Türkiye?nin Batı Karadeniz bölgesinde bulunan bazı tatlı su mağaralarının ostrakod (Crustacea) faunasının belirlenmesi

In this study nine ostracod taxa belonging to superfamily Cypridoidea were determined from 17 sampling stations of 11 caves in The Western Black Sea region. Among the taxa, eight of them (Ilyocypris bradyi, I. inermis, Candona neglecta, Ilyocypris sp., Candona sp., Psychrodromus sp. Pseudocandona sp. and Heterocypris sp.) were detected from inside and entrance of caves, but Psychrodromus olivaceus was recorded from outside of Çayırköyü cave. Unweighted Pair Group Mean Averages (UPGMA) distinguished the sites into 3 main clusters based on physical and ecological characteristics. Accordingly, about 85% of similarity were found among the sites. The species (I. bradyi, I. inermis and C. neglecta) reported in this present study shows cosmopolitan distribution. Thus, they have a chance of adaptation to cryptic conditions and can tolerate the ecological changes caused possibly by flooding events. Among all the nine taxa, living adultindividuals of I. bradyi, I. inermis and C. neglecta were reported herein for the first time from the cave environments in the literature. In addition to them, the other four taxa (Ilyocypris sp., Candona sp., Heterocypris sp., and Pseudocandona sp.) are also the new records for cave Ostracoda fauna of Turkey.Keywords: Ostracoda, cave, cosmopolitan, distribution, ecology