Ref ID : 3041
Varga Lajos; [Jegkorszaki Reliktum a Balaton vizi Faunajaban] (A Relict of the Ice Age in the Water Fauna of Lake Balaton). Annal.Biol.Tihany XXII:227-234, 1954
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From literary data and my own investigations it can be stated that Kellicottia longispina Kell. (Rotatoria) belongs to the primeval water fauna of Lake Balaton, evolved at the time of diluvial glaciation. This species may be considered a glacial relict in the Balaton. It succeeded in adapting itself to the rise in temperature of the water of the Balaton which occurred in consequence of climatic change. This manifests itself in that it reduced its body size and limited its maximum breeding period to the cool and cold waters of the cold seasons. In water warmer than 15 degrees C it is only rarely to be found and its body size at such times is the smallest. Thus its body size and spines show a characteristic cyclomorphosis in the Balaton. It is probable that the primeval Kellicottia of the Balaton, with the gradual recession of glaciation, also contributed to the populations of the more northen lakes evolving. The Balaton is today the southernmost habitat of Kellicottia in flat country. In high mountain ranges, however, it is to be found still further south (in Gokcha Lake on the southern slopes of the Caucasus). It is today one of the most characteristic and most frequent members of the Balaton plankton during the cold season.