Terrestrial isopods from the Oued Laou basin, north-eastern Morocco (Crustacea: Oniscidea), with descriptions of two new genera and seven new species
Author
Taiti, Stefano
Istituto per lo Studio degli Ecosistemi, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Florence, Italy;
Author
Rossano, Claudia
Dipartimento di Biologia, University of Florence, Florence, Italy
text
Journal of Natural History
2015
2015-02-28
49
33
2067
2138
journal article
21136
10.1080/00222933.2015.1009512
c5336d61-ecae-4eb6-8592-60f43e587af8
1464-5262
3999869
DCBF3103-1463-4A32-9BC0-A4CFE8B762AE
Bathytropa rifensis
sp. nov.
(
Figures 12–14
)
Material examined
Holotype
:
♂
,
St.
15, sieved ground near stream, leg.
S. Taiti
,
27 April 2004
(
MZUF 9474
)
.
Paratypes
:
2 ♂♂
,
5 ♀♀
, same data as holotype (
MZUF 9474
)
.
Description
Maximum length:
♂
,
2.8 mm
;
♀
, 4.0 mm. Colour pale. Body strongly convex with epimera of pereon and pleon enlarged, obliquely directed, clinger
type
(
Schmalfuss 1984
). Dorsal surface of cephalon, pereon and pleon with large tubercles and ribs arranged as in
Figure 12A
. Back covered with triangular scale-setae (
Figure 12B
); posterior margins of the body segments with rectangular scale-setae (
Figure 12C
); one line of noduli laterales per side arranged on top of the outmost tubercle of the posterior row of each pereonite. Cephalon (
Figure 12D, E
) with median lobe raised up, broadly rounded in dorsal view and rectangular in frontal view; quadrangular lateral lobes, obliquely directed and slightly more protruding frontwards than median lobe; no suprantennal line; eye small with five ommatidia. Pereon with quadrangular epimera progressively pointing backwards from first to seventh; posterior margin of the first pereonite slightly sinuous at sides. Pleonites 3–5 with subrectangular epimera continuing the outline of the pereon. Telson slightly wider than long, triangular with straight sides and broadly rounded apex (
Figure 12F
). Antennule (
Figure 12G
) with second article much shorter than first and third; third article with an apical tuft of four aesthetascs. Antenna (
Figure 12H
) with flagellum about as long as fifth article of peduncle; second flagellar article about four times as long as first, bearing a row of four aesthetascs in the middle. Mandibles with molar penicil consisting of four or five hairy setae; left mandible (
Figure 13A
) with 2 + 1 free penicils; right mandible (
Figure 13B
) with 1 + 1 free penicils. Maxillule (
Figure 13C
) outer branch with 4 + 7 (3 cleft) teeth; inner branch with two short stout penicils and a distinct apical point. Maxilla (
Figure 13D
) distally bilobate with setose apex; inner lobe much wider than outer one. Maxilliped (
Figure 13E
) endite with three triangular stout teeth on distal margin and no penicil; first article of palp with two setae, the medial one much longer than the outer one. Pleopodal exopods with no respiratory structures as in most species of the genus.
Figure 12.
Bathytropa rifensis
sp. nov.
from St. 15, paratype ♀: (A) adult specimen, dorsal view; (B) dorsal scale-seta; (C) scale-seta on posterior margins of segments; (D) cephalon, dorsal view; (E) cephalon, frontal view; (F) pleonite 5, telson and right uropod; (G) antennule; (H) antenna.
Figure 13.
Bathytropa rifensis
sp. nov.
from St. 15, paratype ♂: (A) left mandible; (B) right mandible; (C) maxillule; (D) maxilla; (E) maxilliped; (F) pereopod 1.
Figure 14.
Bathytropa rifensis
sp. nov.
from St. 8, paratype ♂: (A) pereopod 7; (B) genital papilla and pleopod 1; (C) pleopod 2; (D) pleopod 3 exopod; (E) pleopod 4 exopod; (F) pleopod 5 exopod.
Male: Pereopod 1 (
Figure 13F
) with no distinct sexual modifications. Pereopod 7 (
Figure 14A
) ischium enlarged in the distal part, with straight sternal margin. Pleopod 1 (
Figure 14B
) exopod subtriangular with rounded distal part; endopod with pointed apical part slightly bent outwards. Pleopod 2 (
Figure 14C
) endopod with apical part flagelliform, slightly longer than exopod. Pleopod 3–5 exopods as in
Figure 14D–F
.
Etymology
The name refers to Rif where the specimens have been collected.
Remarks
At present the genus
Bathytropa
includes 10 species distributed in the Mediterranean area (
Schmalfuss 2003
). According to
Vandel (1962)
,
B. meinertii
Budde-Lund, 1885
includes two subspecies:
B. m.
meinertii
and
B. m. costata
Budde-Lund, 1885
. The new species is readily distinguishable from
B. meinertii costata
,
B. tuberculata
Racovitza, 1908
, and
B. schembrii
Caruso and Lombardo,
1982
in the presence of two paramedian tubercles instead of a single median tubercle on pleonites; from
B. granulata
Aubert and Dollfus, 1890
and
B. graevei
(
Verhoeff, 1940
)
in having distinct dorsal ribs and tubercles instead of granulations; from
B. wahrmani
Strouhal,
1968
in the telson triangular with rounded apex, instead of hour-glass-shaped, and the absence of respiratory structures on the pleopods; from
B. meinertii meinertii
,
B. colasi
Vandel, 1954
,
B. dollfusi
Strouhal, 1936
,
B. patanei
Caruso, 1973a
and
B. ruffoi
Caruso, 1973b
in the number and disposition of dorsal ornamentation. In northern Africa three species of
Bathytropa
were previously recorded:
B. tuberculata
and
B. meinertii
,
with both subspecies
B. m.
meinertii
and
B. m. costata
, from
Algeria
, and
B. colasi
Vandel, 1954
from ‘Berberie’ (
Vandel 1955b
).