Koweitoniscus shafieii Kashani

Kashani, Ghasem M., Abedini, Ahdiyeh & Montesanto, Giuseppe, 2018, Terrestrial isopods of the family Eubelidae Budde-Lund, 1899 from Iran, with description of a new species (Isopoda, Oniscidea), ZooKeys 801, pp. 177-187 : 177

Koweitoniscus shafieii Kashani sp. n. Figs 3, 4, 5

Material examined.

Holotype: ♂, 10 mm, [15] Kerman, Jebalbarez to Jiroft, 10 Km to Jiroft, 28°45.8'N, 57°45.5'E, elev. 835m, 25 Feb. 2009, leg. G.M. Kashani (ZUTC 6747). Paratypes: 1 ♀, same data as holotype (ZUTC 6748); 1 ♀, same data as holotype (IRIPP Iso.1009); 2 ♂♂, 4 ♀♀, same data as holotype (PCGMK 1450); [16] 1 ♂, Jiroft, 6 Apr. 2009, leg. E. Entezari (PCGMK 1440).

Diagnosis.

Head with an interrupted frontal ridge; inner lobe of schisma longer than outer one; telson with pointed distal part; male pleopod 1 endopodite bent inward with pointed apex.

Description.

Maximum length: male 10 mm; female 11 mm.

Coloration: vertex, pereon-tergites, pleon-tergites 3-5 and telson blackish; posterior margins of pereon-tergites II-III, pereon and pleon epimera, uropods, pleonites I-II and pereopods yellowish (Figure 3A). Body smooth, convex, able to roll up into a ball (Figs 3A, 4A).

Cephalothorax (Figs 3C, D; 4B, C) with frontal ridge broadly open in the middle; eyes with 16-18 ommatidia. Antennula (Figure 4D) with second article shortest; third article bearing a tuft of aesthetascs at apex. Antenna (Figure 4E) with fifth article of peduncle longer than flagellum; flagellum with two articles, proximal article as long as the distal one.

Pereonite 1 (Figs 3A, 4A) with a wide sulcus arcuatus along the lateral margin; posterolateral corner with a schisma, inner and outer lobes rounded, inner lobe more protruding backwards than outer one; posterior margin straight.

Telson (Figs 3B, 4F) approximately 1.3 times as wide as long, with concave sides and distal part triangular with pointed apex. Uropod (Figs 3B, 4F) with subquadrangular protopodite, posterior margin slightly sinuous but not indented; exopodite minute inserted dorsally near the posterior margin.

Male: Pereopods 1-4 carpus with a brush of pointed setae (Figure 5A). Pereopod 7 (Figure 5B) ischium narrow with concave ventral margin; merus and carpus elongated, without distinct specializations. Pleopod 1endopodite (Figure 5C) with medial part bent outward and distal part bent inward with pointed apex bearing a row of fine setae on outer margin; exopodite (Figure 5D) short, with widely rounded hind lobe equipped with a row of pointed setae. Pleopod 2 (Figure 5E) exopodite longer than wide with numerous small scales and a line of setae on the outer margin. Pleopod 3-5 exopodites as in Figs 5 F–H.

Etymology.

The species is named after Dr. Soheila Shafiei, Ph.D. classmate of GMK, now a herpetologist in Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Iran.

Remarks.

The genus Koweitoniscus presently embraces five species ( Schmalfuss 2003; Taiti and Checcucci 2011; Kashani 2014, Taiti and Montesanto 2018): K. tamei (Omer-Cooper, 1923) from Syria, Iraq, Kuwait and Iran, K. rostratus Ferrara & Taiti, 1986 from south-western Saudi Arabia, K. vanharteni Ferrara & Taiti, 1996 from Yemen, K. korshunovi Taiti & Checcucci, 2011 from the United Arab Emirates, and K. agnellii Taiti & Montesanto, 2018 from Djibouti. The new species differs from K. rostratus and K. vanharteni in having an interrupted frontal margin in the cephalothorax, and from K. tamei , K. korshunovi , and K. agnellii in having the inner lobe of schisma longer than outer one and the distal part of the male pleopod 1 endopodite bent inward with pointed apex. Koweitoniscus shafieii was found in southern Iran and according to current knowledge appears to be endemic to this region.

Distribution.

Iran (endemic): Jiroft district.