Hemilepistus (Hemilepistus) dushengi Wang & Hong & Li 2022, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Wang, Jin
name: Hong, Xinkai
name: Li, Weichun
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Malacostraca
Isopoda
Agnaridae
Hemilepistus
Hemilepistus dushengi

description: Hemilepistus (H.) dushengi sp. nov.
http://zoobank.org/zoobank.org/ C073E25D-8EBD-472E-BE38-78164C259E96
Figs 1–2
Holotype. Male, CHINA: Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Yining (43°54’N, 81°33’E), an uncultivated land near Road 704, 14.vii.2021, leg. Du Sheng, prep. slide nos. L21043–21044. Paratypes. Four females, same collection data as holotype.
Diagnosis. Head with three large tubercles on dorsal median of frons (Fig. 1B, C). Pereonites 1 and 2 with row of bulbous tubercles near posterior margins, pereonite 3 with smooth posterior margin (Fig. 1A).
Description. Body length 19.0–21.0 mm. Colour grey, tubercles and epimera white, posterior margin of pereon and pleon slightly lighter. Pereonite 1 with twelve bulbous tubercles near posterior margin and five large tubercles at lateral part; pereonite 2 with ten bulbous tubercles along posterior margin and three rows of five large tubercles at lateral part; pereonite 3 with three slender lateral tubercles, posterior margin smooth; pereonites 4–7 smooth (Fig. 1A). Pleon short, smooth and narrower than pereon, epimera of pleonite 5 reaching basal two fifths part of basipodite (Fig. 1D). Telson triangular, approximate twice as wide as long, lateral margin slightly concave at distal one third, apex blunted; uropodal protopod with conspicuous incision on lateral margin, exopod short and conical (Fig. 1D).
Head with three large tubercles in middle of frons; eyes with 22–25 large ommatidia, ten tubercles of various sizes above eye (Fig. 1B, C). Antennule composed of three articles, distal article bearing two small aesthetascs (Fig. 2A). Antenna reaches posterior part of pereonite 2 when extended backwards, flagellum with segment 1 slightly longer than segment 2 (Fig. 2B).
Pereopods I and VII without sexual dimorphism. Pereopod I with strong four spines on distal tip of merus and carpus, pereopod VII with five and four spines on distal tip of merus and carpus respectively (Fig. 2C, D).
Pleopods, sexual differentiation. Pleopods I and II exopodites with sinuous outer margins, pleopodal lungs well-developed (Fig. 2E, G); pleopods III–V exopodites with small lungs (Fig. 2H–J). Male pleopod I endopodite with broad basal part, narrowed towards apical tip, apical tip finger-like, equipped with four small spines (Fig. 2F). Male pleopod II endopodite nearly as long as exopodite, with distal article long and narrowed apically (Fig. 2G). Pleopods III and IV exopodites distally round on inner margins (Fig. 2H, I), pleopod V exopodite distally angled on inner margin (Fig. 2J).
Distribution. China (Xinjiang).
Etymology. The species is named after Mr. Du Sheng, the collector of the type species; noun (name) in the genitive case.
Remarks. This new species is similar to Hemilepistus taftanicus Kashani, Sari & Hosseini Ostavani, 2010 by pereonites 1 and 2 equipped with a row of bulbous tubercles along posterior margins. But it can be distinguished from the latter by the head with three large tubercles, the pereonite 3 with a smooth posterior margin (Fig. 1A, B), and the male pleopod I endopodite equipped with four small spines at the apical tip (Fig. 2F). In H. taftanicus, the head with 20–26 large tubercles, the pereonite 3 with a similar arrangement of tubercles as pereonite 1 (Kashani et al. 2010: fig. 8), and the male pleopod I endopodite equipped with 28 spines of various sizes (Kashani et al. 2010: fig. 9F).
description: Published as part of Wang, Jin, Hong, Xinkai & Li, Weichun, 2022, First record of the genus Hemilepistus (Isopoda: Agnaridae) from China, with description of two new species, pp. 87-94 in Zootaxa 5188 (1) on pages 88-90, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5188.1.5, http://zenodo.org/record/7087452