Abstract
Aspects of the zoogeography of Bathynellacea and Parastenocarididae are discussed in the light of my recent investigations. Parastenocarididae in Australia are rare and not very diverse in number of species. Four species belonging to three genera were collected on a tour through Australia in 1968. Despite relationships to species from other Gondwanian landmasses the poorness of the Australian fauna, together with the apparent ability of this family to spread over longer distances, suggest a late arrival of Parastenocarididae in Australia. Invasion is likely to have taken place from two directions. As for the Bathynellacea, the relationships presumed to exist between genera from Australia and Malaysia within the Parabathynellidae have been invalidated. As an alternative to the double-armed dispersal model of the Parabathynellidae propounded earlier, a vicariance model is discussed following Schram (1977). The zoogeography of Parastenocarididae can probably be best explained in terms of a primary dispersal history.
DOI
http://dx.doi.org/10.5038/1827-806X.11.1.9
Recommended Citation
Schminke, Horst Kurt.
1981.
Perspectives in the study of the zoogeography of interstitial crustacea: Bathynellacea (Syncarida) and Parastenocarididae (Copepoda).
International Journal of Speleology,
11: 83-89.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/ijs/vol11/iss1/9
