First evidence for the occurrence of Unapertura (Crustacea,Branchiopoda, Anomopoda,Chydoridae) in North America based on subfossil remains

We recovered subfossil chydorid cladoceran remains, which morphologically resemble the remains of Unapertura latens, from the surface sediments of two small lakes (TK-32, TK-18) located in the Central Arctic Treeline region, Northwest Territories, Canada. This species had previously been described only from lakes in Europe, primarily in southern Finland. We compared head shields and postabdomens from Canadian and Finnish sites and found them to be morphologically identical. The occurrence of Unapertura remains in North America suggests that this group of chydorids may be much more widely distributed than previously reported.