Iphinoe crassipes Hansen, 1895

Mazziotti, Cristina & Lezzi, Marco, 2020, The cumacean genus Iphinoe (Crustacea: Peracarida) from Italian waters and I. daphne n. sp. from the northwestern Adriatic Sea, Mediterranean, Zootaxa 4766 (2), pp. 331-357 : 338

Iphinoe crassipes Hansen, 1895

Iphinoe crassipes Hansen, 1985 ; p. 53–54. pl. 16 fig 4a–f.

Not Iphinoe crassipes haifae Bâcescu, 1961 ; p. 501 fig. 3D, 4.

Not Iphinoe crassipes Day, 1978 ; p. 224–230, fig. 26–27.

Remarks. The status of I. crassipes was clarified by Corbera (1994) who presented a new description of the adult male. Previous descriptions of I. crassipes ( Hansen 1895) and I. crassipes haifae ( Băcescu 1961) had been based on preadult males. The species differs from other Mediterranean congenerics in that it has two terminal aesthetascs on antenna 1. Moreover, the dorsal carina is unarmed in males ( Corbera 1994) and the CL/CD ratio is about 1.5. Morphological data on female specimens are not available. A truncated pseudorostrum and a pair of lateral carinae are further diagnostic characters of I. crassipes .

Distribution and ecology. Iphinoe crassipes (sensu lato) is present in the western Mediterranean Sea ( Corbera 1994) and in the Levantine sea ( Bâcescu 1969). Its distribution is typical of a circumtropical species Corbera (1994), although Băcescu (1961) explained the record of I. crassipes haifae from the Israel coast as a possible invasion through the Suez Canal.At first Corbera (1994) casted doubt on this hypothesis, based on the occurrence of this species off the northeastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula (Catalogna coast). However, after a finding in a new western Mediterranean locality (along Valenciana coast) Corbera (2015) suggested that this disjunct distribution could be a shipping introduction way.

The species has never been reported from the Italian coast, nor was it found in our samples.

Corbera (1994) reviewed the ecology of Iphinoe crassipes (sensu lato), reporting that the species lives in warm temperate waters ( Hansen 1895, Jones 1956, Le Loeuff & Intes 1972, Day 1978) such as the western coast of Africa, and avoids the cold upwelling zones ( South Africa and Mauritania coasts). Corbera (1994) found this species in sandy bottoms at a depth of 15 m.