Paractenoscia, Taiti & Rossano, 2015

Taiti, Stefano & Rossano, Claudia, 2015, Terrestrial isopods from the Oued Laou basin, north-eastern Morocco (Crustacea: Oniscidea), with descriptions of two new genera and seven new species, Journal of Natural History 49 (33), pp. 2067-2138 : 2081-2082

Genus Paractenoscia gen. nov.

Diagnosis

Pereonites with one line of noduli laterales per side, noduli inserted more or less at the same distance from the lateral margins and at the same distance from the posterior margins of the pereonites. No visible gland pores on lateral margins of pereonites. Cephalon with suprantennal line and without frontal line. Pleon distinctly narrower than pereon; epimera of pleonites 3–5 adpressed, ventrally with small posterior points not visible in dorsal view. Antennule with petaliform aesthetascs. Molar process of mandible dichotomized (i.e. consisting of some plumose setae each arising separately). Outer branch of maxillule with some pectinate teeth; inner branch with short and stout penicils and without posterior point. Inner lobe of maxilla with verruca-like protuberances and a tuft of short segmented sticks. Maxilliped endite without penicil. Pereopods with inner claw of dactylus enlarged. Pleopodal exopod without respiratory structures. Uropods with protopod and exopod grooved on outer margin; insertion of endopod and exopod almost at the same level.

Etymology

From the Greek ‘pará’ = beside, near + Ctenoscia . The name refers to the similarities with the genus Ctenoscia .

Remarks

Paractenoscia is very similar to the genera Ctenoscia and Anaphiloscia Racovitza, 1907 from the Mediterranean area. It is readily distinguished from both in the maxilla with verruca-like protuberances and a tuft of short sticks on outer lobe; from Ctenoscia also in having the noduli laterales all close to the posterior margin of the pereonites, antennule with petaliform instead of thin aesthetascs, molar process of the mandible dichotomized instead of semidichotomized (i.e. consisting of some plumose setae arising from a common stem, see Ferrara et al. 1995), and maxillular inner branch with short and stout penicils and without posterior point; from Anaphiloscia also in having pointed instead of fan-shaped dorsal scale-setae and dichotomized instead of simple molar penicil. Pectinate maxillular teeth are present also in the genera Benthanops Barnard, 1932 from South Africa, Benthana Budde-Lund, 1908 , Benthanoides Lemos de Castro, 1958 and Alboscia Schultz, 1995 from South America. Paractenoscia differs from Benthanops in the number and position of the noduli laterales (see Taiti and Ferrara 1982), from Benthana , Benthanoides and Alboscia in the inner branch of the maxillule with short and stout instead of long and thin penicils and in the peculiar shape of the maxilla with the inner lobe covered with verruca-like protuberances and with a tuft of short segmented sticks near the medial margin, features not present in any other genera of Philosciidae .