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Fauna of an unsaturated karstic zone in Central Slovenia: two new species of Harpacticoida (Crustacea: Copepoda), Elaphoidella millennii n. sp. and E. tarmani n. sp., their ecology and morphological adaptations

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Abstract

The unsaturated zone in fissured (= karstic) aquifers continues to be a source of new species of Harpacticoida (Crustacea: Copepoda). The first species were discovered about 70 years ago in the Škocjanske Jame Cave in Slovenia. Intensive sampling of percolating water in caves there over the last 20 years has yielded several new species, some of them well adapted to that environment. The most recent studies revealed that such a specialised fauna is also present in other regions of Europe, South and North America, and Asia. In Europe, three genera belonging to the order Harpacticoida are characteristic of the unsaturated karstic zone: Morariopsis, Paramorariopsis and Elaphoidella. In this article, two highly specialised species of Elaphoidella are described. A detailed analysis of their ecology and morphological adaptations along with other species of the genus Elaphoidella from Slovenia is included, and comparisons are made with the epikarstic genera Morariopsis and Paramorariopsis.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my colleagues from the Institute who helped me during the field work, Roger Pain for improving the language and three anonymous reviewers who contributed valuable comments and corrections. Special thanks to Kay Van Damme for useful comments and cladistic analysis. Research was supported by the Slovenian Ministry of Science, Education and Technology (program on Structure and function of the ecosystems—PO-0504-0105) and the EU project PASCALIS (Protocols for the Assessment and Conservation of Aquatic Life In the Subsurface -EVK2-CT-2001-002121).

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  1. National Institute of Biology, Večna pot 111, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Anton Brancelj

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Correspondence to Anton Brancelj.

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Brancelj, A. Fauna of an unsaturated karstic zone in Central Slovenia: two new species of Harpacticoida (Crustacea: Copepoda), Elaphoidella millennii n. sp. and E. tarmani n. sp., their ecology and morphological adaptations. Hydrobiologia 621, 85–104 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-008-9634-3

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