Leptestheria Sars, 1898: 9 sensu Daday, 1913b:

Rogers, D. Christopher, 2020, Spinicaudata Catalogus (Crustacea: Branchiopoda)., Zoological Studies 59 (45), pp. 1-44 : 31-32

Leptestheria Sars, 1898: 9 sensu Daday, 1913b:

44

= Estheria Rüppell in Strauss-Durchheim, 1837 (pro partim), nomen praeoccupatum

= Isaura Joly, 1842 (pro partim), nomen praeoccupatum

= Leptestheriella Daday, 1913a nomen nudum

= Leptestheriella Daday, 1923: 352 (fide Brtek, 1997)

= Sewellestheria Tiwari, 1966 New Combination

= Brtekia Naganawa, 2001b , fide Rogers et al., 2020

= Straskrabia Naganawa, 2001b , fide Rogers et al., 2020

Diagnosis: Populations composed of males and females; amplexus is venter to venter. Rostrum may be sexually dimorphic. Rostrum subtriangular (usually females) to rounded (usually males). Angle between rostrum and frons 150° to 190°. Occipital notch very shallow, broad. Occipital condyle low, rounded, acute or absent, length half or less basal width. Carapace valve length ~1.5–2x valve breadth (umbone to margin). Carapace growth line intervals smooth or ornamented (scarring from algae often mistaken for ornamentation). Carapace typically brown, occasionally black, sometimes with marginal setae. Clasper endopod apically with ventral scales. Endite IV subcylindrical, bearing a dense, apical field of short spiniform setae or scales. Thoracic segments smooth or with spines or setae. Eggs attaching to prolonged cylindrical exopods of thoracopod X and XI. Thoracopod exopods bearing a triangular lamina. Telson posterior margin posteriolateral spine rows confluent dorsally, with confluence not or slightly projecting. Each row has 30+ spines depending on species and gender. Females typically have more and smaller spines than males. Caudal filament originating between at spine row confluence. Caudal filament base flat or borne on low mound. Cercopods arcuate. Cercopod with a dorsomedial longitudinal row of setae or spines on proximal 60–70%. Setae plumose and either long or short. Row terminates with row of 5–10 spines. Cercopod with subapical, dorsal cirrus, extending from 2–8% of cercopod length. Eggs smooth.

Comments: The type species for the genus is Leptestheria siliqva Sars, 1898b , now regarded as a junior synonym of L. rubidgei ( Baird, 1862) . Isaura Joly, 1842 was used to replace Cyzicus (see discussion under Cyzicus ). However, Isaura Joly, 1842 is a homonym of Isaura Savingny, 1817 (Cnidaria) (Kobayashi and Huzita 1943). Isaura Joly, 1842 name was inexplicably used by Alonso (1996) and Dumont and Negrea (2002) for Leptestheria . Brtek (1997) reduced Leptestheriella to a synonym of Leptestheria , based on “… a series of changes between the two groups.” but provided no data and did not elaborate. Preliminary molecular analysis (unpublished) supports this combination.

García and Pereira (2003) review Leptestheria for South America and provide a nearly complete checklist for the world. Rogers et al. (2020) review the genus for the Neotropics. Belk et al. (2002) provides some discussion on characters in new world Leptestheria . Padhye and Ghate (2016) give a table for separating the Indian species. Straškraba (1966) details the range of variation in several European forms.

Tiwari (1966) created the genus Sewellestheria for his S. sambharensis , stating that it differed from Leptestheria by the absence of the lamina epipoditalis found in all other leptestheriids, as well as in some aspects of the telson. However, Tiwari’s (1966: 70) figure 2f depicts a small lamina epipoditalis on the female limb I. Tiwari (1966) stated there was no justification to move this taxon to a separate family. Brtek (2002) unaccountably presented this genus in the Cyzicidae , and suggested that this genus may belong in its own family, but provided no rationale or evidence. Naganawa (2001a) presented this species in an Appendix as belonging in an “undescribed independent family”, but provided no explanation, and later (2001b) moved the genus to a new family Sewellestheriidae . Naganawa’s (2001b) diagnosis is in no way exclusive of the Leptestheriidae . The fact that the lamina epipoditalis is present in Tiwari’s own drawing, and that the remaining characters he used to define his genus are not exclusive, Sewellestheria is treated here as a junior synonym of Leptestheria .

Attributed Species

Leptestheria aethiopica ( Daday, 1923) = Leptestheriella aethiopica Daday, 1923: 376

Comments: Eastern Africa from Egypt and Ethiopia, to the Niger River Valley. Should be compared with L. theilei .

Leptestheria biswasi Tiwari, 1965

C o m m e n t s: R a j a s t h a n, I n d i a. N e e d s t o b e compared with L. jaisalmerensis ( Rogers and Padhye 2015) .

Leptestheria brasiliensis Van Weddingen & Rabet, 2020

Comments: Known only from a few pools in

Palmas de Monte Alto municipality, Bahia State, Brazil.

Leptestheria brevirostris Barnard, 1924: 227

Comments: Damaraland, east of Otjiwarango, Namibia. Figured by Brendonck (1999). Known only from the type locality Tladi.