''Epischura lacustris'' is a species of
copepod
Copepods (; meaning 'oar-feet') are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat (ecology), habitat. Some species are planktonic (living in the water column), some are benthos, benthic (living on the sedimen ...
in the family
Temoridae
Temoridae is a family of copepods, containing the following genera:
*'' Epischura'' S. A. Forbes, 1882
*'' Epischurella'' Smirnov, 1936
*''Eurytemora
''Eurytemora'' is a genus of copepods in the family Temoridae.Lee, Catherine E., and John D. ...
.
Distribution
The North American distribution of ''Epischura lacustris'' spans from the northeastern coastal United States, west to Minnesota, south to central Illinois and is currently found in all 5 of the
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...
as well as many other smaller waterbodies throughout its range.
Identification
''E. lacustris'' can be visually separated from all of the other calanoids found in the Great Lakes by looking at their caudal
setae
In biology, setae (; seta ; ) are any of a number of different bristle- or hair-like structures on living organisms.
Animal setae
Protostomes
Depending partly on their form and function, protostome setae may be called macrotrichia, chaetae ...
and at the urosome portion of their body. ''E. lacustris'' have three stout, well-developed setae present on each of the caudal rami, where as other calanoids will have four or more thin setae. Mature specimens have noticeably bent and crooked urosomes.
[
Czaika, S. C. 1982. Identification of nauplii N1-N6 and copepodids CI-CVI of the Great Lakes calanoid and cyclopoid copepods (Calanoida, Cyclopoida, Copepoda). J. Great Lakes Res. 8:439-469.]
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q7673614
Temoridae
Crustaceans described in 1892
Taxa named by Stephen Alfred Forbes