''Mesocyclops longisetus'' is a species of freshwater

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) ...

in the family Cyclopidae. Two

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

are accepted, ''Mesocyclops longisetus curvatus'' Dussart, 1987, and ''Mesocyclops longisetus longisetus'' (Thiébaud, 1912). It has a neotropical distribution.

Description

Like other copepods in the order Cyclopoida, these are small, planktonic, free-living animals. They are distinguished from closely related groups by having the first antenna shorter than the combined length of the head and thorax, the second antenna being unbranched. The

cephalothorax The cephalothorax, also called prosoma in some groups, is a tagma of various arthropods, comprising the head and the thorax fused together, as distinct from the abdomen behind. (The terms ''prosoma'' and ''opisthosoma'' are equivalent to ''cepha ...

length of the adult female is , and that of the male is .

Life cycle

The eggs take about 42 hours to hatch at 25°C and about 30 hours at 30°C. The average time for development through several nauplia larval stages is 22 days for females and 18 for males.

Ecology

These copepods are capable of rapid movement. Their larval development is metamorphic, and the

embryo An embryo is an initial stage of development of a multicellular organism. In organisms that reproduce sexually, embryonic development is the part of the life cycle that begins just after fertilization of the female egg cell by the male spe ...

s are carried attached to the underside of the first abdominal somite.

Use in biological control

'' Culex quinquefasciatus'' is a vector of the parasites that cause the human disease filariasis. ''Mesocyclops longisetus'' is a predator and feeds on mosquito larvae, including ''C. quinquefasciatus'', with the predatory efficiency against the first and second instars being 84 and 63% respectively. Another method of killing the mosquito larvae is the use of silver nanoparticles synthesized with the help of the green seaweed ''

Caulerpa scalpelliformis ''Caulerpa scalpelliformis'' is a species of seaweed in the ''Caulerpaceae'' family. The epilithic green seaweed typically grows to a height of and has erect fronds that are about wide. The species is found in rock pools up to deep in rough ...

''. Combining these two methods did not significantly alter the predatory efficiency of the copepod, reducing it to 78 and 59% respectively. A trial in Florida which studied the rainwater that accumulates in containers such as tyres, plastic buckets and flower vases, showed that the larvae of the mosquitoes '' Aedes albopictus'', ''

Ochlerotatus triseriatus ''Aedes triseriatus'' is a member of the true fly order (Diptera: Culicidae). It is called the eastern tree hole mosquito due to its predilection towards breeding in stagnant water that is found in natural holding containers such as tree holes. ...

'', and ''Culex quinquefasciatus'' could be eliminated by the introduction into the containers of ''M. longisetus''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q6556308 Cyclopidae Crustaceans described in 1912