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
Soteriscus laouensis
sp. nov.
(
Figures 21
and
22
)
Figure 21.
Soteriscus laouensis
sp. nov.
from St. 16, paratype ♀: (A) adult specimen, dorsal view; (B) dorsal scale-seta; (C) co-ordinates of noduli laterals; (D) cephalon, dorsal view; (E) cephalon, frontal view; (F) cephalon and pereonite 1, lateral view; (G) pereonite 7, right side; (H) pleonites 4, 5, telson and uropods; (I) antennule; (J) antenna; (K) uropod, lateral view.
Figure 22.
Soteriscus laouensis
sp. nov.
from St. 16, paratype ♂: (A) pereopod 1; (B) pereopod 7; (C) genital papilla and pleopod 1; (D) pleopod 2; (E) pleopod 3 exopod; (F) pleopod 4 exopod; (G) pleopod 5 exopod.
Material examined
Holotype
:
♂
,
St.
16, along road margin under stones, leg.
S. Taiti
,
28 April 2004
(
MZUF 9509
)
.
Paratypes
:
1 ♂♂
,
35 ♀♀
, same data as holotype (
MZUF 9509
)
.
Description
Maximum length:
♂
,
13 mm
;
♀
,
16 mm
. Body enlarged, outline as in
Figure 21A
. Colour: male brown-grey with the usual yellowish muscle spots; female light brown with a marbled pattern, two darker spots per side on the anterior part of pereonites; antennae uniformly grey; pereopods pale with numerous dark spots; pleopodal exopods dark. Back smooth with some scattered short triangular scalesetae (
Figure 21B
); a distinct sulcus marginalis on lateral margins of pereon epimera with numerous gland pores along its whole length (
Figure 21G
); numerous gland pores scattered on the whole dorsal surface of the body; noduli laterales clearly visible, inserted more or less at the same distance from the lateral margin of the pereonites, b/c and d/c co-ordinates as in
Figure 21C
. Cephalon (
Figure 21D–F
) with no suprantennal line, frontal line straight; very small lateral lobes bent downwards and not protruding frontwards; eye with about 26 ommatidia. Pereonites 1–3 with posterior margin regularly convex; pereonite 4 with posterior margin straight; pereonites 5–6 with posterior corners pointing backwards, pereonite 7 with acute posterior corners and slightly sinuous posterior margin at sides. Pleonites 3–5 with well-developed falciform posterior points (
Figure 21H
). Telson triangular with distinctly concave sides (
Figure 21H
). Antennule (
Figure 21I
) with first article longer than second and third; third article with a short triangular point and a tuft of elongated aesthetascs at apex. Antenna (
Figure 21J
) reaching back posterior margin of pereonite 3; fifth article of peduncle almost as long as flagellum; first flagellar article about 1.5 longer than second. Buccal pieces as in the preceding species. Pleopodal exopods 1 and 2 with monospiracular covered lungs. Uropod (
Figure 21K
) with a triangular depression on protopodal outer margin; exopod about twice as long as endopod; endopod proximally inserted.
Male: Carpus and distal part of merus of pereopod 1 (
Figure 22A
), pereopod 2 and, to a lesser extent, pereopod 3 with a brush of pointed setae. Pereopod 7 (
Figure 22B
) ischium with slightly convex sternal margin and a longitudinal depression and a setose area on rostral surface; merus elongated, without peculiar structures. Pleopod 1 (
Figure 22C
) exopod with long medial lobe almost three times as long as wide, with some short setae along its margin and a broadly rounded apex; endopod with distal part with almost parallel sides and a tuft of short setae at apex. Pleopod 2 (
Figure 22D
) endopod distinctly longer than exopod. Pleopod 3–5 exopods as in
Figure 22E–G
.
Etymology
The species is named after the Oued Laou basin, where the specimens were collected.
Remarks
In having the male pleopod 1 exopod with a long medial lobe
S. laouensis
is similar to
S. gaditanus
,
S. fuscovariegatus
and
S. gibbosus
sp. nov.
It is readily distinguishable from
S. gaditanus
in having the male pleopod 1 exopod with broadly rounded instead of triangular apical part and shorter uropodal exopods; from
S. fuscovariegatus
in the less protruding lateral lobes of cephalon (see
Figure 3A
in
Vandel 1956b
) and comparatively longer and thinner uropods; and from
S. gibbosus
in lacking the hump on the male pereopod 7 merus and distinctly thinner medial lobe of the male pleopod 1 exopod.