The only terrestrial lineage in the Branchiopoda redefined: a new species of Bryospilus Frey, 1980 (Cladocera: Anomopoda) from India and adaptations of waterfleas to life on land.

This article focuses on the discovery and description of a new species of the terrestrial waterflea genus *Bryospilus* (family Chydoridae), named *Bryospilus (Indobryospilus) bharaticus* n. sp., from water-saturated moss patches on basalt plateaus in the Western Ghats, India. This species represents the first record of *Bryospilus* in the Oriental Region and is placed in a newly defined subgenus, *Indobryospilus*, distinguished by unique morphological traits such as three terminal setae on the antennal endopod and the ability to swim, unlike its congeners. The study discusses the genus's specialized adaptations to limno-terrestrial microhabitats, highlighting convergent evolutionary traits with subterranean cladocerans, and presents a revised generic diagnosis and a key to all known *Bryospilus* species. The genus exhibits a disjunct Gondwanan distribution, occurring in tropical and subtropical rainforests across Africa, the Americas, New Zealand, and now India, suggesting an ancient evolutionary lineage adapted to ephemeral terrestrial aquatic habitats.