VOLUME 11 NUMBER 1 (January to June 2018)

by Erica Silk P. Dela Paz^1,2 and Rey Donne S. Papa^1,2,3*

¹The Graduate School, University of Santo Tomas, Manila 1015, Philippines
²Department of Biological Sciences, College of Science, University of Santo Tomas,
     España, Manila 1015, Philippines
³Research Center for Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Santo Tomas, España,
     Manila 1015, Philippines

Copepods from the genera Mesocyclops and Thermocyclops have recently gained much attention due to recent studies, which revealed their wide geographical distribution in the country as well as the presence of several endemic species, which were not observed among other copepod groups (most notably Calanoids and Harpacticoids) in the Philippines. A study on the species composition and distribution of Mesocyclops and Thermocyclops in the two largest islands in the Philippines – Luzon and Mindanao was conducted to come up with a more comprehensive understanding of the distribution and occurrence of cyclopid copepods in the archipelago. Samples deposited in University of Santo Tomas – Zooplankton Reference Collection (UST-ZRC) (collected from 2006 to 2013) collected from 47 freshwater habitats in Luzon and Mindanao islands were examined and analyzed. New locality record of Mesocyclops thermocyclopoides, Thermocyclops crassus, T. decipiens, T. taihokuensis, Eucyclops sp. and cyclopoid copepodites were observed from 32 freshwater habitats. This brings the known locality records for cyclopid copepods from 99 (from all available published materials) to 131 localities throughout the Philippines.