scholarly journals A new species of Tortanus (Atortus) (Copepoda: Calanoida: Tortanidae) from Rodrigues Island, Mauritius

Author(s):  
Susumu Ohtsuka ◽  
David V.P. Conway

A new species of the copepod genus Tortanus (Atortus) (Copepoda: Calanoida), T. (A.) insularis, is described from the coastal region of Rodrigues Island, Mauritius, an isolated island in the south-western Indian Ocean. This new species can be assigned to an Indian faunal element, the recticauda species group, in the Indo-West Pacific recticauda species complex. It exhibits the closest relationship to T. (A.) recticauda recorded from the southern Red Sea and Arabian Gulf, rather than the closer distributed T. (A.) capensis, recorded from off South Africa.


2002 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 293 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. W. Johnson

An immaculate square-nosed acanthurid fish of the genus Naso, previously misidentified as N. tuberosus, is described as a new species, N. mcdadei. The species is widespread, but appears uncommon, being known from only 10 specimens and five underwater photographs. It is described from specimens from tropical eastern and western Australia, southern Indonesia, Mauritius, and Natal, South Africa. Its occurrence is confirmed from off western Sumatra, the Maldives, Chagos Archipelago and southern Taiwan by photographs. It differs from N. tuberosus (Lacèpede, 1801) and N. tonganus (Valenciennes, 1835) most notably through smaller, more numerous teeth and a generally uniform greyish colouration. The head, body and fins all lack numerous small dark spots that are variously present in the latter two species. In adults, it also differs through a squarish rather than rounded tuberosity on the snout, a shorter straighter nasal groove, lack of a discernible hump in the dorsal profile, smaller-scale tubercles, non-prominent jaws, and first rather than last dorsal spine longest.The species previously recognised as N. tuberosus is split into two closely related taxa, N. tonganus (Valenciennes) from the western Pacific and Indian Oceans and N. tuberosus Lac�pede from the central and western Indian Ocean. These species differ mainly in the size and shape of the nasal tuberosity, dorsal profile, body depth, and colouration.



Author(s):  
Susumu Ohtsuka ◽  
David V.P. Conway

A new species of the planktonic copepod Tortanus (Atortus) (Calanoida: Tortanidae), T. (A.) magnonyx is described from the Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar. This is the sixth species of the Indian Ocean recticauda species group, of the Indo-West Pacific recticauda species complex, that has been described from the western Indian Ocean. The inshore areas where these copepods are found have been poorly surveyed, so the number of species found implies a high diversity.



Zootaxa ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 3630 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
NAOMI R. DELVENTHAL ◽  
RANDALL D. MOOI

Callogobius winterbottomi new species is described from the 33.8 mm SL holotype and two paratypes (32.2 mm SL and 22.9 mm SL) from the Comoros, Western Indian Ocean. It is distinguished from all other known Callogobius species by the following combination of characters: sensory pores absent, 23–26 scales in lateral series, and sensory papillae pre-opercular row not continuous with transverse opercular row. One additional specimen of Callogobius winterbottomi was located from South Africa. A new standardized naming system for Callogobius sensory papillae rows is presented for identification and clarification of character states among Callogobius species. The new species is tentatively placed among what we term the “sclateri group”, a clade including C. sclateri (Steindachner) and three other species that exhibit a modified female urogenital papilla with lateral distal flaps and elongate ctenii on the caudal peduncle scales. Callogobius tutuilae (Jordan & Seale) is removed from synonymy with C. sclateri because it has partially united pelvic fins (vs separate) and the preopercular sensory papillae row is continuous with the transverse opercular row (vs separate).



Author(s):  
Peter K.L. Ng ◽  
Appukuttannair Biju Kumar

The taxonomy of the deep-water homolid crabs Moloha grandperrini Guinot & Richer de Forges, 1995 and M. alisae Guinot & Richer de Forges, 1995 is re-examined, and the types redescribed and figured. Moloha alisae is reported from South Africa for the first time. A new species with an inflated carapace, M. tumida sp. nov., is also described from southern India and compared with its closest congeners.



Crustaceana ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 91 (5) ◽  
pp. 611-633 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter K. L. Ng

Abstract Doflein (1904) accidentally transposed the figures for the third maxillipeds of two species of pinnotherid crabs he described, a mistake which has taxonomic consequences. The species he described, Pinnotheres villosissimus Doflein, 1904, from Sumatra, is here referred to its own genus, Trichobezoares n. gen. The specimen Doflein identified as “Pinnotheres sp.” from South Africa was referred to a new species, Pinnotheres dofleini by Lenz (in Lenz & Strunck, 1914) partly based on Doflein’s (1904) incorrect figure of the third maxilliped. To stabilize the taxonomy of this species, Doflein’s specimen is selected as the lectotype; fixing the species as a member of Afropinnotheres Manning, 1993. Pinnotheres pilumnoides Nobili, 1906 (Djibouti) was differentiated from the taxon T. villosissimus partially on differences in the third maxilliped. It is redescribed, figured and shown to be a second species of Trichobezoares. The correct authorship for the species established in Lenz & Strunck (1914) is also discussed.





