Abstract:

The current numbers of the genus Heterocypris includes about 68 species. When 37 species have males, males of 26 species are not known and data is not available for five species. Among the species of the genus, Heterocypris incongruens has a cosmopolitan distribution but the males of the species have only been reported in Palearctic and Nearctic regions. During an extensive field sampling, total of 6 males and 59 females were collected from Haydolar pond (a man-made pond) in Pazarcık, Kahramanmaraş (Turkey) on 11 June and 08 September of 2010. During this study, we focused on the description of the hemipenis and compared it with others in the genus. Sexual ratio is about 1:10 in favor of females. Zenker’s organ has 28 whorls. The lenght of the hemipenis (Lh =0.23 mm) was about 19% (ca 1/5) of the length of the carapace (L: 1.21 mm) in our samples. Distal and proximal shields of the hemipenis show variability within the indivudals of the male H. incongruens but these shields are similar among some other species (e.g., H. punctata and H. putei). Such similarities in hemipenes may support the fact that the species of the genus may have a monophyletic group. Accordingly, our study suggest that using hemipenis as a taxonomic character should be done with great attention because the shape of hemipenis can be changed by means of several factors.