Rotifer Species Diversity in Mexico: An Updated Checklist

Abstract

A review of the Mexican rotifer species diversity is presented here. To date, 402 species of rotifers have been recorded from Mexico, besides a few infraspecific taxa such as subspecies and varieties. The rotifers from Mexico represent 27 families and 75 genera. Molecular analysis showed about 20 cryptic taxa from species complexes. The genera Lecane, Trichocerca, Brachionus, Lepadella, Cephalodella, Keratella, Ptygura, and Notommata accounted for more than 50% of all species recorded from the Mexican territory. The diversity of rotifers from the different states of Mexico was highly heterogeneous. Only five federal entities (the State of Mexico, Michoacán, Veracruz, Mexico City, Aguascalientes, and Quintana Roo) had more than 100 species. Extrapolation of rotifer species recorded from Mexico indicated the possible occurrence of more than 600 species in Mexican water bodies, hence more sampling effort is needed. In the current review, we also comment on the importance of seasonal sampling in enhancing the species richness and detecting exotic rotifer taxa in Mexico.