Trachelipus vespertilio (Budde-Lund, 1896)

Vittori, Milos, 2022, New records of Trachelipus vespertilio (Budde-Lund, 1896) (Isopoda, Oniscidea) with a description of the male, Biodiversity Data Journal 10, pp. 91063-91063 : 91063

Trachelipus vespertilio (Budde-Lund, 1896)

Materials

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Miloš Vittori; individualCount: 1; sex: male; lifeStage: adult; Taxon : acceptedNameUsage: Trachelipus vespertilio (Budde-Lund, 1896); kingdom: Animalia ; phylum: Arthropoda ; class: Malacostraca ; order: Isopoda ; family: Trachelipodidae ; genus: Trachelipus ; specificEpithet: vespertilio; Location : continent: Europe ; country: Slovenia; locality: Sezana ; verbatimElevation: 369 m; verbatimCoordinates: 45.709194N, 13.862667E; Identification : identifiedBy: Milos Vittori ; dateIdentified: 2021; Event : eventDate: 19/09/2021; Record Level: basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Miloš Vittori; individualCount: 2; lifeStage: juvenile; Taxon : acceptedNameUsage: Trachelipus vespertilio (Budde-Lund, 1896); kingdom: Animalia ; phylum: Arthropoda ; class: Malacostraca ; order: Isopoda ; family: Trachelipodidae ; genus: Trachelipus ; specificEpithet: vespertilio; Location : continent: Europe ; country: Slovenia; locality: Sezana ; verbatimElevation: 369 m; verbatimCoordinates: 45.709194N, 13.862667E; Identification : identifiedBy: Milos Vittori ; dateIdentified: 2021; Event : eventDate: 03/10/2021; Record Level: basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Miloš Vittori; individualCount: 2; sex: female; lifeStage: adult; Taxon : acceptedNameUsage: Trachelipus vespertilio (Budde-Lund, 1896); kingdom: Animalia ; phylum: Arthropoda ; class: Malacostraca ; order: Isopoda ; family: Trachelipodidae ; genus: Trachelipus ; specificEpithet: vespertilio; Location : continent: Europe ; country: Slovenia; locality: Sezana ; verbatimElevation: 369 m; verbatimCoordinates: 45.709194N, 13.862667E; Identification : identifiedBy: Milos Vittori ; dateIdentified: 2021; Event : eventDate: 30/10/2021; Record Level: basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Miloš Vittori; individualCount: 1; sex: female; lifeStage: adult; Taxon : acceptedNameUsage: Trachelipus vespertilio (Budde-Lund, 1896); kingdom: Animalia ; phylum: Arthropoda ; class: Malacostraca ; order: Isopoda ; family: Trachelipodidae ; genus: Trachelipus ; specificEpithet: vespertilio; Location : continent: Europe ; country: Slovenia; locality: Sezana ; verbatimElevation: 369 m; verbatimCoordinates: 45.709194N, 13.862667E; Identification : identifiedBy: Milos Vittori ; dateIdentified: 2022; Event : eventDate: 26/03/2022; Record Level: basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Miloš Vittori; individualCount: 3; sex: female; lifeStage: adult; Taxon : acceptedNameUsage: Trachelipus vespertilio (Budde-Lund, 1896); kingdom: Animalia ; phylum: Arthropoda ; class: Malacostraca ; order: Isopoda ; family: Trachelipodidae ; genus: Trachelipus ; specificEpithet: vespertilio; Location : continent: Europe ; country: Slovenia; locality: Sezana ; verbatimElevation: 369 m; verbatimCoordinates: 45.709194N, 13.862667E; Identification : identifiedBy: Milos Vittori ; dateIdentified: 2022; Event : eventDate: 02/05/2022; Record Level: basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Miloš Vittori; individualCount: 4; lifeStage: juvenile; Taxon : acceptedNameUsage: Trachelipus vespertilio (Budde-Lund, 1896); kingdom: Animalia ; phylum: Arthropoda ; class: Malacostraca ; order: Isopoda ; family: Trachelipodidae ; genus: Trachelipus ; specificEpithet: vespertilio; Location : continent: Europe ; country: Slovenia; locality: Sezana ; verbatimElevation: 369 m; verbatimCoordinates: 45.709194N, 13.862667E; Identification : identifiedBy: Milos Vittori ; dateIdentified: 2022; Event : eventDate: 11/06/2022; Record Level: basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Miloš Vittori; individualCount: 4; sex: female; lifeStage: adult; Taxon : acceptedNameUsage: Trachelipus vespertilio (Budde-Lund, 1896); kingdom: Animalia ; phylum: Arthropoda ; class: Malacostraca ; order: Isopoda ; family: Trachelipodidae ; genus: Trachelipus ; specificEpithet: vespertilio; Location : continent: Europe ; country: Slovenia; locality: Sezana ; verbatimElevation: 369 m; verbatimCoordinates: 45.709194N, 13.862667E; Identification : identifiedBy: Milos Vittori ; dateIdentified: 2022; Event : eventDate: 06/11/2022; Record Level: basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence : recordedBy: Milos Vittori | Barbara Breznik ; individualCount: 1; sex: female; lifeStage: adult; Taxon : acceptedNameUsage: Trachelipus vespertilio (Budde-Lund, 1896); kingdom: Animalia ; phylum: Arthropoda ; class: Malacostraca ; order: Isopoda ; family: Trachelipodidae ; genus: Trachelipus ; specificEpithet: vespertilio; Location : continent: Europe ; country: Croatia; locality: Velika Paklenica ; verbatimElevation: 40 m; verbatimCoordinates: 44.298374N, 15.461812E; Identification : identifiedBy: Miloš Vittori; dateIdentified: 2022; Event: eventDate: 14/06/2022; Record Level: basisOfRecord: LivingSpecimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence : recordedBy: Milos Vittori | Barbara Breznik ; individualCount: 1; sex: male; lifeStage: adult; Taxon : acceptedNameUsage: Trachelipus vespertilio (Budde-Lund, 1896); kingdom: Animalia ; phylum: Arthropoda ; class: Malacostraca ; order: Isopoda ; family: Trachelipodidae ; genus: Trachelipus ; specificEpithet: vespertilio; Location : continent: Europe ; country: Croatia; locality: Velika Paklenica ; verbatimElevation: 387 m; verbatimCoordinates: 44.334795N, 15.476142E; Identification : identifiedBy: Miloš Vittori; dateIdentified: 2022; Event: eventDate: 15/06/2022; Record Level: basisOfRecord: LivingSpecimen

