richness, metazoan diversity.

Introduction

Rotifera, an important group of freshwater zooplankton and an integral link of aquatic food-webs, have been studied from inland waters froMANUSCRIPTm distant parts of India since the initial work of Anderson (1889). The faunal diversity of the taxon remained unexplored from insular freshwater habitats off the Indian mainland (Sharma 1991, 1998a). This generalization holds valid even till date for the Indian Rotifera. The sole earlier report (George et al 2011) of seven brachionid species is, however, based on collections from coastal saline environs of Andaman; even it included certain misidentifications (Sharma and Sharma 2014a). Realizing freshwater biodiversity importance of insular habitats, the present study is an endeavor to document Eurotatoria from the Andaman and Nicorbar islands. Though constrained by limited collections, this first report interestingly presented an inventory of 70 species from south Andaman. Remarks are made on nature and composition of the observed diversity. Comments are made on interesting species, new records and distribution of certain taxa. In addition, various interesting taxa are illustrated to warrant validation of such reports.

Materials and methods

This study is based on plankton samples collected by the author, during January 1990, from freshwater lentic ecosystemsACCEPTED in and around certain localities (Table 1) of south Andaman (Fig. 1). The samples were collected from various water bodies by towing a nylobolt plankton net (# 50 µm) and were preserved in 5% formalin. All collections were screened with a Wild stereoscopic binocular microscope; the rotifer taxa were isolated and mounted in Polyvinyl alcohol– lactophenol, and were observed with Leica (DM 1000) stereoscopic phase contrast microscope fitted with an image analyzer. The different species were identified following the works of Koste (1978), Segers (1995), Sharma (1983, 1998b), Sharma and Sharma (1999, 2000, 2008). The ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 2 reference materials are in the holdings of Freshwater Biology Laboratory, Department of Zoology, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong.

Taxonomic accounts

A total of 70 species of freshwater rotifers (Eurotatoria) are documented in the present study and their systematic list is presented below:

Systematic list of Freshwater Rotifera from south Andaman

Phylum Rotifera Class Eurotatoria Subclass Order Ploima

Family Brachionidae 25. L. costatoides Segers, 1992* 1. Anuraeopsis fissa (Gosse, 1851) * 26. L. discoidea Segers, 1993 * 2. Brachionus angularis Gosse, 1851* 27. L. ovalis (O. F. Müller, 1786) * 3. B. bidentatus Anderson, 1889 * 28. L. patella (O.F. Muller, 1773) * 4. B. calyciflorus Pallas, 1766 29. L. rhomboides (Gosse, 1886) * 5. B. falcatus Zacharias, 1898 30. L. triptera Ehrenberg, 1830 * 6. B. quadridentatus Hermann, 1783 * 31. L. (Heterolepadella ) apsicora Myers, 1934 * 7. B. rubens Ehrenberg, 1838 * 32. L. (H. ) ehrenbergi (Perty, 1850) * 8. Keratella tropica (Apstein, 1907) * 33. L. (H. ) heterostyla (Murray, 1913) * 9. Platyias quadricornis (Ehrenberg, 1832) * 10. Plationus patulus (O.F. Müller, 1786)* Family Lecanidae MANUSCRIPT 34. Lecane aculeata (Jakubski, 1912) * Family Epiphanidae 35. L. arcula Harring, 1914 * 11. Epiphanes brachionus (Ehrenberg, 1837) * 36. L. batillifer (Murray, 1913) * 37. L. bulla bulla (Gosse, 1851) * Family Euchlanidae L. bulla diabolica (Hauer, 1936) * 12. Beauchampiella eudactylota (Gosse, 1886) * 38. L. closterocerca (Schmarda, 1898) * 13. Euchlanis dilatata Ehrenberg, 1832 * 39. L. curvicornis (Murray, 1913) * 14. Dipleuchlanis propatula (Gosse, 1886) * 40. L. flexilis (Gosse, 1886) * 15. Tripleuchlanis plicata (Levander, 1894) * 41. L. furcata (Murray, 1913) *

