Stenetrium quinquedens, Kensley & Schotte, 2002

Kensley, B & Schotte, M, 2002, New species and records of Asellota from the Indian Ocean (Crustacea: Peracarida: Isopoda), Journal of Natural History 36, pp. 1421-1461 : 1454-1455

Stenetrium quinquedens sp. nov.

(gure 20)

Type material. HOLOTYPE: USNM 253208 , 2.0 mm, algal turf, Mayotte, Comoro Islands, 3–5 m, 14 March 1991 . PARATYPES: USNM 253209 , three 1.9–2.2 mm, two ovigerous 2.0 mm, four, algal turf, Mayotte, Comoro Islands, 3–5 m, 14 March 1991 .

Other material. USNM 253210 , one, one ovigerous, one, sta K-AL-24, encrusting coralline algae, fore-reef slope, Picard Island , Aldabra, 9ss24¾S, 46ss12¾E, 10 m, 6 April 1983 ; USNM 253211 , two, sta K-AL-124, coral rubble on outer reef slope, Aldabra , 22 m, 13 April 1987 ; ZMUC, one, sta CRU-1891, coral on Murogo Reef , Zanzibar, 16 m, 20 September 1995 ; ZMUC, one, one ovigerous, sta CRU-1902, oV Matemwe , Mnemba Island, Zanzibar, 9ss13¾S, 35ss10¾E, 25 m, 25 September 1995 .

Diagnosis. Cephalon having strong anterolateral tooth, lacking antennal tooth; rostrum much wider than long, anterior margin straight. Lateral margin of pleotelson with single tooth. Eyes reniform. Red-brown pigment in broad rather diVuse bands on cephalon, anterior half of pereonite 1, on pereonites 2–7, and over most of pleotelson, with small darker patch middorsally at base of pleotelson. Pereopod 1 in male with carpus not produced; propodus about 1.6 times longer than greatest width, with ve strong teeth on oblique poorly de ned palm; dactylus when folded against propodus reaching just beyond proximalmost propodal tooth. Operculum of female roughly pentagonal, about 1.8 times longer than wide. Pleopod 2 in male, copulatory stylet distally tapered to narrow tubular apex, with strong spinose subapical process directed laterally.

Remarks. Two characters separate this species from almost all other species of Stenetrium , namely the distally tapered copulatory stylet with its subapical spinose process, and the relatively long and narrow pereopod 1 in the male, with its strongly oblique spinose palm. Typical Stenetrium species have a distally truncate copulatory stylet and a pereopod 1 propodus about as long as wide, with a transverse palm. Whether these two characters are suYcient to justify a separate genus is doubtful, given the degree of variability seen among species of Stenetrium . Nevertheless, attention is drawn to the unusual features of this species by implying some doubt as to its generic placement. Stenetrium glauerti Nicholls, 1929 , from Rottnest Island, Western Australia, appears to have a similar pleopod 2 in the male.

Etymology. The speci c name refers to the ve propodal teeth on pereopod 1 of the male.