A Critical Re-Evaluation of the Lecanidae (Rotifera: Monogononta) of Thailand, with Description of a New Species

To contribute to the biogeographical knowledge of rotifers, we critically re-evaluate the species of Lecanidae recorded from Thailand. We report on a number of rare (L. armata Thomasson, L. bulla diabolica Hauer, L. chinesensis Zhuge and Koste) and one new species of Lecane. Lecane latissima Yamamoto is recognized as the senior synonym of Lecane thailandensis Segers and Sanoamuang, L. kostei De Ridder is reestablised as valid name for the cold-water bipolar taxon formerly referred to as L. latissima. Some dubious and dated records of taxa are reconsidered. In total, we confirm 92 species of Lecane from the country, which is almost half of the world's diversity of the taxon, and a limited degree of endemics to various scales, from countrywide to Paleotropical. These results are in accord with the moderate endemicity model of distribution and diversity patterns in microscopic organisms. A potential new avenue of research may be to unravel cryptic diversity in species complexes such as the L. ludwigii, L. lunaris, L. bulla, L. leontina and L. quadridentata species groups as models of tropical and subtropical micrometazoans. (© 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)