Colomboscia venezuelana Campos-Filho, Paoletti and Taiti n. sp.

Figures 1-3, 11

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: C0B2021A-060C-4014-A808-34E1F2AC4D7F

Material examined

VENEZUELA: Holotype ♂ (parts in micropreparations) (MZUF 9850), Parque Nacional Henri Pittier, Rancho Grande, department of Aragua, 1,400 m a.s.l., no date, leg. C. Bordon. Paratypes: 1 ♂ (parts in micropreparations), 1 ♀, 1 juv. (MZUF 9850), same data as holotype; 1 ♀ (MZUF 9851), Parque Nacional Guatopo, department of Miranda, 700 m a.s.l., 7.VI.1986, leg. C. Bordon.

Description

Maximum body length: ♂ 4. 5 mm, ♀ 5. 5 mm. Colour faded after conservation in alcohol. Body (Figure 1A,D) strongly convex with endoantennal conglobation; pereonite 1 epimera enlarged, anterior corners directed upwards slightly surpassing eyes, pereonites 2-7 subquadrangular, directed backwards; pleonites 3-5 epimera subquadrangular, continuing outline of pereonites (Figure 1A,D,E). Dorsal surface with small rounded tubercles disposed as follows: 2+2 on cephalon, 5+5 on pereonite 1, 3+ 3 in pereonites 2-4, 2+2 on pereonites 5-7, 1+1 on pleonites 1-3; pleonites 4-5 and telson smooth (Figure 1 A-D). Noduli laterales inserted near posterior margins and at same distance from lateral margins of pereon epimera. Cephalon (Figure 1 A-C) with semicircular transverse dorsal furrow, laterally reaching median portion of eyes; frontal lobe stout, rounded, protruding frontwards and slightly depressed dorsally; lateral lobes triangular and obliquely directed outwards; frontal shield delimited superiorly by frontal line and separated from vertex; eyes laterally protruding with 13 ommatidia. Telson (Figure 1E) with distal margin widely rounded. Antennula (Figure 1F) of three articles, distal article conical with apical tip and two lateral aesthetascs plus apical pair. Antenna (Figure 1G) stout, not surpassing pereonite 1 when extended backwards; flagellum of three articles, second and third articles bearing lateral aesthetascs; apical organ as long as flagellum with two short free sensilla. Mandibles with molar penicil dichotomized, consisting of about six plumose setae, left mandible (Figure 2A) with 2+1 penicils, right mandible (Figure 2B) with 1+1 penicils. Maxillula (Figure 2C) inner endite with two apical plumose penicils; outer endite with 4+6 teeth, five of them apically cleft. Maxilla (Figure 2D) with rounded lobes subequal in width, inner lobe covered with thick setae, outer lobe covered with long thin setae. Maxilliped (Figure 2E) palp with one seta on basal article; endite subrectangular densely covered with thin setae, medial seta not surpassing distal margin, apical penicil near medial margin. Pereopods 1-7 stout, merus and carpus bearing strong setae comb-like with long sensilla on sternal margin; pereopod 1 carpus and propodus bearing transverse antennal grooming brush; dactylus of two subequal claws, simple ungual seta longer than outer claw, dactylar seta much longer than outer claw and apically plumose. Uropod (Figure 3A) protopod subrectangular fitting gap between pleonite 5 and telson, endopod inserted proximally and bearing fringe of thin setae on outer and inner margins, exopod distally inserted, much shorter than endopod.

Male: Pereopods 1 and 7 (Figure 3B,C) without any particular modifications. Pleopod 1 (Figure 3D) exopod ovoid; endopod four times as long as exopod, distal part tapering and bearing row of small setae near medial margin. Pleopod 2 (Figure 3E) exopod triangular, outer margin concave bearing one seta; endopod stout, slightly longer than exopod. Pleopod 3 and 4 exopods as in Figure 3F,G. Pleopod 5 exopod (Figure 3H) triangular with transverse fringes of thin setae, outer margin sinuous bearing one seta.

Etymology

The new species is named after Venezuela.

Remarks

At present, the genus Colomboscia comprises five species from Colombia: C. andina (Vandel, 1972), C. bituberculata Taiti, Allspach & Ferrara, 1995, C. cordillierae Vandel, 1972, C. gaigei (Pearse, 1915), and C. parva Schmidt, 2007 . In having the dorsal surface with rounded tubercles, Colomboscia venezuelana n. sp. is similar to C. gaigei, C. cordillierae and C. bituberculata . It differs from C. bituberculata in having more numerous and less protruding dorsal tubercles, from C. cordillierae and C. gaigei in the male pereopod 7 merus without triangular process and the shorter male pleopod 1 exopod; from C. gaigei also in the protruding frontal lobes of the cephalon. The new species is readily distinct from C. andina and C. parva which have a smooth dorsum. This is the first record of the genus for Venezuela (Figure 11).