Alona (crustacean) explained

Alona is a genus of cladocerans in the family Chydoridae. It is one of the largest genera of Cladocera,^[1] and is widely believed to be an artificial group which is in need of systematic revision; the type species is Alona quadrangularis.^[2] Around 240 names at the species level have been described in Alona; it is unclear how many of these are valid, or how they are related.^[3]

Species currently assigned to the genus Alona include:

• Alona hercegovinae Brancelj, 1990
• Alona quadrangularis (O. F. Müller, 1776)
• Alona sketi Brancelj, 1992
• Alona smirnovi Petkovsky & Flossner, 1972

Notes and References

1. Artem Y. Sinev . 2009 . Notes on morphology and taxonomic status of some North American species of the genus Alona Baird, 1843 (Cladocera: Anomopoda: Chydoridae) . . 175 . 1 . 59–77 . 10.1127/1863-9135/2009/0175-0059 .
2. Kay Van Damme & Henri J. Dumont . 2007 . The 'true' genus Alona Baird, 1843 (Crustacea: Cladocera: Anomopoda): position of the A. quadrangularis-group and description of a new species from the Democratic Republic of Congo . . 1943 . 1–25 .
3. Kay Van Damme, Alexey A. Kotov & Henri J. Dumont . 2010 . A checklist of names in Alona Baird 1843 (Crustacea: Cladocera: Chydoridae) and their current status: an analysis of the taxonomy of a lump genus . . 2330 . 1–63 . 10.11646/zootaxa.2330.1.1 . 978-1-86977-456-1 .