Levantoniscus wahrmani Strouhal 1968
Creators: name: Cardoso, Giovanna Monticelli
name: Taiti, Stefano
name: Sfenthourakis, Spyros
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2015
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Malacostraca
Isopoda
Trachelipodidae
Levantoniscus
Levantoniscus wahrmani

description: Levantoniscus wahrmani (Strouhal, 1968)
Figures 9, 10
Bathytropa wahrmani Strouhal 1968: 69, Figs 1 –25; Caruso 1973: 96, Fig. 1; Warburg et al. 1978: 159, 159, 162; Hornung & Warburg 1996: 181; Warburg 1993: 82, Figs 1, 2.1, 2.2, 2.8, 9.7, 9.8, 9.12; Warburg & Hornung 1999: 1473; Schmalfuss 2003: 61; Warburg 2007: 1228, 1230, 1233, 1235, 1248, Fig. 5.
Material examined. Israel: 1 ♂, 1 ♀ (TAU 2406), Jerusalem, 24.V.1943, det. H. Schmalfuss 1987; 2 ♀ (TAU 1985), no locality, date and collector, det. H. Schmalfuss 1987; 1 ♀ (TAU 3118), no locality and collector, 21.IV.1974, det. H. Schmalfuss 1987; 1 ♀ (TAU 1924), no locality and collector, 20.XII.1973, det. H. Schmalfuss 1987.
Previous records. Turkey: Vilayet Hatay (Amanus, Bitiyas cave); Israel: Geiah stream, south of Yad Mordechai; Lachish stream, south of Ashdod; Juda Mt.; Aqua Bella (Strouhal 1968); Mt. Carmel (Strouhal 1968; Warburg & Hornung 1999; Warburg 2007); Bet Oren; Muhraqa (Warburg et al. 1978); Segev, Lower Galilee Mts (Hornung & Warburg 1996); Galilee Mts; Golan Heights; Judean Mts (Warburg 2007).
Distribution. Southern Turkey and northern Israel (Fig. 11).
Remarks. Strouhal (1968) had described this species as Bathytropa wahrmani and included it in the family Bathytropidae, which is definitely not correct because a diagnostic feature of this family is the absence of lungs from all pleopods (see Schmidt 2003), while this species has distinct uncovered lungs on pleopod exopodites. Also the hour-glass-shaped telson is a distinguishing character from all the other species of Bathytropa. This species is similar to the two new species from Cyprus described above, especially in the interlocking pleopods and in the same structure of the pleopodal lungs. It is therefore transferred to the new genus Levantoniscus and family Trachelipodidae.
The species is here fully illustrated (Figs 9, 10) for comparison with Levantoniscus bicostulatus and L. makrisi, from which it is readily distinguished by the pattern of dorsal ornamentation (Fig. 9 A, B). In particular, it has a row of four pointed tubercles at the back of the head instead of two in the new species, a couple of forward-pointed tubercles on the front of the head which are lacking in the new species, plus a narrower and acuter middle frontal lobe on the cephalon (Fig. 9 D–F). Seven pointed tubercles are present on the pereonite 1, six on pereonites 2–4 and four on pereonites 5–7, while the two new species only have two lamellar tubercles on all pereonites. Finally, it has two tubercles on pleonites 1–5, while the new species have two tubercles on pleonites 1–4.
In the detailed description provided by Strouhal (1968) there is no mention on the position of the noduli laterales. They are located on the tip of the external tubercle on the pereonites 1–4 and on the postero-lateral corners of the pereonites 5–7 (see Fig. 9 A, B).
description: Published as part of Cardoso, Giovanna Monticelli, Taiti, Stefano & Sfenthourakis, Spyros, 2015, A new genus of Trachelipodidae Strouhal, 1953 (Crustacea, Isopoda, Oniscidea) from the eastern Mediterranean, pp. 1-16 in Zootaxa 4040 (1) on pages 9-15, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4040.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/289973