Introduction

Abstract

This chapter provides an introduction to the class Ostracoda with a special reference to the freshwater ostracods of the world. Starting with the most recent classification of the group, a reader learns about these interesting crustaceans through the comparative morphology of their appendages, anatomy of the nervous, reproduction, and digestive systems, larval development, and biology, especially parthenogenesis and their dispersal ability. Phylogeny and current trends in ostracodology are also presented briefly here. This chapter includes a total of 44 figures where morphology, anatomy, and studying methods are vividly illustrated.