Classes Copepoda and Ichthyostraca

Abstract

This chapter briefly reviews the taxonomy, biology, ecology, and morphological characters of freshwater crustaceans of the class Copepoda (orders Calanoida, Cyclopoida, Harapacticoida) and the parasitic Ichthyostraca of the subclass Branchiura (fish lice, order Arguloida) recorded in the Mediterranean Basin. Methods to properly collect, preserve, and study these crustaceans are reported. The main morphological characters, recorded from the literature and the authors' datasets, are used in an illustrated taxonomic key to the families and genera of the ordered Calanoida (7 families and subfamilies, 25 genera and subgenera), Cyclopoida (5 families and subfamilies, 26 genera and subgenera), and Harpacticoida (10 families, 41 genera and subgenera). The order Arguloida is represented in the study area by one family (Argulidae) and one genus.