42. L. hamata (Stokes, 1896) * Family Mytilinidae 43. L. inopinata Harring & Myers, 1926 * 16. Mytilina acanthophora Hauer, 1938 * 44. L. lateralis Sharma, 1978 * 17. M. bisulcata (Lucks, 1912) * 45. L. leontina (Turner, 1892) * 18. M. ventralis (Ehrenberg, 1830) * 46. L. luna (O.F .Müller, 1776) * Family Trichotriidae 47. L. monostyla (Daday, 1897) * 19. Trichotria tetractis (Ehrenberg, 1830) * 48. L. nitida (Murray, 1913) * ACCEPTED49. L. papuana (Murray, 1913) * Family Lepadellidae 50. L. quadridentata (Ehrenberg, 1830) * 20. Colurella obtusa (Gosse, 1886) * 51. L. signifera (Jennings, 1896) * 21. C. uncinata (O.F. Müller, 1773) * 52. L. thienemanni (Hauer, 1938) * 22. Lepadella acuminata (Ehrenberg, 1834) * 53. L. unguitata (Fadeev, 1925) * 23. L. apsida Harring, 1916* 54. L. ungulata (Gosse, 1887) * 24. L. biloba Hauer, 1938 * ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 3

Family Scaridiidae 64. ringens (Linnaeus, 1758) * 55. Scaridium longicaudum (O.F. Müller, 1786)* 65. Sinantherina socialis (Linne, 1758) *

Family Family Trichocercidae 66. unicornis Rousselet, 1892* 56. Trichocerca cylindrica (Imhof, 1891) * 57. T. flagellata Hauer, 1938* Family 58. T. longiseta (Schrank, 1802) * 67. patina (Hermann, 1783) *

59. T. rattus (O.F. Müller, 1786) * Family 60. T. similis (Wierzejski, 1893) * 68. longiseta (Ehrenberg, 1834) * 61. T. weberi (Jennings, 1903) *

Family Asplanchnidae 69. F. opoliensis (Zacharias, 1898) *

62. Asplanchna brightwelli Gosse, 1850* Sub-class Digononta Family Synchaetidae Order 63. Polyarthra vulgaris Carlin, 1943* Family Philodinidae Order 70. Rotaria neptunia (Ehrenberg, 1832) *

Family Floscularidae ------* New records from Andaman & Nicobar Islands

Lecane batillifer (Murray) (Figure 2A), L. bulla diabolica (Hauer) (Figure 2B), L. lateralis Sharma (Fig.2C), L. unguitata (Fadeev) (Figure 2D) and Lepadella discoidea Segers (Figure 2E), are biogeographically interesting elements. Sixty-eight species (marked *) are new records from Andaman and Nicobar islands. In MANUSCRIPTaddition, Lecane flexilis (Figure 3A), L. furcata (Figure 3B), L. monostyla (Figure 3C), L. nitida (Figure 3D), L. thienemanni (Figure 3E), Lepadella biloba (Fig. 3F), L. costatoides (Figure 3G), Mytilina acanthophora (Figure 3H) and , M. bisulcata (Figure 3I) are examples of regional distribution interest in India. Seventy species of rotifers belonging to 25 genera and16 families examined in our limited collections from freshwater environs of south Andaman reflected fairly rich Rotifera assemblage. These comprised ~17.1%, ~64.0%, and ~39.0% of taxa of three categories known from India (BKS, unpublished), respectively. Interestingly, 68 species of Eurotatoria are new records from the Andaman and Nicorbar and thus contribute to biogeography of the Indian rotifers. Considering earlier report of valid species from costal saline waters (George et al 2011), the present study raised total tally of Rotifera known now from Andaman and Nicobar Islands to 73 species. The richness is yet lower due to sampling limitations but is nevertheless reasonably comparable with 108 species (Kakkassery 2003) and 139 species (Sharma and Sharma 2009) known from rather well sampled southern states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu of India, respectively. The Australasian Lecane batillifer ); the Oriental endemic L bulla diabolica (Hauer); and the palaeotropicalACCEPTED Lecane lateralis Sharma, L. unguitata (Fadeev) and Lepadella discoidea Segers are biogeographically interesting elements. Of these, L. batillifer is an interesting link indicating affinity of the Indian Rotifera with those of Southeast Asia and tropical Australia (Sharma and Sharma 2005, 2008). This lecanid is known till date from India (Sharma and Sharma 2014b, 2014c) from the states of from Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura of northeast India (NEI). The ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 4 present report considerably extended distribution range of this species far off the Indian mainland and thus deserved biogeography interest. Lecane bulla diabolica was originally described (Hauer, 1936) as a new taxon from Tamil Nadu. It was treated as an ‘Indian endemic’ (Sharma 1996, 1998) till its sole non- illustrated report from Thailand (Segers and Savatenalinton 2010). Sharma and Sharma (2014c) extended the Indian distribution of this lecanid to NEI while the report from lower Assam (Sharma and Khan 2016; Sharma et al 2017) re-affirmed restricted occurrence within the latter region. The present report of L. bulla diabolica from insular waters of south Andaman is of further interest for the distribution of this rare Oriental endemic. Besides, the pantropical Lecane thienemanni, Lepadella costatoides, Mytilina acanthophora and M. bisulcata; the tropicopolitan Lecane monostyla, L. nitida and Trichocerca flagellata : and the cosmopolitan Lecane furcata, L. flexilis and Lepadella biloba are species of regional distribution importance in the Indian sub- continent. The rotifer assemblages of south Andaman are characterized by diverse nature of Lecanidae (21 species) > Lepadellidae (14 species) > Brachionidae (10 species). These three Eurotatoria families together formed rich component (64.3%); Lecane > Lepadella comprised 47.1%; and Brachionus = Trichocerca deserved attention (17.1%) vis-à-vis the rotifer richness observed in this study. The common occurrence of species of ‘trophic centered’ Lecane and Brachionus is noteworthy. This feature, along with, the report of a large number of cosmopolitan species (71.4%) and occurrence of several tropicopolitan and pantropical species (22.9%) imparted general ‘tropical character’ to south Andaman Rotifera following generalizations of Sharma (1991, 1996, 1998) and Sharma and Sharma (2008, 2014b). The euryhaline Brachionus plicatilis and B. rotundiformis recorded from saline waters of Andaman (George et al 2011) are, however, not observed in the examined freshwater samplesMANUSCRIPT while absence of eurytopic B. urceolaris yet warranted confirmation. To conclude, the present study showed importance for biodiversity and biogeography of the Indian Rotifera in spite of limited collections obtained during a limited period. A fairly rich rotifer assemblage with certain interesting taxa and features is notable. With a conservative estimate of 150+ species of freshwater Rotifera, this report presents ample scope of biodiversity update on these metazoans from Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It will be even interesting to extend such investigations to insular freshwaters of Lakshadweep islands located in the Arabian ocean off the Indian mainland.