Description

Colour dorsally light greyish-brown with pale patches on bases of epimera on pereonites 2-7 and a median row of small pale patches on anterior edges of pereon tergites 4-7. Pleon with two faint lighter longitudinal lines. Ventrally, epimera and pereopods light grey, sternites and pleopods white. Posterior corners of pereon epimera in most specimens with faint orange patches less than one-fifth the length of epimeron (Figs 1 , 2 ).

Cephalothorax and pereon tergites strongly tuberculate (Fig. 3 ). Tuberculation more pronounced on pereonites 1-4 than on peronites 5-7, pereon epimera and pleon weakly tuberculate. Row of prominent tubercules present on posterior margins of tergites; as a result, posterior margins of pereon tergites 5-7 and pleon tergites slightly wavy, but not serrate. Dorsal body surface covered with tricorns wider than their length and with semilunar and annular scales (Fig. 4 A and B).

Lateral cephalic lobes twice as long as eyes, with straight outer margins and curved inner margins (Figs 1 , 2 , 3 , 5 ). Median cephalic lobe half as long as lateral lobes and evenly rounded. Angles between cephalic lobes acute. Distal margins of all lobes curved upwards. Pair of prominent tubercles at base of median lobe near its lateral edges.

Eyes (Fig. 5 C and D) composed of 22-25 ommatidia. Eyes less than half as long as cephalothorax, approximately equal to length of median cephalic lobe.

Posterior margins of pereon epimera concave. Concave edges on pereonite 1 not evenly curved, instead with straight mid-section (Figs 1 , 2 , 3 ).

Glandular pore fields on pereon epimera nearly circular, with diameter larger than distance to lateral margin of epimera (Fig. 3 ).

Noduli laterales (Fig. 3 ) on pereonite 1 approximately equidistant from mid-line as from lateral margin of pereonite, on other pereonites posterior to glandular pore fields and aligned with their median margins. Noduli laterales on pereonites 2-5 closer to lateral than posterior margin of each pereonite; on pereonite 6, their distance from posterior and lateral margin approximately equal; on pereonite 7, more than twice as far from lateral than posterior margin.

Pleotelson slightly longer than wide, with concave lateral margins converging strongly in anterior half of pleotelson and gradually in posterior half. Apex of pleotelson rounded (Fig. 3 ).

Antennula (Fig. 4 C) consisting of 3 articles. Second article half as long as basal article and terminal article approximately as long as basal article. Terminal article bearing 15 aesthetascs in male examined.

Antenna (Fig. 6 A) with article 2 medially rounded, its dorsal surface with ridge ending distally in a pointed projection. Article 3 dorsally with distal projection with rounded tip. Flagellum composed of two articles, distal article at least twice as long as proximal article.

Mandibles (Fig. 6 B and C) characteristic of genus ( Schmidt 1997). Lacinia mobilis with two teeth, proximally to it hairy lobe with two penicils; proximally to hairy lobe row of 4 penicils in male examined. Molar penicil with tuft of more than 10 composite setae arising from common tubercle.

