An assessment of bryozoan (Phylactolaemata) fauna of Kagzipura Lake, Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India

Abstract

Freshwater Bryozoa is one of the less explored or ignored animal groups from India. Kagzipura Lake, a rainwater fed water body was surveyed for three years to understand the diversity and distribution of bryozoan fauna. The present study depicts four Phylactolaemata bryozoans species as Rumarcanella vorstmani, Plumatella casmiana, Lophopodella carteri and Swarupella divina. The manuscript provides brief descriptions of these species, photomicrographs of statoblasts using scanning electron microscopy and colony characteristics.

Keywords

• Bryozoa
• diversity
• Kagzipura Lake
• Phylactolaemata
• statoblast.