Acknowledgments

The author is thankful to North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong for an opportunity for undertaking ‘study tour’ to Andamans which made these collections possible and to Dr. (Mrs.) Sumita Sharma for help in field sampling. Sincerest thanks are due to Dr. G. C. Rao, former Officer-in-charge, Andaman & Nicobar regional station, Zoological Survey of India, Port Blair for his kind support. This study is ACCEPTEDdedicated to beloved memory of my friend Late (Dr.) H. S. Mehta, former Zoologist, Andaman & Nicobar regional station, Zoological Survey of India for arrangements for field work and for his kind hospitality. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. The author is thankful to two anonymous reviewers for useful comments and suggestions.

References ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 5

Anderson HH. 1889. Notes on Indian Rotifera. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 58: 45– 358. George G, Sreeraj CR, Dam Roy S. 2011. Brachionid rotifer diversity in Andaman waters. Indian Journal of Geo-Marine Sciences 40(3): 454–459. Hauer J. 1936. Neue Rotarien aus Indien I. Zoologischer Anzeiger 116: 77–80. Kakkassery FK. 2003. Studies on freshwater rotifers of Kerala. Ph.D thesis, University of Calicut, Calicut, Kerala Koste W. 1978. ROTATORIA. Die Rädertiere Mitteleuropas, begründet von Max Voigt. Überordnung Monogononta. Berlin, Germany: Gebrüder Borntraeger (in German). Segers H. 1995. Rotifera 2: Lecanidae. In: Dumont HJ, Nogrady T, editors. Guides to identification of the microinvertebrates of the continental waters of the world. Amsterdam, the Netherlands: SPB Academic Publishing, pp. 1-226. Segers H, Savatenalinton S. 2010. A critical re-revaluation of the Lecanidae (Rotifera: Monogononta) of Thailand, with description of a new species. Internationale Revue Hydrobiologie 95(4-5): 343–351. Sharma BK 1983. The Indian species of the genus Brachionus (Eurotatoria: Monogononta: Brachionidae). Hydrobiologia 104: 31-39. Sharma BK. 1991. Rotifera. In: Resources of India: Protozoa to Mammalia: State of the Art. Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta. pp. 69-88. Sharma BK. 1996. Biodiversity of freshwater Rotifera in India – a status report. Proceedings of the Zoological Society, Calcutta 49: 73-85. Sharma BK. 1998a. Freshwater Rotifers (Rotifera: Eurotatoria). In: Fauna of West Bengal. State Fauna Series 3(11): 341-361. Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta Sharma BK. 1998b. Faunal Diversity in India:MANUSCRIPT Rotifera. In: Alfred JRB, Das AK, Sanyal AK, editors. Faunal diversity of India . ENVIS Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta, pp. 57-70. Sharma BK, Khan SI. 2016. Interesting rotifers (Rotifera: Eurotatoria) from floodplain lakes of lower Brahmaputra river basin of Assam, northeast India. Opuscula Zoologica, Budapest 47(2): 123-130. Sharma BK, Khan SI, Sharma S. 2017. Biodiverse rotifer assemblage (Rotifera: Eurotatoria) of floodplain lakes of the Brahmaputra basin of lower Assam, northeast India: composition and ecosystem diversity. Chinese Journal of Oceanology and Limnology DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00343-017-6251-x. Sharma BK, Sharma S. 1999. Freshwater Rotifers (Rotifera, Eurotatoria). In: Fauna of Meghalaya. State Fauna Series 4: 11-161. Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta Sharma BK, Sharma S. 2000. Freshwater Rotifers (Rotifera: Eurotatoria). In: Fauna of Tripura: State Fauna Series 7(4): 163-224. Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta Sharma BK, Sharma S 2005. Biodiversity of freshwater rotifers (Rotifera, Eurotatoria) from North–EasternACCEPTED India. Mitteilungen aus dem Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, Zoologische Reihe 81: 81–88. Sharma BK, Sharma S. 2009. Biodiversity and distribution of freshwater rotifers (Rotifera, Eurotatoria) of Tamil Nadu. Records of the Zoological Survey of India 109 (3): 41–60. Sharma BK, Sharma S. 2014a. The diversity of Indian Brachionidae (Rotifera: Eurotatoria: Monogononta) and their distribution. Opuscula Zoologica, Budapest 45: 165-180. ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 6