2018 ◽  
Vol 150 (5) ◽  
pp. 539-577 ◽  
Author(s):  
James D.G. Darling ◽  
François Génier

AbstractCopris incertus Say, 1835 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae: Coprini) has been described as a New World coprophagous scarab distributed from Mexico to Ecuador with large discontinuities in its range between the Yucatán province and Costa Rica. The C. incertus species complex of the Copris minutus (Drury, 1773) species group consists of C. incertus, Copris laeviceps Harold, 1869, and Copris lugubris Boheman, 1858. Based on external morphology and male genitalia, we discovered that multiple species have been classified as C. incertus. Of these species, five are new: Copris amazonicusnew species, Copris brevicornisnew species, Copris davidinew species, Copris moroninew species, and Copris susanaenew species. Herein, we revise the organisation of the C. incertus species complex and propose a new species complex, the C. laeviceps species complex, which includes: C. davidi, Copris igualensis Warner, 1990, and C. laeviceps, formerly included in the C. incertus species complex. We provide an identification key along with species distribution maps, images of habitus, and diagnostic characters.



Crustaceana ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 94 (4) ◽  
pp. 487-506
Author(s):  
H. P. Wagner ◽  
K. Van Damme

Abstract A new species of the thermosbaenacean genus Tethysbaena Wagner, 1994 (Crustacea: Peracarida: Thermosbaenacea) is described based on females from a freshwater cave lake and a brackish coastal well on Socotra Island (Yemen) as Tethysbaena dioscorida n. sp. It is the first representative of the Thermosbaenacea that is described from the Socotra Archipelago and the first member of the order known from an Indian Ocean island. The new species is the eighth known member of what is considered the “Tethysbaena relicta” species-group, which is known from Oman (four species), Somalia (one species), Israel (two species) and now Socotra Island (one species). The new species shows closest morphological affinities with T. barbatula Wagner, 2020 from Oman. We suggest that the speciation in this well-defined species-group is due to regressions of the Tethys Sea and the appearance of dry land since the Oligocene-Miocene boundary to the present time, forming major barriers and creating isolated populations of the ancestral species. Also the potential biocrisis in Socotra as a result of developmental activities during the last decades is mentioned, which may affect the subterranean faunas in particular in coastal areas, exemplified by the destruction of one of only two localities where the new species was found.



Zootaxa ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 2551 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
STEVEN M. GOODMAN ◽  
WAHEEDA BUCCAS ◽  
THESHNIE NAIDOO ◽  
FANJA RATRIMOMANARIVO ◽  
PETER J. TAYLOR ◽  
...  

The species delimitations of African, Arabian Peninsula, and western Indian Ocean island members of the Molossidae bat species complex Chaerephon pumilus remain largely unresolved. Based on genetic analyses this group is paraphyletic, with C. leucogaster nested within C. pumilus sensu lato, and the latter is composed of several distinct clades. DNA was isolated from a specimen of C. p. pumilus obtained at the type locality (Massawa, Eritrea). Although incomplete, this sequence allowed us to clearly define which clade is referable to nominate pumilus, a critical step in resolving the systematics of this species complex. Using morphological and molecular genetic (cytochrome b and D-loop sequences) characters, we establish that C. leucogaster and C. 'pumilus' on Madagascar represent two different lineages and that the Malagasy population referred to C. 'pumilus' is specifically distinct from those on Africa, the islands and mainland Africa. The population of C. pusillus from the western Seychelles atoll of Aldabra cluster with that of the Comoros, rather than Madagascar. For numerous other species of volant vertebrates (bats and birds), the origin of the Aldabra fauna is mixed between the Comoros and Madagascar (e.g., Goodman & Ranivo 2008; O'Brien et al. 2009; Pasquet et al. 2007; Warren et al. 2003). Hence, in the case of these 9-17 g Chaerephon bats, these water barriers have been associated with the isolation and subsequent differentiation of populations after successful dispersal and colonization events. In contrast, within the Comoros, there is no apparent genetic structure between with the individual islands, which are separated by 40 and 80 km, indicating that this distance is regularly traversed by these bats and giving rise to intra-archipelago panmixia of populations.





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