Antarctic Megacalanidae (Copepoda: Calanoida) and the distribution of the family

Abstract

The global distribution of the 12 described, deep-living megacalanid species is presented in a report on collections made in the Southern Ocean during the United States Antarctic Research Program. Included are four species and one subspecies described in 1967 from samples obtained early in the program. In the material lent to the author by the Smithsonian Oceanographic Sorting Center, only six of the described species were found. Bathycalanus bradyi, common in those samples and elsewhere, is made a synonym of B. richardi. The predominant forms are, in order, B. richardi, Megacalanus princeps, and B. princeps, with Bradycalanus sarsi, B. typicus and B. gigas also present. Knowledge of their distribution and ecology is discussed.