New records of amphipod crustaceans along the Israeli Mediterranean coast, including a rare Mediterranean endemic species, Maera schieckei Karaman & Ruffo, 1971 Author Lo Brutto, Sabrina Dept. SteBiCeF, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9964-904X sabrina.lobrutto@unipa.it Author Iaciofano, Davide Dept. SteBiCeF, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3345-0668 text Biodiversity Data Journal 2020 8 53864 53864 http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.8.e53864 journal article http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.8.e53864 1314-2828-8-e53864 04FAFAFA5FEE55C6833BCA6152CD4B69 Maera schieckei Karaman and Ruffo, 1971 Maera schieckei described in Karaman and Ruffo 1971 : p. 132, fig. 11-13 Materials Type status: Other material . Occurrence: catalogNumber: MZPA-AMPH-0027 ; recordedBy: S. Piraino ; sex: 5 females ; lifeStage: adult ; Taxon: scientificName: Maeraschieckei Karaman and Ruffo, 1971; order: Amphipoda; family: Maeridae; subgenus: Maera; specificEpithet: schieckei; scientificNameAuthorship: Karaman and Ruffo, 1971; Location: locationID: Rosh Hanikra; waterBody: Mediterranean Sea; country: Israel ; verbatimCoordinateSystem: 33°04'20.35''N, 35°05'42.10''E; Event: eventDate: 2009 June ; Record Level: basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Other material . Occurrence: catalogNumber: MZPA-AMPH-0027 ; recordedBy: S. Piraino ; sex: 2 females ; lifeStage: adult ; Taxon: scientificName: Maeraschieckei Karaman and Ruffo, 1971; order: Amphipoda; family: Maeridae; subgenus: Maera; specificEpithet: schieckei; scientificNameAuthorship: Karaman and Ruffo, 1971; Location: locationID: Haifa; waterBody: Mediterranean Sea; country: Israel ; verbatimCoordinateSystem: 32°48'47.42''N, 34°57'16.15''E; Event: eventDate: 2009 June ; Record Level: basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Description Body : Body slender, up to 6 mm long (Fig. 2 A). Head : Lateral cephalic lobes rounded, antennal sinus shallow; eyes subrounded. Antenna 1 length about 1/2 body, peduncle articles 1-2 subequal, article 3 shorter; flagellum with 9 articles, shorter than peduncle; accessory flagellum with 5 articles. Antenna 2, article 3 of peduncle 2 x as long as broad, article 4 longer than 5, flagellum with 5-6 articles; antennal gland cone reaching tip of peduncle article 3. Mandibular palp article 1 with distal tooth, article 2 longer than 3. Pereon : Coxae 1-4 short, coxa 1 with anterodistal corner acutely produced. Gnathopod 1 carpus longer than propodus, propodus ovate; palm oblique, convex; dactylus with 1 anterior seta. Gnathopod 2 carpus short, propodus large, subtrapezoidal, twice as long as broad; palm with a median excavation (in male, palm slightly oblique, with deep medial excavation flanked by 2 strong teeth, defined by 2 spines and a small tooth; dactylus stout, with row of setae on anterior margin (Fig. 2 B, D). Peraeopods 3-4 slender. Peraeopods 5-7 relatively slender, basis almost 2 x as long as broad, posterodistal lobe present; dactylus half-length of propodus, nail short, anterior margin with 1-3 minute teeth. Pleon : Epimeral plates 1-2 with small posterodistal tooth. Epimeral plate 3 postero-distal corner produced with several teeth (Fig. 2 C). Uropod 1 peduncle with 1 ventro-facial spine, rami subequal. Uropod 2 shorter than uropod 1, rami subequal. Uropod 3 stout, not exceeding tip of uropod 1, peduncle as long as rami; rami subequal, 1-articulate with distal spines as long as rami. Telson nearly as long as broad, deeply cleft. Telson lobes bifurcate with 2 long distal spines (of unequal length) and 3 plumose setae. Distribution Mediterranean. Italy: Tyrrhenian Sea, Gulf of Naples ( Karaman and Ruffo 1971 ). Spain: Menorca Channel ( Junoy and Vieitez 2008 ). Algeria: Bay of Oran ( Bakalem et al. 2014 ). Italy: Gulf of Castellammare ( Lo Brutto 1991 ); Turkey: Bay of Izmir ( Kocatas and Katagan 1978 , Cinar et al. 2006 ); Anamur Bay ( Bakir and Katagan 2014 ); Israel: Haifa Bay (Fig. 3 ). General: Mediterranean endemic. Notes Five species of Maera have been recorded in the Mediterranean Sea: M. grossimana (Montagu, 1808), M. hirondellei Chevreux, 1900, M. pachytelson Karaman & Ruffo, 1971, M. schieckei and M. sodalis Karaman & Ruffo, 1971 (accessed at http://www.marinespecies.org/amphipoda on 05-04-2020). Maera schieckei is distinguished from congeneric Mediterranean species by the presence of a median U-shaped excavation in the palm of the second gnathopods and several teeth on the posterodistal corner of third epimeral plate (character not always appreciable) (Fig. 2 B, C, D). The genus Maera , erected by Leach (1814) , is one of the oldest amphipod genera, which has undergone extensive revision, throughout which Maera schieckei has maintained its original name and taxonomic position. The specimens described in this study corresponds to the morphology of Maera schieckei as described by Karaman and Ruffo 1971 and available also in Ruffo (1982) .