Microparasellus Karaman, 1933

Galassi, Diana M. P., Bruce, Niel L., Fiasca, Barbara & Dole-Olivier, Marie-Jose, 2016, A new family Lepidocharontidae with description of Lepidocharon gen. n., from the Great Barrier Reef, Australia, and redefinition of the Microparasellidae (Isopoda, Asellota), ZooKeys 594, pp. 11-50 : 36-37

Taxon classification Animalia Isopoda Microparasellidae

Microparasellus Karaman, 1933

Microparasellus Karaman, 1933: 17; 1934: 44.-Wilson and Wägele 1994: 725.

Duslenia Lévi, 1950: 42.

Type species.

Microparasellus puteanus Karaman, 1933. Type locality: Skopje, Macedonia. Karaman (1934) formally described the family Microparasellidae , at the same time establishing the genus Microcharon Karaman, 1934. At that point Karaman restricted the genus Microparasellus to the single species Microparasellus puteanus . This in itself does not constitute a subsequent type species designation, and Karaman’s (1934) intention was clearly not to do that as he equally did not designate a type species for Microcharon (this was a common practice at that time).

Other species.

Microparasellus libanicus Chappuis & Delamare Deboutteville, 1954, Lebanon; Microparasellus aloufi Coineau, 1968, Lebanon; Microparasellus hellenicus Argano & Pesce, 1979, Greece.

Remarks.

The generic name Microparasellus established by Karaman (1933) is not an available name because, even though a diagnosis has been given, the type–species was not designated for the genus. This course of action makes the name unavailable under the provisions of the ICZN (1999: Article 67.4.1 which states: "A nominal genus-group taxon stablished after 1930 (or, in the case of an ichnotaxon, after 1999 [Art. 66.1]) must have its type species fixed in the original publication [Art. 13.3]". As the nomenclature within the family Microparasellidae is well established and widely used, a proposition to the ICZN Commission is needed for maintaining the stability of the nomenclature and related authorities. The same situation exists for the genus Microcharon Karaman, 1934, now placed in the new family Lepidocharontidae . This state of affairs, along with the minimal standard of species descriptions, would require a detailed re-examination of the Microparasellus as a whole. Pending this procedure, authorities and dates of common use are hereby maintained.

The Microparasellidae can be regarded as monophyletic as here defined. While we do not enter a discussion into monophyly or otherwise of the Janiroidea, it is apparent, as shown by Wilson’s (1994) analysis, that the Microparasellidae lacks the characteristic operculate pleopods shown by the Janiroidea.

Distribution.

Species of the family are known from North Africa and eastern Europe only.