Mladenoniscus belavodae

Karaman, Ivo M. & Horvatović, Mladen, 2008, Mladenoniscus belavodae n. g., n. sp., a troglobitic oniscid (Isopoda: Oniscidea: Trichoniscidae) from Macedonia, Zootaxa 1687, pp. 60-66 : 61-64

Mladenoniscus belavodae n. g., n. sp., Karaman

( Figs 1–17 )

Material examined. Holotype. male, Bela voda cave (White water), Demir Kapija gorge ( Macedonia), (UTM–FL08) 23. 0 2. 2007., leg. I. Karaman and M. Horvatović (Inv. No 920; collection hosted by the Department of Biology and Ecology—Novi Sad, Serbia). Paratypes. 1 male paratype, ibid., 0 4. 0 4. 1998., leg. I. Karaman (Inv. No 1050), 6 male and 14 female paratypes and one juvenile; ibid., 23. 0 2. 2007. leg. I. Karaman and M. Horvatović (Inv. No 920; collection hosted by the Department of Biology and Ecology— Novi Sad, Serbia; 1 male and 1 female paratypes in Museo Zoologico "La Specola" dell'Universita, Florence, Italy).

Diagnosis. A blind, small species (up to 2.69 mm long), with slender body (four time as long as maximal width). Cephalon with three rows of tubercles; Pereon tergites with a row of 8 tubercles; 3. pleonal tergite with four tubercles; exopodite of male pleopod 1 oval, slightly concave terminally.

Description of male holotype. Total body length 2.30 mm. Cephalon (as on Figs 3–5 ) short and wide with three rows of tubercles; a row of six very small tubercles frontally, a row of six simple tubercles above them and a row of six big tubercles on the hind margin of the cephalon. Lateral pairs of the third row are doubled. Lateral lobes are short and wide, ventrally oriented.

Pereon tergites (as on Figs 1–3, 6 ) convex, netlike ornamented ( Fig. 16 ) with a row of eight tubercles. Medial pair of tubercles is single, sub lateral pair is tripled and lateral pairs are doubled.

Pleon (as on Figs 1–2 ) convex; pleonal segments 3–5 with developed epimera. Pleonal segment 3. with four tubercles, medial pair more pronounced. Pleon 3. slightly netlike ornamented, other pleonal segments smooth.

Pleotelson (as on Fig. 1 ) smooth with widely rounded distal part.

Antennula (Fig. 12) bearing 3 aesthetascs and a spine like protrusion on terminal article latero-distally; terminal article elongated, 4 times longer than wide.

Antenna (Fig. 13) with stout articles; flagellum longer than article 5.

Right mandible with one penicil; pars incisiva with three teeth; lacinia mobilis finely thorny in apical widened part; pars molaris with a short reduced penicil anteriorly on medial margin, grinding surfaces with 6 furrows.

Left mandible with three penicils; pars incisiva lateralis with four teeth; pars incisiva medialis with three teeth; pars molaris oval in shape, grinding surfaces with 5 furrows.

Maxilla 1 exopodite (as on Fig. 8 ) with 3 strong outer teeth, 7 inner tooth, two of them very short; one elongated pectinate seta terminally; endopodite (as on Fig. 7 ) with three penicils, terminal one very short, inner one stout and elongated.

Maxilla 2 (as on Fig. 9 ) outer lobe with 2 strong rodlike setae on its tip; inner lobe with a row of rodlike setae on its tip and medial edge; inner side of both lobes with brush like surface of dense, very tiny elongated setae.

Maxilliped (as on Fig. 10 ) endopodite with widened latero-distal margin, terminally protruding; margin of protrusion with rows of remarquable elongated tiny setae; palp terminally and on medial edge bearing strong setae; outer edge with two low protrusions, each with 1 strong and 1 simple setae; endite distally truncate, with a stout penicil near medial margin and a spine like protrusion of latero-distal margin, a large seta subapically and a short spine apically near inner margin.

Pereopods 1–7 similar in shape, with stout articles; carpus and merus as long as wide. pereopod 7 ( Figs 11 , 17 ) without noticeable secondary sexual characteristics.

Genital papilla (Fig. 14) simple, setose.

Pleopod 1 (Fig. 14) endopodite biarticulated, terminal article setose, longer than basal. Basal article with longitudinal carina medio-ventrally; exopodite oval, as long as wide, slightly concave terminally.

Pleopod 2 (Fig. 15). Endopodite stout, triarticulated; distal article spiniform, medial article twice as long as basal article. Trapezoidal exopodite wider than long; distal margin almost straight with a spine like setae paramedially.

Uropod basis dilated posteriorly; exopodite and endopodite conical, articulated almost at the same level and with a tuft of setae at the apex; endopodite shorter than exopodite.

Females differ from males only in the structure of pleopod 1 and 2.

Variation. Range of measurements in body length of males 1.84–2.30 mm and females 1.86–2.56 mm. Remarks. In February 2007, a few specimens of A. vardarensis , originally described from the Bela Voda Cave, were found in mesovoid shallow substratum (MSS) above a fountain in the Demir Kapija gorge, together with specimens of some Haplophthalmus species. No specimens of M. belavodae n. g., n. sp. were found in the same location. We consider that M. belavodae n. g., n. sp. could be regarded as eutroglobitic, since we found it only in the deeper parts of the cave with persistently increased humidity, while A. vardarensis shows somewhat higher tolerance against this factor.

FIGURES 12–15. Mladenoniscus belavodae n. g., n. sp. 12–13, Paratype female. 12, Antennula ; 13. Antenna, 14–15. Holotype. 14, Pleopod 1 and genital papilla. 15, Pleopod 2. Scale bar = 0.1 mm.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 6. Mladenoniscus belavodae n. g., n. sp., paratype female (2.46 mm). 1, Dorsal view of the body. 2, Lateral view of the body. 3, Cephalon and pereon tergites 1 – 3, dorsal view. 4, Cephalon, lateral view. 5, Cephalon, frontal view. 6, Anterior part of the animal, frontal view.

FIGURES 7 – 11. Mladenoniscus belavodae n. g., n. sp. 7 – 10, Mouth parts of paratype female. 7, Endopodite of maxilla 1. 8, Exopodite of maxilla 1. 9, Maxilla 2. 10, Maxilliped. 11, Holotype, pereopod 7. Scale bar = 0.2 mm.

FIGURES 16 – 17. Mladenoniscus belavodae n. g., n. sp. 16, Details of the integument ornamentic. 17, Paratype male, propodus and dactylus of pereopod 7.