The freshwater microcrustacea of Easter Island

The Cladocera, Copepod and Ostracod fauna of Easter Island amounts to only five species. Three of these are wide-ranging, and four are cyclic parthenogens or at least capable of parthenogenesis. Two, the Cladoceran Alona weinecki and the Ostracod Sarscypridopsis sp., are more interesting from a biogeographic point of view, because restricted (apart from Easter Island) to the subantarctic. It is argued that this is strong evidence of their introduction by man, not by natural passive dispersal.