ИСТИНА

Lake Kud-Thing in Bueng Kan province is a Ramsar site in Northeast Thailand. Qualitative and quantitative samples of Cladocera from over 125 sites were collected in the littoral and open water zones of the lake during June-August 2012 and February-November 2014. A total of 58 cladoceran species was identified, belonging to families Sididae, Macrothricidae, Daphnidae, Moinidae, Bosminidae, Ilyocryptidae and Chydoridae. Of these, Anthalona spinifera Tiang-nga, Sinev & Sanoamuang is new to science and three [Chydorus idrisi Sinev, Karualona kwangsiensis (Chiang) and Streblocerus cf. serricaudatus Fisher] are first records for Thailand. The most diverse family was Chydoridae with 32 species. The most abundant, planktonic species were Ceriodaphnia cornuta, Bosmina meridionalis and Ephemeroporus barroisi. The number of cladocerans in this study is remarkably higher than that of previous studies in other natural lakes (17-32 species) within Thailand. In addition to previous records, the number of cladoceran fauna of Lake Kud-Thing is updated to 66 species, approximately two times higher than that of other lakes in this region. Thus, our results suggest that Lake Kud-Thing is a biodiversity hotspot for Cladocera of South-East Asia.