Cyphonethes Verhoeff, 1926

Karaman, Ivo M. & Horvatović, Mladen, 2018, Revision of the genera Cyphonethes Verhoeff, 1926 and Titanethes Schioedte, 1849 (Isopoda: Oniscoidea: Trichoniscidae) with a description of a new genus and three new taxa, Zootaxa 4459 (2), pp. 261-284 : 263

Genus Cyphonethes Verhoeff, 1926

Microtitanethes: Pljakić, 1977 syn. nov.

Cyphonethes: Tabacaru, 1996

Microtitanethes: Tabacaru, 1996

Cyphonethes: Schmalfuss, 2003

Microtitanethes: Schmalfuss, 2003

Type species. Cyphonethes herzegowinensis ( Verhoeff, 1900)

Species composition. C. herzegowinensis ( Verhoeff, 1900) , C. biseriatus ( Verhoeff, 1900) comb. nov. transferred from the genus Titanethes and C. tajanus n. sp. described here.

Diagnosis. Troglobite blind animals. Distolateral part of maxilliped endopodite with sharply tapered tip; terminal peniciles of maxilla 1 endopodite as long or shorter than endopodite diameter; exopodite of maxilla 1 with elongated teeth, terminal three teeth as long or longer than exopodite diameter; maxilla 2 outer lobe remarkable shorter than inner lobe and with obtuse (rounded) tip; rod-like setae on maxilla 2 located as subapical row on ventral surface and row along the inner margin on dorsal surface; male pleopod 1 endopodite basal article shorter than terminal one; male pleopod 1 exopodite triangular; terminal article of male pleopod 2 endopodite simple, rodlike form; basal article of endopodite of pleopod 2 as long as exopodite.

Remarks. To date the genus Cyphonethes has been treated as monotypic. It was established by Verhoeff, 1926, as a subgenus of the genus Tithanethes and elevated to the generic level by Tabacaru (1996). Working on this issue, we found that the species Titanethes biseriatus shows clear affinities to the species Cyphonethes herzegowinensis and shares key generic differential characters, so we transferred it to the genus Cyphonethes as Cyphonethes biseriatus ( Verhoeff, 1900) comb. nov. We also found a new species close to it from the vicinity of Zavidovići in central Bosnia, Cyphonethes tajanus n. sp.