An updated checklist of marine copepoda from Peninsular Malaysia with notes on their functional traits and distributional records

Abstract

An up-to-date checklist of marine zooplankton copepods from the water of Peninsular Malaysia is presented, there are 235 species of copepods which consists of 89 genera and 44 families. Extensive list of bibliographical references with synonymy, detailed information on their functional groups, and distributional data are provided for each species. The checklist is based on taxonomic and ecological literature until 28 May 2020. Calanoida recorded the most diverse order with 101 species in total, followed by Harpacticoida with 70 species and 61 species from Cyclopoida. As for Canuelloida, Monstrilloida and Siphonostomatoida all recorded with 1 species respectively. There are 192 species of copepod recorded along the west coast (Malacca Strait) and 123 species on the east coast (South China Sea). Endemicity at species level attains 1% for the whole Peninsular Malaysian coast, with 2 genera restricted to the east coast (Kensakia parva and Brachiella malayensis) and one genus to the west coast (Labidocera jaafari). There are six dominant species that can be found along the coast of Peninsular Malaysia (Acartia erythraea, Acartia pacifica, Bestiolina similis, Euterpina acutifrons, Microsetella norvegica, Paracalanus aculeatus, Oithona nana, Oithona simplex and Temora discaudata).

Effect of Water Circulation on the Distribution of Zooplankton in the Southern Waters of Peninsular Malaysia

“…Four prominent zooplankton species were identified in this study: B. similis, E. acutifrons, P. aculeatus, and O. nana. The presence of these copepod species has also been recorded by Balqiah & Azman (2021) in the waters of Peninsular Malaysia, demonstrating the ecological stability of our waters. As a result, it is anticipated that the composition, abundance and distribution of zooplankton in the study areas will be influenced by the wind-driven forces.…”

“…Acrocalanus gracilis, Bestiolina similis, Euterpina acutifrons, Oithona nana, Oithona similis, Paracalanus aculeatus, and Paracalanus denudatus are the seven major copepod species found in this study (Table 1). Based on the checklist from Balqiah & Azman (2021), there are 9 dominant species in Malaysian waters (Acartia erythraea, Acartia pacifica, Bestiolina similis, Euterpina acutifrons, Microsetella norvegica, Paracalanus aculeatus, Oithona nana, Oithona simplex and Temora discaudata) throughout the year and 4 species were recorded in this study (B. similis, E acutifrons, P. aculeatus and O. nana). The fact that these tiny copepods are important for biological production in tropical environments explains their great abundance (Yoshida et al 2006).…”

“…Southeast Asian waters contain more than 550 species of copepods, which comprise a quarter of the world's copepod species. In Malaysia, there are 256 copepod species that have been listed (Balqiah & Azman, 2021).…”