A comparative study of the zooplankton in two adjacent embayments,Port Phillip and Westernport Bays,Australia

We report on a year's study of spatial and seasonal patterns of zooplankton abundance in Port Phillip and Westernport Bays, July 1982 to August 1983. These two bays, closely adjacent on the southern coast of Victoria, Australia, differ in several respects: Port Phillip is a nearly landlocked bay with a broad basin, while Westernport is an open tidal embayment with extensive mud and seagrass banks. Both bays have a resident zooplankton fauna distinct from that of Bass Strait. Although these resident communities have many species in common, patterns of abundance and dominance are quite different. We found that the holoplankton of Port Phillip was about half copepods, mostly Paracalanus indicus, with 23% Caldocera and 21% larvaceans. Westernport Bay zooplankton was dominated by Acartia tranteri, with no resident cladoceran fauna. Bass Strait species were more often found in Westernport than in Port Phillip Bay, but the resident community of Port Phillip Bay was more similar to that of Bass Strait than to that of Westernport.Although this study was undertaken in an exceptionally dry year, the available historical data show that the overall patterns found in 1982–1983 are typical for these bays. The differences in community composition probably relate to differences in depth profile, predator abundance, and suspended matter between the bays.     

Two New“Notostracans”,Chenops gen.nov.and Jeholops gen.nov. (Crustacea:Branchiopoda:?Notostraca) from the Yixian Formation,Northeastern China

<正>The Early Cretaceous Jehol biota of northeastern China contains a diverse group of notostracans, including two genera,Chenops and Jeholops,described here.Chenops is characterized by a combination of an ovate carapace,narrow anal plate,equant distal endites and endopod on the anterior thoracic limbs.In addition to the new species,Chenops yixianensis,the genus also provisionally includes Prolepidurus oblongus Oleynikov, 1968.Jeholops,however,is monotypic,represented by the new species Jeholops hongi.It is characterized by a combination of kazacharthran and notostracan features unique to this taxon.Both new genera are provisionally placed in the taxon Notostraca.More detailed work exploring the morphology of exceptionally-preserved branchiopod crustaceans is needed.The difficulties in placing fossil notostracans into a phylogenetic framework are discussed.