Eoleptestheria ticinensis Balsamo-Crivelli 1859
Creators: name: Timms, Brian
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2009
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Branchiopoda
Diplostraca
Leptestheriidae
Eoleptestheria
Eoleptestheria ticinensis

description: Eoleptestheria ticinensis ( Balsamo-Crivelli, 1859)
 Isaura ticinensis Balsamo-Crivelli, 1859: 115, Tab I. Estheria ticinensis. – Grube, 1865: 234. Eoleptestheria ticinensis. – Daday, 1913: 96, Fig.8a-o; Daday 1923: 263, Fig. 82 a-q;
 Straškraba, 1965: 578–584, Fig. 5–7, Tables III-V; Brtek and Thiery 1995: 266. Eoleptestheria inopinata Daday, 1923: 262, Fig. 81 a-i; Straškraba, 1965: 581–582, Table V. Eoleptestheria chinensis Daday, 1923: 269, Fig. 83 a-q; Uéno 1940: 99–100, 21–28;
 RØen 1952: 212, Fig.19; Straškraba, 1965: 581–582, Table V; Zhang et al. 1976:
 24; Hu 1988: 82, Figs 92–98; Shu et al. 1990: Table 1.
 Eoleptestheria variabilis Botnariuc, 1947: 82, Pls 1,2,4,5, Figs. 2,3; Straškraba, 1965:
 581–582, Table V. Eoleptestheria spinosa Marinček, 1978: 103–118. Eoleptestheria spinosa tenuis Marinček & Valvajter, 1979: 155–167. Eoleptestheria spinosa magna Marinček & Valvajter, 1982: 63–72. Eoleptestheria spinosa mira Marinček & Petrov, 1983: 89–103. Eoleptestheria dongpingensis Hu 1987: 341–347, Fig. 1–15; Hu 1988: 82–83, Figs 99–
 109; Zhang and Hu, 1992: Table 1; Shu et al. 1990: Table 1. Eoleptestheria yanchoƜensis Shu et al., 1990: 410–416, Figs. 1–21, Table 1. Eoleptestheria sangziensis Zhang and Hu, 1992: 65–72, Figs. 1–12, Table 1, syn. n.
 Descriptions of Australian populations
 Toomaroo population
 Figs 1–3
 Material examined. 9 females, Queensland, via Thargomindah, Bindegolly National Park, Lake Toomaroo, 27° 59´S, 144° 12´E, 1 February 2006, Mark Handley, AM.
 Description of female. Carapace ( Fig 2A) 6–7 mm by 3.3–4.6 mm, oval, but dorsally centrally humped, a dorsoposterior angle and no dorsoanterior angle and broadly rounded both ventroanteriorly and ventroposteriorly. Umbo only slightly developed and associated with a small protuberance anteriodorsally. Growth lines 15–22, unevenly spaced, with tighter spacing marginally and interstices between lines granular. Carapace thin, semitransparent and usually brown in colour, especially in the older areas.
 Head ( Fig 2B) with a rounded occipital condyle and well separated from the trunk. Conspicuous ocular tubercle and large winged fornices of triangular rostrum terminating in an anteriorly directed rostral spine, about one-third length of the rostrum. Ocellus oval and within rostrum, usually in a ventrobasal position.
 First antennae about 1.5 times the length of the base of the second antenna and with 10–13 lobes, each with 2–4 dorsal setae. Second antenna base ( Fig. 2D) with about 12 rows of dorsal spines and bearing two rami with 13–14 antennomeres each. Each antennomere with 3–8 dorsal spines and 2–6 ventral setae, all evenly spaced except terminal on basal antennomeres. Flagellum middle antennomeres with most spines and setae, while terminal and basal antennomeres with least spines and setae.
