THE FAUNA OF ATHALASSIC SALINE WATERS IN AUSTRALIA AND THE ALTIPLANO OF SOUTH-AMERICA - COMPARISONS AND HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES

Similarities and differences between the fauna of inland saline waters in Australia and on the Altiplano are explored and explanations sough t. Elements common to both continents include the calanoid copepod gen us Boeckella (B. triarticulata in Australia, B. poopoensis and B. mete oris in South America) and the cladoceran genus Daphniopsis. Salinity data for Altiplano lakes are given for six species of Boeckella and fo r Daphniopsis. Ostracods have adapted to the open water of saline lake s in Australia but not in South America, a difference that may reflect past differences in the degree of predation by birds. In South Americ a, diatoms are grazed by the flamingos Phoenicoparrus andinus and P. j amesi, while in Australia the main diatom grazer is probably the aquat ic oniscoid isopod Haloniscus searlei. However, at least four species of flamingos were present in Australia during the late Cenozoic and on e or more of these may well have grazed diatoms. The extinction of dia tom-grazing or carnivorous flamingos, or both, in Australia may have b een factors in the unique colonization of inland saline waters by H. s earlei.