''Bryocyclops'' is a genus of freshwater-dwelling cyclopoid copepods. The epithet ''Bryo-'' for Bryophyta (Mosses) refers to the fact that the first few species were described from mosses.

Distribution

Species belonging to this genus are distributed in all major biogeographic realms except Antarctica, although there are only a handful of species from the

Nearctic The Nearctic realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting the Earth's land surface. The Nearctic realm covers most of North America, including Greenland, Central Florida, and the highlands of Mexico. The parts of North America ...

(''B. muscicola'') and

Neotropical realm The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropics, tropical Ecoregion#Terrestrial, terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperat ...

(''B. campaneri'' and ''B. rochi)'.'' Researchers suspect that with increasing sampling efforts, more species will be discovered from these regions. Apart from continental habitats, some species occur on the oceanic islands of

Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

and

Christmas Island Christmas Island, officially the Territory of Christmas Island, is an States and territories of Australia#External territories, Australian external territory in the Indian Ocean comprising the island of the same name. It is about south o ...

. In recent years, five new species have been described from caves in

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

Habitat

As its name suggests, the type species was found in damp mosses. Apart from other microcrustaceans such as

cladocera The Diplostraca or Cladocera, commonly known as water fleas, is a superorder (biology), superorder of small, mostly freshwater crustaceans, most of which feed on microscopic chunks of organic matter, though some forms are predatory. Over 1000 sp ...

ns,

ostracod Ostracods, or ostracodes, are a Class (biology), class of the crustacean, Crustacea (class Ostracoda), sometimes known as seed shrimp. Some 33,000 species (only 13,000 of which are extant taxon, extant) have been identified,Brandão, S.N.; Antoni ...

s and harpacticoid copepods, only a few genera of cyclopoid copepods have managed to access semiterrestrial habitats like mosses,

leaf litter Plant litter (also leaf litter, tree litter, soil litter, litterfall, or duff) is dead plant material (such as leaves, bark, needles, twigs, and cladodes) that has fallen to the ground. This detritus or dead organic material and its constituen ...

, tree holes, leaf axils, bromeliads and other

phytotelma Phytotelma (plural phytotelmata) is a small water-filled cavity in a terrestrial plant. The water accumulated within these plants may serve as the habitat for associated fauna and flora. A rich literature in German summarised by Thienemann (19 ...

ta, or even man-made microhabitats (water-filled tin cans, car tires). These habitats pose serious challenges to fully aquatic organisms, especially since they rely on passive means of dispersal (

phoresis Phoresis or phoresy is a temporary commensalistic relationship when an organism (a phoront or phoretic) attaches itself to a host organism solely for travel. It has been seen in ticks and mites since the 18th century, and in fossils 320 ...

). Species of the genus ''Bryocyclops'' also inhabit cave pools, groundwater and other freshwater bodies.

Species

This genus currently contains 26 valid species: * ''Bryocyclops (Palaeocyclops) jankowskajae'' Monchenko, 1972 * ''Bryocyclops absalomi'' Por, 1981 * ''Bryocyclops africanus'' Kiefer, 1932 * ''Bryocyclops ankaratranus'' Kiefer, 1954 * ''Bryocyclops anninae'' (Menzel, 1926) * ''Bryocyclops apertus'' Kiefer, 1935 * ''Bryocyclops asetus'' Watiroyram, 2018 * ''Bryocyclops bogoriensis'' (Menzel, 1926) * ''Bryocyclops campaneri'' Rocha & Bjornberg, 1987 * ''Bryocyclops caroli'' Bjornberg, 1985 * ''Bryocyclops chappuisi'' Kiefer, 1928 * ''Bryocyclops constrictus'' Lindberg, 1950 * ''Bryocyclops correctus'' Kiefer, 1960 * ''Bryocyclops difficilis'' Kiefer, 1935 * ''Bryocyclops elachistus'' Kiefer, 1935 * ''Bryocyclops fidjiensis'' Lindberg, 1954 * ''Bryocyclops jankowskajae'' Monchenko, 1972 * ''Bryocyclops maewaensis'' Watiroyram, Brancelj & Sanoamuang, 2012 * ''Bryocyclops maholarnensis'' Watiroyram, Brancelj & Sanoamuang, 2015 * ''Bryocyclops mandrakanus'' Kiefer, 1954 * ''Bryocyclops muscicola'' (Menzel, 1926) * ''Bryocyclops muscicoloides'' Watiroyram, 2018 * ''Bryocyclops parvulus'' Kiefer, 1928 * ''Bryocyclops phyllopus'' Kiefer, 1935 * ''Bryocyclops trangensis'' Watiroyram, 2018 * ''Bryocyclops travancoricus'' Lindberg, 1947

Gallery

File:Bryocyclops asetus (10.3897-zookeys.793.25005) Figure 2.jpg, alt=Bryocyclops asetus female, ''Bryocyclops asetus'' female File:Bryocyclops asetus (10.3897-zookeys.793.25005) Figure 6.jpg, alt=Bryocyclops asetus male, ''Bryocyclops asetus'' male File:Bryocyclops asetus (10.3897-zookeys.793.25005) Figure 3.jpg, alt=Bryocyclops asetus female, ''Bryocyclops asetus'' female File:Bryocyclops asetus (10.3897-zookeys.793.25005) Figure 7.jpg, alt=Bryocyclops asetus male, ''Bryocyclops asetus'' male File:Bryocyclops asetus (10.3897-zookeys.793.25005) Figure 12 (cropped).jpg, alt=Bryocyclops asetus female, ''Bryocyclops asetus'' female with egg clutches File:Bryocyclops muscicola (10.3897-zookeys.793.25005) Figure 9.jpg, alt=Bryocyclops muscicola female, ''Bryocyclops muscicola'' female File:Bryocyclops muscicola (10.3897-zookeys.793.25005) Figure 10.jpg, alt="Bryocyclops muscicola" male, ''Bryocyclops muscicola'' male File:Bryocyclops muscicola (10.3897-zookeys.793.25005) Figure 11.jpg, alt=Bryocyclops muscicola female, ''Bryocyclops muscicola'' female

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q6555225 Cyclopidae Cyclopoida genera