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Abstract:
Summary
i). New localities for the subterranean copepods Chappuisius inopinus Kiefer and C. singeri Chappuis are recorded in the valleys of the Lahn, Niederrhein, Ruhr, Leine and Unterweser rivers.
ii). An analysis of the ecological features of their habitats shows both species are typical inhabitants of subsoil water in layers of sand and gravel some distance from the river beds. Orghidan´s “hyporheical biotope” is colonised by Chappuisius secondarily from interstitial ground-water which flows underground into the sands and gravels of river beds.
iii). The genus Chappuisius fits into Husmann´s “Parastenocaris-Bathynella Biozönose” and into Thienemann`s group of “Archaische Typen der Süsswasserfauna”.
iv). The mesopsammal biotope of Chappuisius is in accord with the views of Thienemann (1932) concerning the time factor; but Monard´s principle is not applicable.
v). The family Chappuisiidae has arisen from related marine forms which existed in the beach mesopsammal in the Tertiary period.
