Venezillo congener
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: 2019
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Malacostraca
Isopoda
Armadillidae
Venezillo
Venezillo congener

description: Venezillo congener (Budde-Lund, 1904)
Figs 14–16, 17D
Armadillo congener Budde-Lund, 1904: 108.— Jeppesen, 2000: 236.
Cubaris congenera (sic!).— Van Name, 1936: 340.— Vilela et al., 1971: 183.
Venezillo (Venezillo) congener.— Arcangeli, 1957: 112.
Venezillo congeneris (sic!).— Souza-Kury, 1998: 653.
Venezillo congener.—Leistikow & Wägele, 1999: 47.— Schmalfuss, 2003: 328.
Material examined. Goiás, São Domingos, Parque Estadual de Terra Ronca: 8 males (one with parts in micropreparations), 4 females (one with parts in micropreparations), 1 juv. (LES 6393), Lapa Bezerra cave, 13°32’50”S, 46°22’34”W, 12 February 2012, leg. D.M. von Schimonsky, J. E. Gallão and L. B. Simões; 1 male (LES 6399), 1 male (LES 6400), 1 male (LES 6403), 1 female (LES 6414), same locality and collector as previous, 13°32’48.4”S, 46°22’32.5”W, 19 April 2012; 3 males, 2 females, 1 juv. (LES 1095), Lapa da Angélica cave, 13°31’22”S, 46°22’55”W, 20 May 1999, leg. E. Trajano; 1 female (LES 6368), 1 male (LES 6371), Suspirinho cave, 13°25’49.1”S, 46°24’49.7”W, 25 April 2012, leg. D.M. von Schimonsky, J. E. Gallão and C. S. Fernandes; 1 female (LES 6374), Suspirinho cave, 13°25’49.1”S, 46°24’49.7”W, 9 February 2012, leg. D.M. von Schimonsky, J. E. Gallão and L. B. Simões; 1 male (LES 6379), Suspirão cave, 13°25’49.1”S, 46°24’49.7”W, 9 February 2012, leg. D.M. von Schimonsky, J. E. Gallão and L. B. Simões; 1 female (LES 6382), Lapa do Angélica, 13°31’29.1”S, 46°23’07.3”W, 20 April 2011, leg. M.E. Bichuette, P. P. Rizzato and J. E. Gallão; 2 females (LES 6383), 1 male, 1 female (LES 6385), Lapa do Angélica, 13°31’29.1”S, 46°23’07.3”W, 20 April 2011, leg. M.E. Bichuette, P. P. Rizzato, and J. E. Gallão; 2 males, 1 female (LES 6397), 1 female (LES 6398), same locality as previous, 18 April 2012, leg. D.M. von Schimonsky, J. E. Gallão and L. B. Simões; 1 female (LES 6413), same locality as previous, 10 February 2012, leg. D.M. von Schimonsky, J. E. Gallão and L. B. Simões; 1 male, 1 female (LES 6384), Lapa do Angélica (epigean), 13°31’29.1”S, 46°23’07.3”W, 21 April 2011, leg. M.E. Bichuette, P. P. Rizzato and J. E. Gallão; 1 female (LES 6406), same locality as previous, 31 October 2012, leg. M.E. Bichuette, J. E. Gallão, L. B. Simões, C. S. Fernandes and T. Zepon.
Re-description. Maximum body length: male 5.5 mm, female 6 mm. Colour light brown; cephalon with irregular unpigmented spots; pereonite 1 and posterior margins of epimera of pereonites 1–7 darker, median and paramedian portions lighter; pleon strongly pigmented.
Body in lateral view as in Figs 14A, 17D. Dorsal surface with semilunar scale-setae (Fig. 14B). One line of small noduli laterales per side on pereonites 1–7, inserted almost at same distance from lateral margins (Fig. 14A). Cephalon (Fig. 14D) with rectangular frontal shield, suprantennal line absent; eyes with 18 ommatidia. Pereonite 1 with schisma on posterior corners, inner and outer lobes of schisma rounded, subequal, lateral margin grooved throughout entire length; pereonite 2 with triangular ventral tooth obliquely directed outwards and not surpassing outer margin of epimeron; pereonite 3 with small triangular ventral lobe (Fig. 14 E–J); pereonites 1–7 with posterior margins slightly concave. Pleonites 3–5 epimera subrectangular, well developed (Fig. 14A). Telson (Fig. 14J) hourglass shaped, proximal part wider than distal one.
Antennula (Fig. 14K) of three articles, proximal and distal articles subequal in length, distal article bearing eight distal aesthetascs. Antenna (Fig. 14L) short and stout, distal article of peduncle longer than flagellum; flagellum of two articles, distal article three times as long as proximal one, bearing two lateral aesthetascs; apical organ short bearing two sensilla.
