Geographic Distribution and Dispersal of Some Recent Shallow-Water Marine Ostracoda

Abstract

Several species of Recent shallow-water tropical marine ostracodes have achieved interoceanic distribution. Passive dispersal of these marine ostracodes on feathers and muddy feet of migratory shore birds, a process often cited for the distribution of freshwater ostracodes, is unlikely because of the water depth in which these ostracodes live, their lack of a dessication-resistant egg, and the lack of correspondence between their distribution and migratory bird flyways. Other means of ostracode dispersal cited in the literature, including transport in the intestinal tracts of birds and fish, and transport by wind, are also considered unlikely.