Porcellio aguerensis Orihuela-Rivero 2025, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Orihuela-Rivero, Raúl
name: Balibrea, Carmen
name: Noguerales, Víctor
name: López, Heriberto
name: Oromí, Pedro
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Malacostraca
Isopoda
Porcellionidae
Porcellio
Porcellio aguerensis

description: Porcellio aguerensis Orihuela-Rivero sp. nov.
Type material.
Holotype: Spain • ♂; Canary Islands, Tenerife, Zapata; 28°32.06'N, 16°17.63'W; 915 m a. s. l.; May 2023; Carmen Balibrea and Víctor Noguerales leg.; pitfall trap; IPNA BC 2649. Paratypes: Spain • 1 ♂; Canary Islands, Tenerife, Zapata; 28°31.93'N, 16°17.53'W; 930 m a. s. l.; May 2023; Carmen Balibrea and Víctor Noguerales leg.; pitfall trap; DZUL 36998 • 1 ♀ ovigerous; Canary Islands, Tenerife, Zapata; 28°31.93'N, 16°17.13'W; 960 m a. s. l.; May 2023; Carmen Balibrea and Víctor Noguerales leg.; pitfall trap; DZUL 36999 • 1 ♂; same collection data as for preceding; BC 2650 • 1 ♀ ovigerous; Canary Islands, Tenerife, Zapata; 28°31.93'N, 16°17.19'W; 955 m a. s. l.; May 2023; Carmen Balibrea and Víctor Noguerales leg.; pitfall trap; IPNA BC 2651 • 1 ♀; Canary Islands, Tenerife, Zapata; 28°31.99'N, 16°17.55'W; 925 m a. s. l.; May 2023; Carmen Balibrea and Víctor Noguerales leg.; pitfall trap; TFMCEN-2381.
Diagnosis.
Teguments smooth; glandular fields associated to lateral margins located in widening of marginal groove of pereonites; d / c coordinate values of noduli laterales with a peak on pereonite 4; pereonites 1–2 with posterior margins slightly sinuous; telson triangular with apex rounded; second antenna not reaching posterior margin of second pereonite; uropods with protopods posterior margin very oblique; exopods narrow. Male pereopod 7 ischium with concave ventral margin and slight distal depression on its rostral face covered with numerous setae; male pleopod 1 exopod with short posterior lobe.
Description.
Maximum length: male 8.5 mm, female 9.8 mm. Body strongly convex with epimera oriented obliquely, ovoid (Fig. 2 A, B); outline between pereon and pleon continuous. Colour (Fig. 2 A – C) mottled brown with irregular broad dark midline reaching posterior margin of cephalon; pereonites 4–7 usually with pairs of paramedian diffuse yellow spots; pigmented epimera, presenting small depigmented area around noduli laterales and band of depigmentation at base of epimera; pereopods and pleopods pigmented; dark maxilliped; uropod exopods often reddish or brown. Cephalon, pleon and telson smooth. Dorsal surface covered with large Y-shaped scale-setae (Fig. 3 H) and imbricated rounded scales. Pereonites 1–7 epimera with distinct groove along entire lateral margin with one widening concentrating glandular pores ranging from 6 to 20, number of pores gradually decreasing towards posterior pereonites; widening located at anterior or in middle portion of epimera, in the first pereonite at anterior corner of epimeron (Fig. 2 D). One line of large noduli laterales per side on pereonites 1–7, far from lateral margins, with high d / c ratio as in Fig. 3 C. Cephalon (Fig. 3 A) without supra-antennal line; frontal-line arches slightly forming rounded small median lobe; lateral lobes rounded or slightly quadrangular; eyes with 24–28 ommatidia. Pereonites 1–2 with posterior margins slightly sinuous (Fig. 2 C); 3–6 straight, posterior corners slightly directed backwards; 7, regularly concave. Pleonites 3–5 with well-developed epimera; posterior corners bending backwards; pleonite 5 epimera not surpassing uropod protopods or telson apex (Fig. 3 B). Telson (Fig. 3 B) wider than long, triangular, with concave margins, sides of distal part of some specimens almost parallel; apex rounded. First antenna (Fig. 3 