Life stages and morphological variations of Limnocythere inopinata (Crustacea, Ostracoda) from Lake Jiang-Co (northern Tibet): a bioculture experiment

Abstract

<i>Limnocythere inopinata</i> (Baird, 1843) is a Holarctic species, abundant in a number of Recent and fossil ostracod assemblages, and has many important taxonomic and (paleo)ecological applications. However, the life cycle and morphological characteristics of the living <i>L. inopinata</i> are still unclear. A bioculture experiment was designed to study life stages and morphological variations from stage A-8 to adult in this species. The living animals were collected from Lake Jiang-Co, in the northern Tibetan Plateau. Results reveal that this species possesses a special growth pattern with the maximum size increase occurring at the transition from the instars A-5 to A-4. The growth pattern deviates from Brooks' rule and one population from Lake Dali, eastern Mongolian Plateau. This suggests that the life history of <i>L. inopinata</i> may be influenced by environmental factors. Some morphological differences between Lake Jiang-Co and European populations of <i>L. inopinata</i> are also uncovered. Therefore, a detailed morphological description of this population is provided, but refrain from erecting a new species at the present stage because those differences appear to be inconsistent.