Leydigia (Neoleydigia) ciliata Gauthier, 1939

CHATTERJEE, TAPAS, KOTOV, ALEXEY A., DAMME, KAY VAN, CHANDRASEKHAR, S. V. A. & PADHYE, SAMEER, 2013, An annotated checklist of the Cladocera (Crustacea: Branchiopoda) from India, Zootaxa 3667 (1), pp. 1-89 : 49

(98) Leydigia (Neoleydigia) ciliata Gauthier, 1939

Indian records. Maharashtra — Rane (2002); Rajasthan — Biswas (1971); Punjab — Battish (1981), Battish & Kumari (1986); Tamil Nadu — Venkataraman & Krishnaswamy (1984b), Venkataraman (1995a), Raghunathan & Suresh Kumar (2002, 2009); Uttar Pradesh — Alam & Khan (1998); General record: Murugan et al. (1998).

Remarks. Valid species described from Chad, Africa ( Gauthier 1939). L. ankammaraoi Prasad et al., 1995 is a junior synonym of L. ciliata (see Kotov 2009). Most probably, all Indian records of " L. acanthocercoides ", " L. australis " and " L. hardingi " were also in fact, L. ciliata . Rane (2002) said that his report on Leydigia ciliata from India is the first record, but it is obviously wrong.

Distribution. Widely distributed in tropics of the eastern hemisphere ( Kotov et al. 2003; Kotov 2009).

Leydigia ciliata melghatensis Rane, 2005

Type locality. “Amaravati distt., Gavilghat tank near Chikaldhara, ..., Melgha Tiger River Reserve”, Maharasthra ( Rane 2005a) .

Indian records. Maharashtra — Rane (2005a).

Remarks. This taxon was not recorded in the last revision of the genus (Kotov 2009), because it was published in local proceedings. Recent analysis of the description of Leydigia ciliata melghatensis led us to conclusion that no important traits really discriminating this taxon from L ciliata were represented by Rane (2005a). Therefore L. melghatensis is a junior synonym of L. ciliata .

Leydigia (Neoleydigia) hardingi Nayar, 1971

Type locality. "A pond at Pilani and Ajit Sagar, Khetri", Rajasthan ( Nayar 1971) .

Indian records. Rajasthan — Nayar (1971); General record— Murugan et al. (1998), Raghunathan & Suresh Kumar (2003).

Remarks. " Leydigia hardingi Nayar, 1971 is very similar to ciliata , and no taxonomically significant trait was reported by the author. I did not see any reason for its independent status, but this opinion must be checked by consideration of Indian samples " (Kotov 2009, p. 70).

Leydigia (Neoleydigia) laevis Gurney, 1927

Indian records. Rajasthan — Biswas (1971); General record— Raghunathan & Suresh Kumar (2003).

Remarks. Dubious record. L. laevis was described from Australia ( Gurney 1927) and this is a valid Australian taxon (Kotov 2009). " The description of Biswas (1971) from India suggests that he was dealing with other species (according to postabdomen form) " (Kotov 2009: p. 63).

Leydigia (Neoleydigia) macrodonta Sars, 1916

General record — Fernando & Kanduru (1984).

Remarks. Very doubtful record. L. macrodonta s.str. was described from the Republic of South Africa ( Sars 1916). It is a South African endemic (Kotov 2009). It is impossible to know what Fernando and Kanduru (1984) meant under this name.