F) tri-articulated; basal and distal article subequal in length; distal article with tuft of about 30 subapical aesthetascs. Second antenna (Fig. 3 D, E) not reaching posterior margin of second pereonite when extended backwards; finely setose; flagellum bi-articulated, slightly shorter than fifth article of peduncle; second article about 1.5 times longer than first, bearing several rows of aesthetascs (Fig. 3 E). Mandibles with dichotomized molar penicil; left mandible (Fig. 4 B) with 2 + 9 penicils; right mandible (Fig. 4 A) with 1 + 4 penicils. Maxillule external branch (Fig. 4 C) with 4 + 6 teeth, four of them subapically cleft; internal branch (Fig. 4 D) with two thick penicils and one short sharp posterior corner. Maxilla inner lobe quadrangular (Fig. 4 E), wider than outer lobe, apex covered fine and thick setae; outer lobe (Fig. 4 E) with three long incurved setae on margin between lobes; covered with thin setae. Maxilliped (Fig. 4 F) palp with two strong setae on first article, distal article with one tuft of setae; endite quadrangular, with one strong seta and four triangular teeth, three on distal margin and one on lateral margin. Pereopods short and stout. Pleopod 1 and 2 exopods with monospiracular covered lungs with indented outer margin. Uropodal protopods (Fig. 3 G) with ribbed outer margin and very oblique posterior margin, with its inner end almost reaching tip of telson (Fig. 3 B); endopod and exopod (Fig. 3 G) inserted at different level; exopods narrow, styliform, about 1.5 times longer than endopods; endopods surpassing telson apex (Fig. 3 B).
Male: Pereopod 1 (Fig. 5 A) merus and carpus with strong setae on sternal margin, more numerous than in female. Pereopod 2–3, also with these modifications, but less noticeable. Pereopod 7 (Fig. 5 B) ischium with slightly concave ventral margin and slight distal depression on its rostral face covered with numerous setae. Pleopod 1 exopod (Fig. 5 C, E) with short posterior lobe ending in rounded apex or with small protruding tip (Fig. 5 E), inner margin with strong setae; endopod (Fig. 5 C) about twice as long as exopod, with straight or slightly curved distal margin, apex with row of spines (Fig. 5 D). Pleopod 2 (Fig. 5 F) exopod triangular, with straight inner margin; distal part of outer margin with some setae; endopod styliform, about 1.3 times longer than exopod. Pleopods 3–5 exopods (Fig. 5 G – I) triangular.
Etymology.
The species name is derived from “ Aguere ”, the aboriginal term of the geographic area where currently the municipality of La Laguna is situated and where the species was found.
Ecology.
Epigean species. Porcellio aguerensis Orihuela-Rivero, sp. nov. has only been recorded so far from the higher altitude laurel-forest areas of the western sector of Anaga, appearing only occasionally in pitfall traps. This species is associated with Erica platycodon communities, although some traps were also positioned in more humid laurel forest characterized by the presence of Laurus novocanariensis. Several co-occurring Canary Island endemics were also sampled: very abundantly Porcellio anagae Hoese, 1985 (family Porcellio nidae), and more rarely Ctenorillo ausseli (Dollfus, 1893) (family Armadillidae). Armadillidium vulgare (Latreille, 1804), an invasive Mediterranean species of the family Armadillidiidae (Arndt and Mattern 2005) was also commonly sampled together with P. aguerensis Orihuela-Rivero, sp. nov.
description: Published as part of Orihuela-Rivero, Raúl, Balibrea, Carmen, Noguerales, Víctor, López, Heriberto & Oromí, Pedro, 2025, A new species of woodlouse (Isopoda, Oniscidea) from the Canarian laurel forest, pp. 49-63 in ZooKeys 1225 on pages 49-63, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1225.124521