Sharma BK, Sharma S. 2014b. Northeast India – An important region with a rich biodiversity of Rotifera. In: Rotifera XIII: Rotifer Biology- a Structural and Functional Approach (Sharma BK, Dumont HJ, Wallace RL, editors). International Review of Hydrobiology 99 (1-2): 20- 37. Sharma BK, Sharma S. 2014c. Indian Lecanidae (Rotifera, Eurotatoria, Monogononta) and its distribution In: Rotifera XIII: Rotifer Biology- a Structural and Functional Approach (Sharma BK, Dumont HJ, Wallace RL, editors). International Review of Hydrobiology 99 (1-2): 38–47. Sharma S, Sharma BK. 2008. Zooplankton diversity in floodplain lakes of Assam. Records of the Zoological Survey of India , Occasional Paper No . 290: 1-307.

Table 1. List of the sampled localities of south Andaman

Sl. No. Locality Latitude Longitude 1 Kamraj Nagar 11 o 36 / 01 // N 92 o 43 / 32 // E 2 Garacharama 11 o 36 / 22 // N 92 o 42 / 29 // E 3 Port Blair 11 o 37 / 24 // N 92 o 43 / 35 // E 4 Pahargaon 11 o 37 / 43 // N 92 o 43 / 32 // E 5 Chaktagaon 11 o 38 / 18 // N 92 o 44 / 30 // E 6 Nayagaon 11 o 38 / 44 // N 92 o 44 / 08 // E 7 Shadipur 11 o 39 / 29 // N 92 o 44 / 48 // E 8 AHW colony (tank) 11 o 39 / 44 // N 92 o 44 / 30 // E 9 Dollungunj 11 o 38 / 11 // N 92 o 42 / 42 // E 10 Ashwini Nagar 11 o 39 / 00 // N 92 o 43 / 10 // E 11 Bambooflat MANUSCRIPT 11 o 42 / 00 // N 92 o 42 / 00 // E

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A B Figure 1.

B C A

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D E

Figure 2.

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A C B

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D E F

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G H I

Figure 3. LEGENDS TO FIGURES

Figure 1. Map of surveyed region . A, Map of India indicating south Andaman; B, Map (part) of south Andaman indicating the sampled study area (Google map)

Figure 2. Biogeographically important Rotifera. A, Lecane batillifer (Murray), dorsal view; B, Lecane bulla diabolica (Hauer), lateral view; C, Lecane lateralis Sharma, ventral view; D, L. unguitata (Fadeev), ventral view; E, Lepadella discoideaMANUSCRIPT Segers, ventral view.

Figure 3. Rotifera of regional importance. A, Lecane flexilis (Gosse), ventral view; B, Lecane furcata (Murray), dorsal view; C, Lecane monostyla (Daday), dorsal view; D, Lecane nitida (Murray), ventral view; E, Lecane thienemanni (Hauer), ventral view; F, Lepadella biloba Hauer, ventral view; G, Lepadella costatoides Segers, ventral view; H, Mytilina acanthophora Hauer, lateral view; I, Mytilina bisulcata (Lucks), lateral view.

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