Brachionus rotundiformis Tschugunoff, 1921 from the Brachionus plicatilis species complex (Rotifera: Monogononta): A new record from Galápagos Archipelago, Ecuador

ABSTRACT

The presence of the rotifer species Brachionus rotundiformis from the B. plicatilis species complex in Lake Arcturo, a saline lake in the Genovesa Island of the Galápagos Islands, is here reported. This is the first record of the species for the rotifer fauna of Ecuador as well as of the species complex to the Galápagos Islands. This finding is consistent with the idea of high dispersion capacity, and of cosmopolitan distribution of this species complex. Because Genovesa Island is uninhabited, passive transport by wind currents and zoochory by migrant birds seem to emerge as the most plausible factors in this process of colonization. Integrative studies on the morphological variations, genetic, molecular, and ecological aspects are still required to further understand the process of dispersion and the ecology of this member of the B. plicatilis species complex in this remote and isolated locality, and the exact taxonomical position of the islands population to the other members of the complex.