Rotifers in freshwater habitats in the Upper Tietê River Basin, São Paulo State, Brazil

LUCINDA¹, I.; MORENO², I.H.; MELÃO², M.G.G. & MATSUMURA-TUNDISI³, T.

¹ Programa de Pós-graduação em Ecologia e Recursos Naturais - Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Rodovia Washington Luiz Km 235, cep 13565-905, São Carlos/SP - e-mail: irenelucinda@hotmail.com

² Departamento de Hidrobiologia - Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Rodovia Washington Luiz Km 235, cep 13565-905, São Carlos/SP - e-mail: imoreno@power.ufscar.br; dmgm@power.ufscar.br

³ Instituto Internacional de Ecologia – Rua Bento Carlos, 750, cep 13560-660, São Carlos/SP

ABSTRACT: The composition of the Rotifera was investigated, in 19 water bodies in the Upper Tietê system (SP, Brazil), as an integral part of a survey of zooplankton across the State of São Paulo, planned to include the 22 Water Resource Management Units of the State, which forms part of the BIOTA program, the exhaustive survey of São Paulo flora and fauna organised by the state research funding agency, FAPESP. The rotifer samples were caught in a plankton net of mesh 35 mm, swept horizontally and vertically in the littoral and limnetic zones of freshwater bodies, and then fixed in 4% formaldehyde. Netted material was sorted under a stereo-microscope and the rotifers identified by optical microscopy. One hundred nine taxa belonging to 20 families in subclass Monogononta were catalogued. The families that predominated were Lecanidae, Brachionidae, Trichocercidae, Notommatidae and Lepadellidae, all of which are common in the tropics. Conochilus unicornis, Keratella cochlearis, Lecane bulla, Polyarthra aff. vulgaris and Trichocerca similis, as well as the bdelloid rotifers, were found at almost all the collection sites. The presence of certain species seemed to correlate with a higher trophic level in the water, these being: Brachionus angularis, B. calyciflorus, B. havanaensis havanaensis, Filinia opoliensis, Kellicottia bostoniensis, Keratella cochlearis var. tecta and Trichocerca capucina multicrinis. Eight novel occurrences in São Paulo State were recorded, one being novel in South America, and diagnoses and plates are provided for some of these species.

Key-words: Rotifera, zooplankton, reservoirs of Upper Tietê River.