Kadiweuoniscus Lopez-Orozco , Campos-Filho & Bichuette, 2024

Lopez-Orozco, Carlos Mario, Campos-Filho, Ivanklin Soares, Cordeiro, Livia Medeiros, Gallao, Jonas Eduardo, Carpio-Diaz, Yesenia M., Borja-Arrieta, Ricardo & Bichuette, Maria Elina, 2024, First amphibious Crinocheta (Isopoda, Oniscidea) from the Neotropics with a troglobitic status: a relictual distribution, ZooKeys 1192, pp. 9-27 : 9

Genus Kadiweuoniscus Lopez-Orozco, Campos-Filho & Bichuette gen. nov.

Type species.

Kadiweuoniscus rebellis López-Orozco, Campos-Filho & Bichuette sp. nov., by present designation and monotypy.

Diagnosis.

Troglobitic species with amphibious habit; animals about 5 mm long; dorsal surface weakly granulated; noduli laterales absent; cephalon with lateral lobes weakly developed, frontal and suprantennal lines absent; pleonites 3-5 with epimera elongated, forming acute tips; telson triangular; antennula of three articles, distal article separated from medial article by fine suture; antenna with flagellum of three articles, apical organ long; molar penicil of mandibles dichotomized; maxillule outer branch with eight teeth; maxilla bilobate; maxilliped endite without penicil; male pereopods 1-7 gradually elongated; dactylar seta short and simple; uropod endopod inserted slightly proximally; pleopods 3-5 exopods with fringe of thin setae on all margins.

Etymology.

The new genus is named after the Kadiwéu indigenous people. The Kadiwéu are known as "Indian riders", due to their horse-riding prowess, keeping in their mythology, art and rituals the way of being of a hierarchical society between masters and captives.

Remarks.

The family Philosciidae comprises more than 600 species in 113 genera widely distributed in Australia, southern Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas ( Leistikow 2001; Schmalfuss 2003; Boyko et al. 2023). To date, the family is considered paraphyletic due to characteristics shared with the Halophilosciidae and Scleropactidae ( Leistikow 2001; Schmidt 2003, 2008).

The family has great morphological plasticity and the representatives are mainly recognized by the ‘runner-type’ habitus (sensu Schmalfuss 1984), body with a dorsal surface smooth or slightly tuberculated, pereonites 1-7 with one or two lines of noduli laterales per side (sometimes present on cephalon and pleonites), antennula and antennal flagellum of three articles, mandibles with molar penicil simple or dichotomized, maxillula outer endite with outer set of teeth simple or cleft or pectinated, maxilla bilobated, maxilliped endite bearing ventral penicil or triangular seta (sometimes absent), uropod branches unequal or similar in length and inserted at same or on distinct levels, and pleopod exopods with out respiratory areas or with covered monospiracular lungs ( Taiti and Ferrara 1980, 1982; Ferrara et al. 1994; Araujo and Leistikow 1999; Leistikow and Araujo 2001; Leistikow 2001).

Kadiweuoniscus gen. nov. is included in Philosciidae by having most of these mentioned characters. The new genus is easily distinguishable from the other genera of Philosciidae due to its amphibian habit, and the pleonites 3-5 epimera elongated. As mentioned, the amphibious behavior is also present in species of Haloniscus ; however, the new genus differs in the cephalon lacking frontal and suprantennal lines (vs. present in Haloniscus , except H. anophthalmus Taiti, Ferrara & Iliffe, 1995), pleonites 3-5 epimera elongated (vs. pleonites 3-5 epimera reduced in Haloniscus ), antennula distal and medial articles separated by fine suture (vs. antennula with three distinct articles in Haloniscus ), antennal flagellum with long apical organ (vs. short in Haloniscus ), maxillula outer branch with 4 + 4 teeth, long and curved (vs. maxilla with 4 or 5 + 6 in Haloniscus ), and maxilliped endite without penicil (vs. present in Haloniscus ).