Dr. Éva Murai szerk.: Miscellanea Zoologica Hungarica 3. 1985 (Budapest, 1985)

Meisch, C.; Wouters, K.: Potamocypris arcuata (Sars, 1903) new to Hungary (Crustacea, Ostracoda)

Potamocypris arcuata (Sars, 1903) new to Hungary (Crustacea, Ostracoda) By C. MEISCH & K. WOUTERS (Received 10 December, 1984) ABSTRACT. The re-examination of a part of the DADAY-collection revealed the presence of Potamocypris arcuata (SARS, 1903). This is the first record of the species in Hungary. The variability of some important taxonomic characters is discussed. INTRODUCTION In the course of the taxonomic revision of the Western European species of the genus Potamocypris, one of us (CM. ) had the opportunity to receive on loan thirteen samples of the very important DADAY-collection deposited in the Hungarian Natural History Museum (Budapest). The material consisted of spirit tubes containing Potamocypris specimens from different localities in Hungary and from one locality situated in Yugoslavia. The tubes were labelled by DADAY as P. villosa and P. ophthalmica. After careful examination, however, it became apparent that all those specimens actually belong to Potamocypris arcuata

. Because P. arcuata had been unknown from Hungary and because the carapace of this taxonomically difficult species proved to be highly variable (see GAUTHIER, 1928 and MEISCH, 1985), we believed it necessary to describe and figure the Hungarian specimens in a separate publication. SUMMARY OF THE TAXONOMIC HISTORY OF POTAMOCYPRIS ARCUATA P. arcuata was first described by SARS (1903) from Central Asia. The species was barely known until GAUTHIER (1928 and 1939) gave a detailed redescription and figuration of specimens collected in North Africa (Algeria and Tunisia). In Europe, ALM (1914 and 1915) redescribed the species from Sweden under the name P. maculata. ALM' s specimens show carapaces which are distinctly more elongate than those figured by SARS and GAUTHIER. P. maculata (= P. arcuata) seems to be rather rare in Western and Northern Europe, where it has been reported from a few localities only. In Southern Europe, however, it is a relatively wide spread species. In 1960, LÖFFLER reported the finding of P. arcuata in Austria and he suggested the synonymy of P. maculata with P. arcuata. This synonymy was confirmed by one of us after examination of the type material of both P. arcuata and P. maculata (see MEISCH, 1985). Potamocypris arcuata in Hungary P. arcuata had not yet been recorded from Hungary, where its finding nevertheless was to be expected. FARKAS (1958) therefore listed P. maculata (= P. arcuata) among the species whose presence in Hungary is probable, in his Fauna of Hungarian Ostracods. At the end of the last century, when DADAY (1900) studied the thirteen samples dealt