Current Status of Freshwater Faunal Diversity in India: Crustacea : Eumalacostraca : Bathynellacea

Bathynellaceans are minute, vermiform, primitive eumalacostracan crustaceans, which are a typical component of the groundwater fauna worldwide. The faunistic investigations undertaken on this group since 2002, specially in the deltaic plain of the Krishna-Godavari basin of the southeastern peninsular India, have yielded nearly nominal 30 species in five genera. Nothing is known about this group from the rest of the country. This essay is primarily meant to provide the reader with the basic morpho-taxonomic details of the bathynellacean body and its various appendages. It will also serve as a basis for further study, and as an introduction to the literature. Besides the identification keys to the Indian genera and their species, the various sampling methods adopted are described and illustrated. Notes are also given on the biogeography and the anthropogenic threats to, and conservation of, the Indian bathynellaceans.