Accepted Manuscript First report of freshwater rotifers (Rotifera: Eurotatoria) 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. This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 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 rotifer 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 Monogononta 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 34.MANUSCRIPT 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. Floscularia ringens (Linnaeus, 1758) * 55. Scaridium longicaudum (O.F. Müller, 1786)* 65. Sinantherina socialis (Linne, 1758) * Family Conochilidae Family Trichocercidae 66. Conochilus unicornis Rousselet, 1892* 56. Trichocerca cylindrica (Imhof, 1891) * 57. T. flagellata Hauer, 1938* Family Testudinellidae 58. T. longiseta (Schrank, 1802) * 67. Testudinella patina (Hermann, 1783) * 59. T. rattus (O.F. Müller, 1786) * Family Trochosphaeridae 60. T. similis (Wierzejski, 1893) * 68. Filinia 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 Bdelloidea 63. Polyarthra vulgaris Carlin, 1943* Family Philodinidae Order Flosculariaceae 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