An account of the Crustacea collected by the Walker Expedition to Santa Marta, Colombia

Abstract

The Crustacea of Colombia have been studied now and then, and some species have been described which are not known to occur elsewhere, but no one has ever visited the country for the express purpose of studying its carcinological fauna. It was with great pleasure, therefore, that the writer accepted an invitation to accompany the Walker Expedition, sent during the summer of 1913 by the Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, to investigate the region about Santa Marta, on the southern shore of the Caribbean Sea. A general account of the country has been published elsewhere (Pearse, '14). This part of South America offers an admirable variety of habitats. The map (fig. 1) gives the general features of the country. Along the coast there is a strip of desert about 7 miles wide, the flora of which consists largely of acacias and great cacti. Beyond this the mountains rise abruptly to the snow peaks of the Sierras. From July 1 to 26 the party made its headquarters on the Cincmnati Coffee Plantation, at an altitude of 4,500 feet, whence it was possible in a single day to tramp to the top of San Lorenzo (8,300 feet) and return, or to go down to Minca (2,000 feet). The mountains were covered with a luxuriant forest and it rained every afternoon. From July 28 to August 4 we studied the fauna about ''La Rosa," an irrigated tract of land in the midst of a desert, the aridity of which was relieved somewhat by swift streams originating in the mountains above. From the desert we went to Fundacion, a vUlage on the bank of a good-sized river which flowed rapidly over a sandy bottom. Here it was extremely hot and there was rain only twice during the two weeks of our stay. The surrounding country was rather dry and sandy; the forest bemg less dense than in the mountams above. Two daj^s, August 22 and 23, were spent in the mangrove swamps along the Cienaga Grande on Tasajera Isla. After that (August 25 to 30) headquarters were made in Santa Marta and the sluggish rivers in that vicinity were explored. A trip was also made to Gaira, a village down the coast near the mouth of a river.

New additions to the cladoceran fauna of Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta and Colombia

“…The previous papers pertaining to Cladocera of Colombia reported 87 species (Stingelin 1913;Pearse 1915;Jaramillo and Gaviria 2003;Monroy et al 2004;Barón-Rodríguez et al 2006;Barón-Rodríguez and Gavilán-Díaz 2007;Gallo-Sánchez et al 2009;Guevara et al 2009;Álvarez 2010;Jaramillo and Pinto 2010;Rivera et al 2010;Aranguren-Riaño et al 2011;Fuentes et al 2012). With our present report adds 9 species, resulting in a total of 45 species in the Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta, which represents 48.9 % of the species reported for Colombia.…”

New Records of Cladocera (Crustacea: Anomopoda) from Laguna Navío Quebrado, La Guajira Department, Colombia

“…The family Chydoridae exhibited the highest species richness (12), followed by Macrothricidae (2), Daphnidae, Moinidae, Ilyocryptidae (a single species in each). Camargo, 1994;Herrera and Guillot, 1999;Barón-Rodríguez et al, 2006;Álvarez, 2010;Fuentes et al, 2012 Moinidae Moinodaphnia macleayi (King, 1853) Sa, Co, Mg C Pearse, 1915Barón-Rodríguez et al, 2006;Álvarez, 2010;Fuentes-Reinés et al, 2012 Ilyocryptidae Ilyocryptus spinifer Herrick, 1882An, Cu Sa, Mg C Gaviria, 2001Barón-Rodríguez et al, 2006;Fuentes-Reinés et al, 2012Macrothricidae Macrothrix elegans Sars, 1901 Co, Mg NT Álvarez, 2010;Fuentes et al, 2012Macrothirx spinosa (King, 1853 Co, Mg C Álvarez, 2010; Fuentes-Reinés et al 2012 Aloninae Alona glabra Sars, 1901 Mg, Cu NT Stingelin, 1913;Fuentes-Reinés et al, 2012 Anomopoda Karualona muelleri (Richard, 1897) Mg, Co NT Pearse, 1915;Álvarez;2010, Fuentes-Reinés et al 2012 Oxyurella ciliata (Bergamin, 1939) Co, Mg NT Álvarez, 2010;Fuentes-Reinés et al, 2012Leberis davidi (Richard, 1895 Co, Mg NT Álvarez, 2010;Fuentes-Reinés et al, 2012Euryalona orientalis (Daday, 1898 Mg TR Pearse, 1915;Fuentes-Reinés et al, 2012 Nicsmirnovius fitzpatricki (Chien, 1970) Mg NT Fuentes-Reinés and Zoppy, 2013 Chydoridae Anthalona verrucosa (Sars, 1901) Co, Mg …”

“…It is valid species described from Australia (King, 1853), very common in tropics (Smirnov, 1976) Sinev and Hollwedel (2005). The first report of this species for Colombia was as Allonella karua by Pearse (1915). It is a common Neotropical taxon.…”

“…The species was described from Haiti as Alona davidi by Richard (1895) and then transferred to the genus Leberis . It is a Neotropical taxon (Kotov and Ferrari, 2010 Pearse (1915). This species is very common in the subtropics and tropics.…”

“…In Colombia, the knowledge about freshwater cladocerans still remains inadequate, although a few old publications are well-known: Stingelin (1913) reported 23 species from Colombia Mountains; Pearse (1915) recorded five species in the material collected by the Walker Expedition to Santa Marta and Brehm (1956) found nine species in Barranquilla Department.…”