Flavalona sphagnophila Sinev & Dumont 2016, comb. nov.
Creators: name: Sinev, Artem Y.
name: Dumont, Henri J.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Branchiopoda
Anomopoda
Chydoridae
Flavalona
Flavalona sphagnophila

description: Flavalona sphagnophila (Van Damme & Eggermont, 2011) comb. nov.   
Fig. 6P  
 Alona sphagnophila Van Damme & Eggermont, 2011: 71–75, figs 4–5.   
 Diagnosis (from Van Damme & Eggermont 2011)   
 Female   
Length of adult 0.42–0.48 mm. Body regular oval, maximum height at mid-body, height/length ratio ca 0.62–0.65. Valves from previous molts not retained. Posteroventral angle with about 50 setules protruding beyond valve margins. Ventral margin with about 70 setae. Valves without sculpture or tubercles.  
Eye smaller than ocellus. Rostrum short. Posterior margin of head shield broadly rounded. Three major head pores (Fig. 6P) of similar size, middle pore located closest to posterior pore. Connection between pores narrow. PP ca 0.6–0.8 IP. Lateral head pores short, rounded, about to 0.1 IP length, lateral pore pockets round, their diameter over 3 lengths of pore. Labral keel without denticles.  
Postabdomen truncated, length ca 2.0–2.5 height. Distal margin convex, distal angle prominent, rounded. Dorsal margin weakly convex in preanal part, concave in anal part, and almost straight in postanal part. Distal part of dorsal margin 2.5 times longer than preanal one, with preanal portion 1.5 times longer than anal. Preanal angle well-defined, postanal angle weakly defined. Postanal margin of postabdomen provided with 7–8 marginal denticles, length of denticle strongly decrease basally. Anal margin with 2–3 more slender denticles and 2–3 clusters of marginal setules. 10–12 lateral fascicles of setules, central setules in fascicle being longest. Postabdominal claw 1.3 times longer than preanal portion of postabdomen. Basal spine short, robust, ca 0.2 length of claw.  
Antennule with longest aesthetasc as ca ⅔ length of antennule itself. Limb II with scrapers 3 and 7 only slightly thicker than other. Exopodite III with seta 6 as long as seta 3. Exopodite IV with seta 1–3 of similar length, setae 4 ca ⅓ length of seta 3, setae 5–6 about ½ length of seta 3. Epipodites IV–V with long processes. Exopodite V strongly bilobed.  
 Male   
Unknown.  Differential diagnosis  
 Flavalona sphagnophila comb. nov. differs from all species of the group by short, rounded lateral pores with pocket diameter over 3 pore lengths. It differs from F. rustica rustica comb. nov. and F. rustica americana comb. nov. by the middle head pore located closer to the posterior pore and by the strongly bilobed exopodite of limb V; from F. bicolor comb. nov. by its smaller size, short rostrum and labral keel without denticles; from F. hudeci comb. nov. by a smaller size, presence of numerous setules on the posteroventral corner of the valves, and by seta 6 of exopodite III almost as long as seta 3.   Type material  
 Holotype   
A parthenogenetic ♀, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, IG.31.685.  
 Paratypes   
Seven parthenogenetic ♀♀, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, IG. 31.685.  
 Type locality UGANDA: Lake Kopello, Carex bogs, Rwenzori Mountains, 00º18.612′ N, 29º53.504′ S, 4054 m.a.s.l..   Distribution  
 Flavalona sphagnophila comb. nov. appears to be endemic to the Rwenzori mountains. It inhabits the Carex - Sphagnum bogs surrounding lakes Kopello (4017 m.a.s.l.) and Nsuranja (3834 m.a.s.l), but not the littoral of these lakes (Van Damme & Eggermont 2011).
description: Published as part of Sinev, Artem Y. & Dumont, Henri J., 2016, Revision of the costata-group of Alona s. lato (Cladocera: Anomopoda: Chydoridae) confirms its generic status, pp. 1-38 in European Journal of Taxonomy 223 on pages 30-31, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2016.223, http://zenodo.org/record/3840297