Amazoniscus spica Campos-Filho, Aguiar & Taiti 2020, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Campos-Filho, Ivanklin Soares
name: Fernandes, Camile Sorbo
name: Cardoso, Giovanna Monticelli
name: Bichuette, Maria Elina
name: Aguiar, José Otávio
name: Taiti, Stefano
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Malacostraca
Isopoda
Scleropactidae
Amazoniscus
Amazoniscus spica

description: Amazoniscus spica Campos-Filho, Aguiar & Taiti sp. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: C67F79F2-111D-49D7-A9E2-FA112D32DB4B
Figs 11–14
Diagnosis
Body pigments and eyes absent, frontal shield bent backwards over vertex, dactylus of pereopods with ungual seta simple and surpassing outer claw, male pleopod 1 exopod heart-shaped and male pleopod 1 endopod with distal portion bent outwards, bearing small setae on median margin.
Etymology
The nameof this new speciesrefers to the binary star of Spica, the brightest star in the Virgo constellation. In the Brazilian flag, this star represents the state of Pará.
Material examined
Holotype BRAZIL – Pará State,Parauapebas, Canaãdos Carajás • ♂; Jaguar, CAV-20; 6°24′22″ S, 50°22′09″ W; 20–29 May 2012; Mescolotti leg.; MZUSP 40046.
Paratypes BRAZIL • 1 ♂, 2 ♀♀; same collection data as for holotype; parts of ♂ and 1 ♀ in micropreparations; MZUSP 40047 • 1 ♀; CAV-17; 6°24′24″ S, 50°22′10″ W; 8–15 Mar. 2012; Oliveira leg.; MZUSP 40048.
Description
MEASUREMENTS. Maximum body length: male and female 5.5 mm.
BODY. Body pigment absent. Endoantennal conglobation. Body (Fig. 11A) strongly convex; dorsal surface smooth, bearing small triangular scale-setae (Fig. 11B). Noduli laterales (Fig. 11C) very short, inserted near posterior margins and at same distance from lateral margins.
CEPHALON. Frontal shield bent backwards over vertex, lateral sides slightly protruding in frontal view, frontal margin broadly rounded; eyes absent (Fig. 11A, D–E).
PEREON. Pereonite 1 without schisma or ventral lobes; pereonites 1–4 with posterior margin straight, 5–7 gradually more concave; pereonite 1 epimera with anterior corners directed frontwards, those of 2–4 with outer margin rounded, and those of 5–7 subquadrangular (Fig. 11A).
PLEON. Outline continuous with pereon, epimera 3–5 well developed, directed backwards with acute apices; telson triangular, slightly broader than long, with slightly concave sides, rounded apex. (Fig. 11F).
ANTENNULA. Composed of three articles, distal article longest, conical bearing about 10 lateral aesthetascs arranged in five sets (Fig. 11G).
ANTENNA. Short and stout, not surpassing pereonite 1 when extended backwards; flagellum consisting of two subequal articles, distal article bearing two lateral aesthetascs; apical organ as long as distal article of flagellum (Fig. 11H).
MOUTH. Mandibles with dense cushion of setae on incisor process, molar process with 10 branches, left mandible (Fig. 12A) with 2+1 penicils, right mandible (Fig. 12B) with 1+1 penicils. Maxillula (Fig. 12C) inner endite with two apical penicils, distal margin bearing outer tip; outer endite with 4+5 teeth, inner set with four teeth, apically cleft. Maxilla (Fig. 12D) inner lobe rounded and covered with thick setae; outer lobe rounded, twice as wide as inner lobe, covered with thin setae. Maxilliped (Fig. 12E) basis with fringe of thin setae on distal outer margin; palp with one strong seta on proximal article; endite subrectangular, medial seta surpassing distal margin, distal margin covered with thin setae and bearing one seta on outer portion, rostral surface with setose sulcus ending with one short penicil.
PEREOPODS. Pereopod 1 carpus with short, transverse antennal grooming brush; dactylus with two claws, dactylar seta simple, not surpassing outer claw, ungual seta simple, surpassing outer claw.
UROPOD. Protopod flattened and enlarged, filling gap between pleonite 5 and telson; exopod inserted on median margin, endopod twice as long as exopod and inserted proximally (Fig. 12F).
PLEOPOD EXOPODS. Pleopods 1 and 2 with respiratory areas.
Male
PEREOPOD 1. Merus and carpus with sternal margin covered with short scales and sparse strong setae (Fig. 13A).
PEREOPOD 7. Ischium elongated, sternal margin straight; carpus twice as long as merus (Fig. 13B).
GENITAL PAPILLA. Bearing triangular ventral shield, papilla slightly longer than ventral shield bearing two subapical orifices (Fig. 13C).
PLEOPODS. Pleopod 1 (Fig. 13D) exopod heart-shaped; endopod twice as long as exopod, distal portion bent outwards and bearing small setae on median margin. Pleopod 2 (Fig. 13E) exopod triangular, outer margin concave; endopod flagelliform, longer than exopod. Exopods of pleopods 3 and 4 as in Fig. 13F and G, respectively. Pleopod 5 exopod (Fig. 13H) triangular, outer margin sinuous, distal portion elongated, inner margin grooved to accommodate pleopod 2 endopod.
Remarks
Thegenus Amazoniscus comprises five speciesfrom Brazil: A. arlei Lemos de Castro, 1967 fromthestates of Amapá, Pará, Rio de Janeiroand Tocantins; A.eleonorae Souza et al., 2006, A. leistikowi Campos-Filho, Araujo & Taiti, 2014 and A. zimmeri Campos-Filho, Montesanto &Araujo, 2017 fromthestateof Pará; and A. schmidti Campos-Filho, Montesanto &Araujo, 2017 fromthestateof Minas Gerais (Souza et al. 2006; Campos-Filho et al. 2014, 2017a, 2018a). The genus is defined by having exoantennal or endoantennal conglobation, the cephalon with a frontal shield delimited superiorly by the frontal line and having a suprantennal line, pereonite 1 epimera without schisma, the antennal flagellum with two articles, the uropod protopod surpassing the telson and the male pleopod 1 exopod heart-shaped (Schmidt 2007; Campos-Filho et al. 2014).
In lacking eyes and body pigment, and in having endoantennal conglobation, Amazoniscus spica sp. nov. is similar to A. eleonorae and A. leistikowi; it differs from both in the shape of the exopod of the male pleopods 1 and 5 (for comparisons, see Souza et al. 2006: figs 1–19 and Campos-Filho et al. 2014: figs 23–25). This species is considered here as troglobiotic.
description: Published as part of Campos-Filho, Ivanklin Soares, Fernandes, Camile Sorbo, Cardoso, Giovanna Monticelli, Bichuette, Maria Elina, Aguiar, José Otávio & Taiti, Stefano, 2020, New species and new records of terrestrial isopods (Crustacea, Isopoda, Oniscidea) of the families Philosciidae and Scleropactidae from Brazilian caves, pp. 1-38 in European Journal of Taxonomy 606 on pages 23-27, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2020.606, http://zenodo.org/record/3676984