''Boeckella palustris'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

copepod Copepods (; meaning "oar-feet") are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat (ecology), habitat. Some species are planktonic (inhabiting sea waters), some are benthos, benthic (living on the ocean floor) ...

found in South America. It inhabits shallow pools, including the highest body of water ever to have yielded a

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...

, at an altitude of in the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

. It was described independently by two scientists in 1955, using material brought back by different European expeditions to the same region.

Description

Males of ''B. palustris'' are long, and females . The antennules are relatively short. ''B. palustris'' can be distinguished from other members of the genus ''

Boeckella ''Boeckella'' is a genus of copepods in the family Centropagidae. Species The genus ''Boeckella'' contains 49 species, of which five are listed as vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List – the Australian endemics ''B. bispinosa'', ''B. genicu ...

'' by the form of the fifth leg in males.

Distribution and ecology

''Boeckella palustris'' has a

Páramo Páramo () can refer to a variety of alpine tundra ecosystems located in the Andes Mountain Range, South America. Some ecologists describe the páramo broadly as "all high, tropical, montane vegetation above the continuous timberline". A narrower ...

–

Punan Punan Bah or Punan is an ethnic group found in Sarawak, Malaysia and in Kalimantan, Indonesia. The Punan Bah people are distinct and unrelated to the semi-nomadic Penan people. Their name stems from two rivers along the banks of which they ha ...

distribution, being found in southern

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

, and close to the border between Bolivia and Chile. It lives in "small, shallow bodies of water", a

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

it shares with '' Boeckella calcaris''. ''Boeckella palustris'' shares the record for the crustacean living at the highest altitude with the

fairy shrimp Anostraca is one of the four orders of crustaceans in the class Branchiopoda; its members are referred to as fairy shrimp. They live in vernal pools and hypersaline lakes across the world, and they have even been found in deserts, ice-covered mou ...

'' Branchinecta brushi''; both were found on December 13, 1988 in the same pool at an altitude of near the summit of the

stratovolcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a conical volcano built up by many layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with a summit crater and per ...

Cerro Paniri Paniri ( Aymara for "he who comes, visits") is a stratovolcano located in El Loa Province, Antofagasta Region, Chile, and near the border with Bolivia. To its northwest lie the twin volcanoes San Pedro and San Pablo, and to its southeast lies C ...

() in the

Antofagasta Region The Antofagasta Region ( es, Región de Antofagasta, ) is one of Chile's sixteen first-order administrative divisions. The second-largest region of Chile in area, it comprises three provinces, Antofagasta, El Loa and Tocopilla. It is bordered t ...

of Chile. The only higher record, which claimed that ''Branchinecta paludosa'' occurred at is "almost certainly a typographical error".

Taxonomy

''Boeckella palustris'' was originally described as ''Pseudoboeckella palustris'' by John Philip Harding in 1955, using material gathered by the

Percy Sladen Trust The Percy Sladen Memorial Trust is a trust fund administered by the Linnean Society of London for the support of scientific research. It was endowed by Constance Sladen, who was married to the marine biologist Percy Sladen (1849–1900), in his mem ...

Expedition to Lake Titicaca in 1937. The genus ''Pseudoboeckella'' was subsumed into ''

'' in 1992 by Ian A. E. Bayly of

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university has a ...

, Australia, as no reliable character could be found to distinguish the two. The species was independently described as ''Pseudoboeckella peruviensis'' in 1955 by Heinz Löffler using material from a 1953–1954 expedition to the Andes under

Hans Kinzl Hans Kinzl (1899–1979) was an Austrian geographer and mountain researcher. Life Hans Kinzl was born in Upper Austria in 1899. After his studies of geography at the University of Innsbruck he became assistant of his mentor Johann Sölch—di ...

, but Harding's description has priority, having been published on July 29, 1955, eleven weeks before Löffler's paper was read, on October 13, 1955. The species

epithet An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...

''palustris'' is Latin for "of the marsh" and indicates its common habitat.Archibald William Smith

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4937083 Centropagidae Freshwater crustaceans of South America Crustaceans described in 1955 Páramo fauna