Polyphemus pediculus ( Linnaeus, 1761 )

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 : 61

(131) Polyphemus pediculus ( Linnaeus, 1761)

Indian records. Jammu & Kashmir— Brehm (1936), Michael & Sharma B.K. (1988), Raina & Vass (1993); West Bengal — Mandal (1980), Mandal & Mukherjee (2011); General record— Fernando & Kanduru (1984); Sharma B.K. & Michael (1987), Murugan et al. (1998), Raghunathan & Suresh Kumar (2003).

Remarks. Valid species described from Europe ( Linnaeus 1761). The status of the Oriental populations needs to be checked.

Distribution. This taxon is widely distributed in the Palaearctic and in the Nearctic, where it is represented by at least nine mitochondrial phylogroups (Xu S. et al. 2009). Rare populations are present in the north portion of India and could represent a separate species, while southern records seem to be misidentifications.