Description

Distribution and ecology. Present in high-mountain (3,550 – 4,225 m a. s. l.) temporary ponds, medium to small sized, shallow, turbid or clear, with or without macrophytes, which freeze during winter and bear high levels of solar radiation (Halloy 1979). The occurrence of adult and juvenile anostracans, coexisting with the Spinicaudatan Leptestheria tucumanensis was reported by Halloy (1979) in Laguna Circular of Huaca Huasi (15 – 20 m in diameter, 0 – 70 cm deep), from February to April. In 2012, the first author examined the above mentioned FML – CRUST 01045 sample, reporting the presence of two adult males of an undetermined species, herein assigned to Archaebranchinecta. Besides, Cohen (2010, 2012) identified two other high altitude Branchinectidae from Huaca Huasi: Branchinecta brushi Hegna & Lazo-Wasem, 2010 (from a temporary pond), and B. papillata Rogers, De los Ríos & Zúñiga, 2008 (from peat-bog pools of Vega del Matadero, north of Laguna Circular).

Common Names

Taxonomic Hierarchy

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Branchiopoda

Order: Anostraca

Family: Branchinectidae

Genus: Archaebranchinecta

Species: Archaebranchinecta Rogers & Coronel, 2019