Vestalenula irajai Pinto & Rocha & Martens 2003, SP. NOV.
Creators: name: Pinto, R. L.
name: Rocha, C. E. F.
name: Martens, K.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2003
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Ostracoda
Podocopida
Darwinulidae
Vestalenula
Vestalenula irajai

description: VESTALENULA IRAJAI SP. NOV.
(FIGS 2A–D, 3A–H)
Type locality
Tamoios Road, near Paraibuna, São Paulo State, Brazil. Approximate GPS coordinates: 23°31'9.6"S, 45°32'21"W. In small patches of water and amongst leaves and mosses on a concrete surface; water film flowing from rocky wall of this artificial habitat. All material collected on 19.11.1999 by CEFR and JWR.
Type material
Holotype: an ovigerous, dissected female, with valves stored dry in a micropalaeontological slide and dissected soft parts kept in a sealed slide (MZUSP 15049).
Paratypes: 2 ovigerous females dissected and stored like the holotype (MZUSP 15050, MZUSP 15051); 1 ovigerous, dissected female, with valves used for SEM and stored in a micropalaeontological slide and dissected soft parts kept in a sealed slide (MZUSP 15052); 3 carapaces used for SEM and stored in micropalaeontological slides (MZUSP 15053, MZUSP 15054, MZUSP 15055); 12 females kept in toto in ETOH (MZUSP 15056).
Other material used for description and illustration
1 Sítio da Colonia, Mulungu, near Araçoiaba da Serra, São Paulo State, Brazil. Approximate GPS (Garmin) coordinates: 23°32'2"S, 47°39' 41.1"W (= type locality of V. botocuda sp.nov.): One ovigerous female collected on 15.08.2001 by CEFR and RLP from moist mud.
2 Fazenda Iterei, Miracatu, São Paulo State, Brazil. Approximate GPS (Garmin) coordinates: 24°3'17.8"S, 47°13'7.6" W. Two ovigerous females collected on 13.9.1999 CEFR and JWR from water and soil of bromeliad pouches.
Derivation of name
Named after Prof. Dr Irajá Damiani Pinto (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil), in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the knowledge of South American Ostracoda in general, and Darwinulidae in particular.
Abbreviated diagnosis
Valves elongated (L/H = 2.3), with straight parts of dorsal and ventral margins parallel; ms relatively large; keel on RV short and rounded and rather anteriorly placed; third segment of A1 with ventroapical seta; first endopodal segment of A2 with 2 apical setae and Md-palp with seta x almost twice as long as seta w.
Description
Carapace (Fig. 3A- H) elongated, in lateral view with straight parts of dorsal (c. 40% of total length) and ventral (c. 55%) margins parallel. LV overlapping RV along anterior, ventral and posterior margins; anterior overlap clear. Both valves asymmetrical in dorsal and ventral views, widest in the posterior quarter of the carapace, posterior side with LV bulging over RV, anterior bluntly beak-like, central part with a weak constriction. Ventral margin in ventral view strongly sinuous; keel short and rounded.
LV in lateral (internal) view with caudal margin evenly rounded, anterior margin asymmetrically produced towards the ventral side; anterior internal tooth short and small, situated c. 1/5 of total length from the anterior margin; ms large, situated nearer the anterior side and consisting of 8 scars arranged in a neat rosette, 3 anterior and 3 posterior, 1 dorsal and 1 ventral scar; mandibular scar rounded.
RV in lateral (internal) view with caudal margin asymmetrically twisted (not visible on illustrations), ventrally everted towards the median rather than the dorsal side, anterior margin everted towards the ventral side; postero-ventral keel short and rounded, situated rather anteriorly, ms large, situated nearer the anterior side, consisting of 7 scars arranged in a rosette (dorsal scar missing).
A1 (Fig. 2A) with 1 dorsal seta on first segment and 2 ventral setae on second segment, third segment with a dorsal and a ventral seta.
A2 (Fig. 2B) exopodite with one long seta and one short spine; first endopodal segment of A2 with 1 large and one shorter apical seta.
Md-palp (Fig. 2C) with seta z long, reaching beyond tip of apical segment; seta y short; seta x about twice as long as seta w; apical segment with 3 long claws, one shorter and one very short near seta c.
Caudal rami consisting of a slender base and an apical seta, both about equally long. Postabdomen elongated, lobed and twisted, without seta (Fig. 2D).
Other appendages typical of the genus.
Measurements
L = 450–465 µm; H = 195–200 µm (n = 3)
Ecology and distribution
The species has been found in small patches of water and amongst leaves and mosses from a permanently wet grassy exposed area in its type locality. The species was relatively more abundant (about 40 individuals) in a film of water running over a rocky outcrop. Isolated specimens were also found from the same habitat as the preceding species (moist mud patches), as well as from mud and water from bromeliad pouches.
Differential diagnosis
Vestalenula irajai sp. nov. is most closely related to V. pagliolii, the soft part morphology of both species being nearly identical. The valves of V. irajai, however, are significantly more elongated with nearly straight dorsal and ventral margins which furthermore run parallel to each other. Anterior overlap in V. irajai is clear but less pronounced than in V. botocuda.
description: Published as part of Pinto, R. L., Rocha, C. E. F. & Martens, K., 2003, On two new species of the genus Vestalenula Rossetti & Martens, 1998 (Crustacea, Ostracoda, Darwinulidae) from semiterrestrial habitats in São Paulo State (Brazil), pp. 305-313 in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 139 on pages 309-312, DOI: 10.1046/j.1096-3642.2003.00070.x, http://zenodo.org/record/15230654