A redescription of the rare eucyclopine copepod Eucyclops productus Kiefer, 1939 (Multicrustacea: Copepoda: Cyclopoida: Cyclopidae) and a ke to Eucyclops subgenera and species of China and adjacent areas.

The rare freshwater copepod Eucyclops (Speratocyclops) productus Kiefer, 1939 from Lake Mandongco, Tibet Autonomous Region, China, is redescribed. This species was originally found and described from a pond south of Chushul village, and many of the details did not meet modern standards for describing the species. In this paper, the morphological characteristics of this species are described in detail and compared with other members of the subgenus Speratocyclops species recorded in China. The key features of the species are: 1) long caudal rami, 2) the coxal seta of the fourth pair of legs armed with long hairs in the proximal part and short denticles in the distal part, 3) the inner spine of the fifth pair of legs long and strong. An identification key to 22 species of Eucyclops known from China and adjacent areas is also provided.

Effect of Space Flight Factor on Dormant Stages in Aquatic Organisms: A Review of International Space Station and Terrestrial Experiments.

This work is a review of the experiments carried out in the Russian segment of the ISS (inside and outside) from 2005 to 2016 on the effect of the space flight factor on the resting stages of organisms. In outer space, ultraviolet, a wide range of high and low temperatures, cosmic radiation, altered gravity, modified electromagnetic field, vacuum, factors of technical origin, ultrasound, microwave radiation, etc. and their combination determine the damaging effect on living organisms. At the same time, biological dormancy, known in a wide range of bacteria, fungi, animals and plants, allows them to maintain the viability of their dormant stages in extreme conditions for a long time, which possibly allows them to survive during space flight. From 2005 to 2016, the resting stages (propagules) of micro- and multicellular organisms were tested on the ISS to assess their ability to survive after prolonged exposure to the conditions of open space and space flight. Among the more than 40 species studied, about a third were dormant stages of aquatic organisms (eggs of cyprinodont fish, daphnia embryos, resting eggs of fairy shrimps, tadpole shrimps, copepods and ostracods, diapausing larvae of dipterans, as well as resting cysts of algae). The experiments were carried out within the framework of four research programs: (1) inside the ISS with a limited set of investigated species (Akvarium program); (2) outside the station in outer space without exposure to ultraviolet radiation (Biorisk program); (3) under modified space conditions simulating the surface of Mars (Expose program); and (4) in an Earth-based laboratory where single-factor experiments were carried out with neutron radiation, modified magnetic field, microwave radiation and ultrasound. Fundamentally new data were obtained on the stability of the resting stages of aquatic organisms exposed to the factors of the space environment, which modified the idea of the possibility of bringing Earth life forms to other planets with spacecraft and astronauts. It also can be used for creating an extraterrestrial artificial ecosystem and searching for extraterrestrial life.