Abstract
Kept in the laboratory at 28°–30° C, the cosmopolitan cladoceran, Scapholeberis kingi produces about 239 eggs during a life of 20.56 days duration. It has two pre-adult and seventeen adult instars. The duration of preadult and adult instars was compared with other tropical Cladocera. Egg production was found to be uniformly high with minor fluctuations. The various events in the life cycle and their significance have been compared with those of related species. The rate of egg production, expressed on a cumulative basis was found to be higher (a = 1.3326) than that of Simocephalus acutirostratus King, Moina micrura Kurz and Ceriodaphnia cornuta Sars and lower than that of Daphnia carinata King.
The general pattern of embryonic development of S. kingi shows close similarities to that of allied tropical and temperate species, though differences in duration of the embryonic period were recorded.
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Murugan, N., Sivaramakrishnan, K.G. Laboratory studies on the longevity, instar duration, growth, reproduction and embryonic development in scapholeberis kingi sars (1903) (Cladocera: Daphnidae). Hydrobiologia 50, 75–80 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00016844
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00016844