Mandibles with molar penicil consisting of many branches and dense cushion of setae, left mandible (Fig. 15A) with 2+1 penicils, and right mandible (Fig. 15B) with 1+1 penicils. Maxillula (Fig. 15C) inner endite with two transverse penicils, distal margin rounded bearing thin setae; outer endite of 4+4 stout teeth. Maxilla (Fig. 15D) outer lobe twice as wide as inner lobe, rounded and covered with thin setae; inner lobe rounded covered with thick setae. Maxilliped (Fig. 15E) basis subrectangular; proximal article of palp with two setae distinct in length; endite subquadrangular, medial seta surpassing distal margin, outer margin rounded, distal margin bearing two short triangular setae.
Pereopod 1 carpus with transverse antennal grooming brush; dactylus with inner claw reaching median portion of outer claw, dactylar and ungual setae simple, not surpassing outer claw.
Uropod (Fig. 16A) protopod with distal portion subrectangular, inner margin concave, endopod inserted proximally, exopod short, inserted dorsally on slight protuberance.
Pleopod exopods with monospiracular covered lungs.
Male. Pereopods (Fig. 16B, C) without particular modifications; pereopod 7 ischium with sternal margin straight. Genital papilla (Fig. 16D) with slender and triangular ventral shield, two subapical orifices. Pleopod 1 (Fig. 16E) exopod triangular, small, wider than long, distal margin rounded with one short seta, outer margin slightly sinuous; endopod three times as long as exopod, distal portion slightly directed outwards and bearing some short setae. Pleopod 2 (Fig. 16F) exopod triangular, outer margin distinctly concave bearing four setae; endopod distinctly longer than exopod. Pleopod 3–5 exopods as in Fig. 16G, H.
Remarks. The genus Venezillo comprises 136 species with a wide distribution in the tropics (Schmalfuss 2003, Boyko et al. 2008). The main characters distinguishing the genus are: the conglobation ability, one line of noduli laterales per side, large frontal shield of the cephalon, pereonite 1 with a schisma, pereonite 2 with a triangular ventral lobe, telson hour-glass shaped, and pleopod exopods with monospiracular covered lungs (see also Arcangeli 1957).
Budde-Lund (1904) described Armadillo congener from the “Nabilecche” [= Nabileque] River. The author did not mention the Brazilian state where the specimens were collected. Actually, the Nabileque River is located in the Pantanal region, state of Mato Grosso do Sul. Van Name (1936) placed the species into the genus Cubaris without any explanation and referring to Budde-Lund’s description. Vandel (1952b) and Arcangeli (1957) transferred the species to the genus Venezillo.
Venezillo congener is re-described here and confirmed as belonging to Venezillo. Monospiracular covered lungs are common in several families of Crinocheta (Ferrara et al. 1994; Paoli et al. 2002; Schmidt 2002, 2003, 2008), e.g., Philosciidae (some species of Aphiloscia Budde-Lund, 1908), Eubelidae (e.g., Aethiopopactes Ferrara & Taiti, 1982, Angaribia Barnard, 1932 and Pseudoaethiopopactes Ferrara, 1974), most genera of Armadillidae (e.g., Bethalus Budde-Lund, 1909, Ctenorillo Verhoeff, 1942, Diploexochus Brandt, 1833 and Tuberillo Schultz, 1982), all members of Agnaridae (e.g., Agnara Budde-Lund, 1908, Mongoloniscus Verhoeff, 1930, Protracheoniscus Verhoeff, 1917, and Hemilepistus Budde-Lund, 1879), and Porcellionidae (e.g., Porcellio Latreille, 1804 and Tura Budde-Lund, 1908) (Ferrara 1974; Taiti & Ferrara 1985, 1987; Ferrara et al. 1994; Schmidt 2003; Taiti & Gruber 2010; Campos-Filho et al. 2014, 2017b; Kashani 2014, 2016). This character certainly evolved by convergence or parallel evolution in the different families (see Paoli et al. 2002; Schmidt 2002).
Venezillo congener inhabits decaying and humid leaf litter, both inside or outside caves. In some occasions specimens were found wandering inside caves, over gravels and humid clay, and under large rocks. This species is considered here as troglophilic.
description: Published as part of Campos-Filho, Ivanklin Soares, Fernandes, Camile Sorbo, Cardoso, Giovanna Monticelli, Bichuette, Maria Elina, Aguiar, José Otávio & Taiti, Stefano, 2019, Two new species and new records of terrestrial isopods (Crustacea, Isopoda, Oniscidea) from Brazilian caves, pp. 422-448 in Zootaxa 4564 (2) on pages 438-443, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4564.2.6, http://zenodo.org/record/2589286