 Trunk segments 24 (Fig. 1). Posteriormost 14 segments ( Fig. 2E,F), sometimes fewer, armed dorsally with numerous spines inserted on a common broad base, triangular in central segments of the array, pedunculate in the 3–4 most anterior segments. Segments around 17 th (i.e. seventh last segment) with strongest and most (typically 13) spines, and those anterior to and posterior to this segment with fewer spines, e.g. 5 spines on third last segment. Fifth thoracopod ( Fig. 3) with five endites on the medial surface, each about the same size. Also a comb-like discoid lobe (Ferriera and Grygier 2003) with many closely packed setae basally at right angles to the first endite. First endite with about 20 anterior and posterior setae, while remainder with about 12 anterior and posterior setae. All setae two segment- ed, but only the posterior setae plumose. Anterior setae 2–3 times longer on first endite than on endites 2–5. Distal posterior setae tend to be longer than proximal setae on each endite. Fifth endite with a long unsegmented palp with few setae and many setules apically. Sixth endite (= endopod of some authors) also elongated but longer and wider than the palp and with more setae than palp, more medially than externally. Bipolar exopod with distal part (the flabellum) long and finger-like and a similarly shaped but smaller proximal extension. Exopod clothed with a few setae similar in structure to the posterior setae of the endites. These setae limited to apex region of flabellum and middle external edge. Epipodite finger-like, about half the length of the proximal exopod. A triangular lamellar (cf Marinček 1978), edged with setae, protruding from base of flabellum. Gross examination of other thoracopods reveal slightly different proportions of some components, especially the exopod. Eleventh and twelfth pairs with flabellum sheathed and carrying eggs. Palp of fifth endopod of third thoracopod one segmented.
 Telson ( Fig. 2C) with a concave dorsal surface with about 40 (39–43) small spines of similar size throughout. Paired telsonic setae (filaments) inserted on slight mound between the first and second denticles. Caudal furca even curved, a little shorter than the dorsal surface of the telson, and with about 40 small, subequal spines arranged on a
 Figure |. Lateral view of a whole female of Eoleptestheria ticinensis from Lake Toomaroo, Queensland. Drawing by Jane McRae.
 curved line commencing on medial surface basally but on dorsal surface apically. These spines slightly smaller than the telsonic spines.
 Kuranda population
 Fig. 4
 Material examined. 5 females, Queensland, via Cairns, Kuranda, Mrs Armitage, 27 February 2006, NMV J93994.
 Description of female. Carapace ( Fig. 4A) larger 9.0–9.8 by 5.8–6.4 mm with more growth lines (26–32), but same shape as in the Toomaroo material and with same number of body segments (24). Head ( Fig. 4C) as in Toomaroo material. Dorsal armature similar to that in the Toomaroo material, but with slightly more segments (15) involved. Similar arrangement and number of dorsal spines, ie those on central segments on a quasiequilateral triangular base and number up to 13 per segment, those most posterior segments number fewer (3–7) and on a slightly protruding triangular base, and the most anterior on a column.
 First and second antenna similar to those of the Toomaroo material, but with slightly different numbers (9–12 lobes on antenna 1 and 12–13 rami of antenna II).
 Telson ( Fig. 4D) with more spines (ca 50–60) and more caudal furca spines (ca 50) than in the Toomaroo material, but their arrangement similar, i.e. equal sizes and in a curved line on the claw, basially mesodorsal and apically dorsal.
 Benmore Well clay pan population
 Fig. 4
 Material examined. One female, Western Australia, Pilbara, near Karattha–Port Headland road, Benmore Well clay pan, 21° 2.7336´E, 117° 39.7836´E, J. Macrae and A. Pinder, 3 February 2006, DEC PSW096.
 Description of female. Carapace ( Fig. 4B) 5.9 by 3.9 mm, slightly humped middorsally, with rounded dorsoanterior and dorsoposterior corners, and 34 closely spaced growth lines. Areas between growth lines with small rounded protuberances tending to lie, between outer growth rings, in meridian lines. Umbo most protruding of the three populations.
 Head ( Fig. 4E) as in Toomaroo population, but with winged fornices unevenly developed, widest centrally.
 First and second antenna similar to those of the Toomaroo material, but with slightly different numbers of lobes and rami (9 lobes on first antenna and length only just longer than peduncle of second antenna and 12–13 rami on second antenna).
 Body segments 23. Posteriormost 12 segments with dorsal spines; anterior most and posteriormost with spines on a peduncle, but central segments with spines on a flat triangular base. Up to 13 spines on segments around the seventh posterior most, descreasing anteriorly and posteriorly.
 Limbs unstudied, but segments 1–9 with long exopods (flabella). Segments 10 and 11, on one side only of the only specimen, with sheathed tubular extensions carrying eggs.
 Telson ( Fig. 4F) as in Toomaroo material; about 42 dorsal spines and about 30 spines on the caudal claw. Spines subequal, those on caudal furca in a weakly row, basally mesodorsal and apically dorsal.
description: Published as part of Timms, Brian, 2009, First records of a leptestherid clam shrimp in Australia (Crustacea, Spinicaudata, Leptestheriidae, Eoleptestheria), pp. 1-16 in ZooKeys 18 on pages 2-8, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.18.92, http://zenodo.org/record/576494