''Moina'' is a genus of

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 can ...

s within the family Moinidae. The genus was first described by W. Baird in 1850. They are referred to as water fleas, but are related to the much larger '' Daphnia magna'' and the larger ''

Daphnia pulex ''Daphnia pulex'' is the most common species of water flea. It has a cosmopolitan distribution: the species is found throughout the Americas, Europe, and Australia. It is a model species, and was the first crustacean to have its genome sequenc ...

''. This genus demonstrates the ability to survive in waters containing low oxygen levels, high salinity, and other impurities, including salt pans, and commonly

eutrophication Eutrophication is the process by which an entire body of water, or parts of it, becomes progressively enriched with minerals and nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus. It has also been defined as "nutrient-induced increase in phytopla ...

. An example of such an extreme habitat is the highly saline

Makgadikgadi Pans The Makgadikgadi Pan (Tswana pronunciation ), a salt pan situated in the middle of the dry savanna of north-eastern Botswana, is one of the largest salt flats in the world. The pan is all that remains of the formerly enormous Lake Makgadikg ...

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalaha ...

, which supports prolific numbers of '' Moina belli''. The ''Moina'' are known to be found in various types of bodies of water in Eurasia where new found research indicates that there is an increased presence of biodiversity in regions of Northern Eurasia, Japan and China. There is an increase of new phylogroups found in Northern Eurasia, an increase of 4 new ''Moina'' species in Japan and an increase of five new lineages in China.

Species

''Moina'' contains these species: * '' Moina affinis'' Birge, 1893 * '' Moina australiensis'' G.O. Sars, 1896 * '' Moina baringoensis'' Jenkin, 1934 * '' Moina baylyi'' Forró, 1985 * '' Moina belli'' Gurney, 1904 * '' Moina brachiata'' (Jurine, 1820) (armed waterflea) * '' Moina brachycephala'' Goulden, 1968 * '' Moina brevicaudata'' Вär, 1924 * '' Moina chankensis'' Uénо, 1939 * '' Moina diksamensis'' Van Damme & Dumont, 2008 * '' Moina dubia'' Guerne & Richard, 1892 * '' Moina dumonti'' Kotov et al., 2005 * '' Moina elliptica'' (Аrоrа, 1931) * '' Moina ephemeralis'' Hudec, 1997 * '' Moina eugeniae'' Olivier, 1954 * '' Moina flexuosa'' G.O. Sars, 1896 * '' Moina geei'' Brehm, 1933 * '' Moina gouldeni'' Mirabdullaev, 1993 * '' Moina hartwigi'' Weltner, 1899 * '' Moina hutchinsoni'' Brehm, 1937 * '' Moina juanae'' Brehm, 1948 * '' Moina kazsabi'' Forró, 1988 * '' Moina lipini'' Smirnov, 1976 * '' Moina longicollis'' Jurine, 1820 * '' Moina macrocopa'' (Straus, 1820) (Japanese waterflea) * '' Moina micrura'' Kurz, 1875 * '' Moina minuta'' Hansen, 1899 * '' Moina mongolica'' Daday, 1901 * '' Moina mukhamedievi'' Mirabdullaev, 1998 * '' Moina oryzae'' Hudec, 1987 * '' Moina pectinata'' Gauthier, 1954 * '' Moina propinqua'' G.O. Sars, 1885 * '' Moina reticulata'' (Daday, 1905) * '' Moina rostrata'' McNair, 1980 * '' Moina ruttneri'' Brehm, 1938 * '' Moina salina'' Daday, 1888 * '' Moina tenuicornis'' G.O. Sars, 1896 * '' Moina weismanni'' Ishikawa, 1896 * '' Moina wierzejskii'' Richard, 1895

References

Cladocera Branchiopoda genera {{Branchiopoda-stub