Stenotaenia bosporana

Field: Agricultural and Biological Sciences (Life Sciences)

STENOTAENIA BOSPORANA (VERHOEFF, 1941) Bithyniphilus bosporanus Verhoeff, 1941a: 40 (original description); 1945: 312 (redescription), figs 9–12. Type locality: ‘ Göksu süssen Wasser Asiens östlich des Bosporus’ (Verhoeff, 1945) = Goksu, east of Bosphorus (Turkey). Type material: Holotype, female, 45-mm long; repository unknown (no specimen recognizable as holotype is present in the main repositories of Verhoeff’s collection, i.e. the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin, the Zoologische Staatssammlung München, and the Zoologisches Museum der Universität Hamburg; Weidner, 1960; Rack, 1974; Moritz & Fischer, 1979; J. Spelda, pers. comm.). Diagnosis: A Stenotaenia species of large body size (total length reaching at least 4.5 cm); c. 71 legbearing segments; first maxillae with distinct lappets on both the coxosternum and the telopodites; chitin lines of the forcipular coxosternum reaching the anterior condyles; anterior margin of the forcipular coxosternum angulated; forcipular intermediate articles poorly distinct; sternal pore areas in the anterior part of the trunk oval, slightly longer than wide, and placed on the posterior half of each sternum; each coxopleuron with one anterior and one posterior pouch, with pores (see also Table 3). Taxonomic history: This species was originally introduced by Verhoeff (1941a) and was only associated with a minimal diagnosis of its original genus Bithyniphilus in a key, whereas a detailed description and illustration was published later (Verhoeff, 1945). No other specimens have been referred to B. bosporanus, but its validity was never questioned, even though Zapparoli (1999) raised doubts about the validity of the genus Bithyniphilus. Assignment to Stenotaenia: It is assigned confidently to Stenotaenia (comb. nov.), as the original descriptions and illustrations document a combination of characters that are diagnostic for this genus (Table 2). Other characters described for B. bosporanus are also compatible with Stenotaenia, including the elongation of the head and the antennae, the shape of the labrum, the structure of the second maxillae and their claws, the apparent coalescence of the intermediate articles of the forcipules, and the position of the forcipular poison glands. Apparently unusual characters are the angled internal margin of the forcipular tarsungulum, the absence of articulations in the telopodites of the first maxillae, the aggregation of coxal glands in four recognizable groups on each coxopleuron, but these may be either genuine, peculiar features of this species, that do not in any way challenge its assignment to Stenotaenia, or merely artifactual or misinterpreted traits of the only examined specimen. It is worth noting that Verhoeff (1945), in describing B. bosporanus, acknowledged its similarity to G. linearis, and provided a differential diagnosis of the two species. Validity: It is treated here as a distinct species based only on the original description and illustrations (Table 3). In particular, according to Verhoeff (1945), it should be distinguished from S. linearis for the straighter chitin lines, an unusually shaped forcipular tarsungulum, more numerous pouches on the coxopleura, and a slightly wider sternum of the last leg-bearing segment. However, further investigation is needed to check whether these traits are actually invariant and diagnostic for this species. Distribution: Only known from a locality east of Bosphorus (Fig. 2).