Porcellio brevicaudatus Brandt 1833
Creators: name: Kashani, Ghasem M.
name: Wägele, Johann-Wolfgang
name: Schmalfuss, Helmut
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2011
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Malacostraca
Isopoda
Porcellionidae
Porcellio
Porcellio brevicaudatus

description: Porcellio brevicaudatus Brandt, 1833
Porcellio brevicaudatus Brandt, 1833:180
Hemilepistus brevicaudaus Budde-Lund, 1885: 159.— Brian, 1930: 446. Hemilepistus sottii Arcangeli, 1932: 7.
Hemilepistus rostratus Arcangeli, 1932:9.
Hemilepistus patrizii Brian, 1932: 330.
Material examined. Male, lectotype, here designated, length 11 mm, Egypt, 1820–1824, leg. Ehrenberg & Hemprich (BMN 7079). Male, paralectotype, same data as for lectotype (BMN 7079).
Three males, syntypes of Hemilepistus sottii, Libya, Cirenaica, Guarscia, 4 April 1922, leg. Prof. Silvestri (MRSNT Is-370).
Two males, syntypes of Hemilepistus sottii, Libya, Cirenaica, Zavia Mechili, leg. Dr. Festa (MRSNT Is-370).
Female with marsupium, holotype of Hemilepistus patrizii, Algeria, “presso Zuetina”, 20 March 1931, leg.? (MCSNG).
Diagnosis. Cephalothorax with well developed lateral and median lobes. Dorsal surface of cephalothorax and pereion-tergites with several rounded tubercles, more conspicuous on anterior parts. Pleotelson short, triangular, not surpassing uropodal protopodite. Pereiopods 1–2 with brushes of setae on the merus and carpus. Pleopodexopodite 1 subrectangular.
Redescription. Body elongated, about six times longer than cephalothorax width (fig. 1B). Body length up to 15 mm.
Cephalothorax with rounded lateral lobes and well-developed median lobe, tubercles in different sizes on dorsal part (Fig. 1 A).
Antenna short, compared with other species of Porcellio, not surpassing second pereion-tergite, first flagellar article longer than the second (Fig. 1 C).
Pereion-tergites with tubercles, well developed on the first pereionite and decreasing in size on posterior tergites, two marked larger tubercles on the median portion of each pereion-tergite (Fig. 1 A).
Pleon narrower than pereion.
Telson triangular, almost 1.5 times as wide as long, with concave margins and rounded apex, not surpassing uropodal protopodite (Fig. 1 B).
Pereiopods. Merus and carpus of male pereiopods 1–2 with brushes of trifid setae on sternal margin (Fig. 1 D– E). Ischium of pereiopod 7 triangular with straight sternal margin (Fig. 1 G).
Pleopod-exopodites 1–2 with large respiratory organs, which are lacking in the exopodites 3–5 (Figs. 2 A, C). Pleopod-exopodite 1 subrectangular, with small median posterior lobe. Endopodite 1, see Fig. 2 B, pleopodexopodites 3–5 as in Fig. 2 E–G.
Remarks. This species differs from other species of Porcellio by possessing a very narrow body and convex postero-lateral margin of the first pereion-epimeron. Based on the shape of the first male pleopod-exopodite, it is a member of scaber -obsoletus -group. Regarding its geographical distribution, this species is the only species of scaber -obsoletus -group with a distribution range in northern Africa, which is otherwise populated by the laevis - hoffmannseggii -group (see Schmalfuss 1998).
Distribution. Egypt, Algeria, Libya.
description: Published as part of Kashani, Ghasem M., Wägele, Johann-Wolfgang & Schmalfuss, Helmut, 2011, Redescription of Porcellio brevicaudatus Brandt, 1833 (Isopoda: Oniscidea); with some notes on other synonyms of Hemilepistus reaumurii (Milne-Edwards, 1840), pp. 63-67 in Zootaxa 2924 on pages 64-67, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.206548