Bosmina fatalis (Baird, 1864)

Dela Paz, Erica Silk P., Lopez, Mark Louie D., David, Christian Irvin Harvey A., Dela Cruz, Dave Ryan A., Viernes, Gian Alfonso A., Wong, Jac Fritgerald & Papa, Rey Donne S., 2018, Freshwater microcrustaceans (Cladocera: Anomopoda and Ctenopoda, Copepoda: Cyclopoida and Calanoida) in the highly urbanized Metropolitan Manila area (Luzon, Philippines), Check List 14 (5), pp. 751-762 : 753

Bosmina fatalis (Baird, 1864)

Materials examined. Philippines: Luzon: Manila: Kalayaan Creek (14.6900° N, 120.9366° E), coll. DRA Dela Cruz, GAA Viernes, JF Wong, ESP Dela Paz and ML Lopez, June 2016 ( UST-ZRC 0097–0098, 2 spec.). Estero de la Reina (14.6011° N, 120.9763° E), coll. DRA Dela Cruz, GAA Viernes, JF Wong, ESP Dela Paz and ML Lopez, June 2016 ( UST-ZRC 0099A–0099F, 4 spec.). Marikina River (14.6342° N, 121.0936° E), coll. DRA Dela Cruz, GAA Viernes, JF Wong, ESP Dela Paz and ML Lopez, June 2016 ( UST-ZRC 0100A–B, 2 spec.).

Short description. The head is large and rectangular in shape, with no clear demarcation between the head and body along the dorsal surface. Head shield is present. The eye is small near the rostrum. The long rostrum is fused with the immobile antennules, with a slight concavity between the 2 parts. The antennules have a characteristic pointed projection along the midline. The postabdominal claw is almost straight with 6 spines and the distal part finely ciliated. Morphological characteristics concur with the descriptions and illustrations of Fernando (1992) and Pascual et al. (2014).

Ecological distribution. Bosmina fatalis is widely distributed in lakes, rivers, creeks, and reservoirs. This species is a primary grazer in the freshwater habitats and has a good defensive mechanism (akinesis) against its predator which allows them to live in the pelagic zone despite of its small body size ( Rizo et al. 2017).