The Afro-Asian cyclopoid Mesocyclops aspericornis (Crustacea: Copepoda) in eastern Mexico with comments on the distribution of exotic copepods

Abstract

The Afro-Asian freshwater copepod Mesocyclops aspericornis (Daday, 1906), deemed as an exotic species in the Americas, is known to occur disjunctly in Mexico, South America, and the insular Caribbean. Adult females of this species were recorded.from samples collected in the state of Veracruz, on the Atlantic coast of Mexico. The morphology of these specimens is identical in most characters to those described or depicted in previous taxonomie accounts. The 3 known Mexican populations belong to the "westernλ group of M. aspericornis. The subtle morphological variations among the Mexican populations and their isolation suggest that each could be the result of independent events of dispersion or introduction via aquaculture. This is the third confirmed report of M. aspericornis in Mexico, but the first one in the Atlantic side of Middle America. The states of Tabasco and Chiapas harbour 3 of the 4 species of exotic freshwater copepods known to occur in Mexico.