Abstract

BARBA, Everardo; JUAREZ-FLORES, Juan  and  ESTRADA-LORETO, Feliciana. Abundance and distribution of crustaceans in wetlands of Tabasco. Rev. Mex. Biodiv. [online]. 2010, vol.81, suppl., pp.153-163. ISSN 2007-8706.

The state of Tabasco is characterised by complex and diverse wetlands of different types: palustrine (20.72%), coastal (3.93%), lacustrine (1.74%) and riverine (1.37%), covering 27% of its surface. Faunal diversity of these wetlands includes invertebrates and vertebrates, most of the available records come from species with commercial importance. The list of crustaceans collected from 2003 to date in the subregions Sierra, Ríos and Pantanos, is presented. The sampling at 14 localities was diurnal (lotic and lentic environments), using cores and dredges for the infauna and different nets for epifauna. A total of 2 370 organisms belonging to 4 orders, 15 families, 17 genera and 17 species, was obtained. The most abundant species were: Discapseudes holthuisi Bacescu y Gutu, 1975 (62%), Macrobrachium acanthurus (Wiegmann, 1836) (12%), Leptochirus sp. Zaddach, 1844 (8%) and Palaemonetes vulgaris (Say, 1818) (7%), accounting for 89% of the total abundance. Infaunal abundance represented 67% and epifaunal 33%. Eighty-one percent of the organisms were collected in lentic environements and 19% in lotic systems. The present study contributes with new records of crustaceans for the wetlands of Tabasco.

Keywords : crustaceans; freshwater wetlands; Tabasco.