Troglocaris (Xiphocaridinella) fagei ( Birštein, 1939 ), Birstein, 1939

Marin, Ivan & Sokolova, Agniya, 2014, Redescription of the stygobitic shrimp Troglocaris (Xiphocaridinella) jusbaschjani Birštein, 1948 (Decapoda: Caridea: Atyidae) from Agura River, Sochi, Russia, with remarks on other representatives of the genus from Caucasus, Zootaxa 3754 (3), pp. 277-298 : 296

Troglocaris (Xiphocaridinella) fagei ( Birštein, 1939)

( Figs. 13 , 14 )

Troglocaris schmidti fagei Birštein, 1939: 964 , figs. 3 [type locality: New Athos Cave, Abkhazia].

Material examined. 10 non-ovigerous females, 2 males, Abkhazia, 43°5'44"N 40°48'53"E, New Athos (Novo- Afonskaya) Cave, Anatolia Lake in the first lake of the cave, coll. E. Chertoprud & D. Palatov October 2011.

Measurements. The largest female has tbl.— 31 mm, pcl.— 15 mm; the largest male has tbl.— 22 mm, pcl.— 13 mm.

Remarks. The examined adult specimens show variation in rostral length and form of supraorbital teeth (see Fig. 14 ). Rostrum mostly smooth, with completely reduced dorsal teeth, but in some specimens 1 or 2 tiny dorsal teeth may present; the rostral length greatly vary from long and getting distally thin rostrum overreaching the distal margin of basal antennular segment ( Fig. 14 a, b) to short triangular rostrum reaching the midlength of basal antennular segment ( Fig. 14 e–h); supraocular teeth also showing variation from well developed ( Fig. 14 d) to poorly developed from one side ( Fig. 14 f) and complete absence of both teeth ( Fig. 14 b). Such variations easily cover morphological difference between Troglocaris (Xiphocaridinella) fagei ( Birštein, 1939) (present paper, Figs. 13 , 14 ) and Troglocaris (Xiphocaridinella) ablaskiri ( Birštein, 1939) ( Birštein, 1948: Fig. 2 ) known from Abraskila Cave, or Achkshe-Tyz-Gua Cave, situated less than 100 km east from New Athon Cave suggesting that they are possibly conspecific. Rostral form and its armature were used by Birštein (1939: 965) as the main morphological features for separation of these species. Anyway, during the present study we have no fresh material from the type locality of Troglocaris (Xiphocaridinella) ablaskiri ( Birštein, 1939) for morphological and DNA analysis to confirm or refute this hypothesis.

Distribution. The species is known exclusively from cave lakes inside New Athos (Novo-Afonskaya) or Psyrtskha Cave, Abkhazia (see Fig. 16 ).

Figures

FIGURE 2. Troglocaris (Xiphocaridinella) jusbaschjani Birštein, 1948, female, pcl. 12 mm (a, b, f – j), male, pcl 12 mm (c – e): a — front of carapace, dorsal view, b, c — front of carapace, lateral view, d, f — telson, e, g — distal margin of telson, h — antennula, i — antenna, j — distolateral margin of exopod of uropods.

FIGURE 13. Troglocaris (Xiphocaridinella) kutaissiana (Sadowsky, 1930), male, pcl. 7 mm: a – pereiopod III, b — distal segment of pereiopod III, c — distal segments of pereiopod IV, d — distal segments of pereiopod V, e, f — appendix interna of pleopod I, g — pleopod II, h — appendix masciuline.

FIGURE 14. Troglocaris (Xiphocaridinella) fagei Birštein, 1939, female, pcl. 8 mm (a, b), female, pcl 7 mm (c, d), female, pcl. 7 mm (e, f), male, pcl 6.5 mm: a, c, e, g — front of carapace, lateral view, b, d, f, h — front of carapace, dorsal view.

FIGURE 16. Schematic map of distribution of Caucasian stygobitic shrimp Troglocaris (Xiphocaridinella) species.