Rotifer diversity in a peat-swamp in southern Thailand (Narathiwas province) with the description of a new species of Keratella Bory de St. Vincent

Abstract

We studied the rotifer fauna of one of the most pristine peat-swamps in the Southern Thai province of Narathiwas, To Daeng peat swamp. The samples yielded a total of sixty-seven rotifer species. Of these, three-Keratella mixta (Oparina-Charitonova), Lecane enowi Segers & Mertens and Monommata dentata Wulfert- are new to the Oriental region and the Thai fauna, one, Keratella taksinensis n. sp., is new to science. The fauna consists mainly of cosmopolitan (sensu lato) species, complemented by some Paleotropical and endemic taxa, and is dominated by littoral-benthonic taxa, especially Lecane and, to a lesser extent, Lepadella.