Limnoria tripunctata Menzies, 1951

Castelló, José, 2011, The genus Limnoria (Limnoriidae, Isopoda, Crustacea) in Europe, including a key to species, Zootaxa 2968 (1), pp. 1-25 : 10

Limnoria tripunctata Menzies, 1951

Material examined. See Table 2.

Diagnosis. See Table 1.

Distribution in Europe. England, France, Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Greece (Atlantic European coast and Mediterranean).

Remarks. Because only two paratypes are included in the sample loaned, I had permission to dissect and observe under SEM only one of them. The two specimens were covered in debris. I tried to brush the specimen examined under SEM but unfortunately the images obtained could have been better. The dorsal sculpture of pleonite 5 and pleotelson was not satisfactorily identified. Nevertheless the tegument and especially the margin of the pleotelson were studied in detail. The species cannot be confused with L. tuberculata , although Cookson (1991) pointed out that the two species are very similar. The dorsal tubercles are more prominent and conspicuous in L. tuberculata than in L. tripunctata , which shows tubercles formed by clusters of 4–6 spines. Regarding the morphology of the uropod, Menzies' (1957) drawing (fig. 16C) shows peduncle and endopod with conspicuous tubercles. Surprisingly the specimen examined (paratype ovigerous female) had only some tubercles on the peduncle, while the endopod is smooth. The specimens examined are from California. According to Cookson (1991), the specimens from California and Europe do not present differences in the pereopodal setation.