Maxillula (Fig. 6 D and E) outer branch with 10 teeth, 6 teeth in median group, all except tooth 2 and 5 with split tips, lateral group of 4 teeth with simple tips; two small and stout subapical setae on caudal surface close together, in contact. Apex of inner branch medially with two penicils.

Maxilla (Fig. 6 F) characteristic of genus ( Schmidt 1997), bilobed, both lobes covered with thin setules. Subapical tubercle as elongate ridge perpendicular to long axis of maxilla.

Maxilliped (Fig. 6 G) characteristic of genus ( Schmidt 1997). Basal article of palp with 2 large setae, second article with one large and one smaller seta on median margin, distal margin with single large seta.

Male pereopod 1 (Fig. 7 A-C) with elongate, dense patch of setules on frontal side of merus. Frontal side of propodus in its proximal half with elongate patch of cuspidate setae arranged in several rows.

Male pereopod 7 (Fig. 6 H and Fig. 7 D) with ventrally concave ischium, frontal side of ischium bearing semi-circular pit covered with setules increasing in length towards dorsal margin of pit. Pit delimited ventrally by slightly concave ridge. Carpus dorsally with evenly curved crest reaching three-quarters of carpus length, crest highest at mid-point.

Pleopod exopodites 1-5 (Fig. 8 A-G) with lungs characteristic of genus ( Schmidt 1997). Lateral margins of lung fields on all pleopods convex, rounded, on pleopods 1-4 with numerous (more than 10) setae, on pleopod 5 with fewer than 5 setae.

Male pleopod 1 exopod (Fig. 8 A) with stout, evenly curved apical projection, its length equal to width of lung field. Pleopod 1 endopod (Fig. 8 B and C) with row of stout setae and apical tuft of setules. Row of setae curved near apex of endopod and straight at its very tip (Fig. 8 C).

Male pleopod 2 exopod (Fig. 8 D) twice as long as wide, its tip slightly curved inwards. Pleopod 2 endopod (Fig. 8 D) as long as exopod, slender, curving outwards.

Uropod (Fig. 8 H) protopod approximately as long as wide, exopod 1.5 times longer than protopod and 2.5 times longer than wide, widest at one-third its length, with slightly convex lateral margin and strongly convex median margin. Uropod endopod with parallel sides, setose, approximately as long as protopod.

Diagnosis

Lateral lobes of cephalothorax more than twice as long as median lobe and eyes. Acute angles between cephalic lobes. Distal article of flagellum of antenna at least twice as long as proximal article. Concave posterior margins of epimera on pereonite 1 not evenly curved, instead with straight segment in middle. Glandular pore fields on all pereonites circular and closer than their diameter to lateral edges of epimera. Carpus of male pereopod 7 dorsally with symmetrical, evenly curved crest reaching two-thirds length of carpus, highest point of crest in the middle. Lung fields on all pleopod exopods with convex, rounded edges. Male pleopod 1 exopodite with stout uniformly curved apical projection as long as width of lung field. Male pleopod 1 endopod with row of setae that curves as it approaches endopod apex and straightens abruptly at apex. Apex with tuft of setules.

Distribution

East coast of the Adriatic Sea between Velebit (Croatia) and the Karst Plateau (Slovenia).

Notes

Amongst the material from Sežana, six juveniles were collected: two in October 2021 and an additional four in June 2022. The cephalic lobes are smaller in juveniles and the difference in length between the median and lateral lobes is not as pronounced as in adults. Three ovigerous females were collected at the same locality in June 2022.

Two additional individuals, a male (Fig. 9 A) and a female, were observed in Velika Paklenica Canyon in Paklenica National Park in Croatia. These isopods were found in a deciduous forest in very humid places, the female under a stone near a spring (Fig. 9 B) and the male under moist decaying wood.

Figures

Figure 1. Live female Trachelipus vespertilio (11 mm), collected in Sezana, Slovenia.

Figure 2. Trachelipus vespertilio, habitus of specimens collected in Sezana, Slovenia. A male, 11 mm, dorsal view; B male, ventral view; C female, 12 mm, dorsal view; D female, ventral view.

Figure 3. Trachelipus vespertilio, habitus. A male, 11 mm, collected in Sezana, Slovenia; B female, 12 mm, collected in Sezana, Slovenia. Noduli laterales are depicted in blue.

Figure 4. Structure of the dorsal body surface and antennula of Trachelipus vespertilio. A fluorescence micrograph of the epicuticular surface showing strongly fluorescent tricorns and scales; B scanning electron micrograph of tricorns, scales and circular depressions on dorsal body surface; C antennula of Trachelipus vespertilio male, 11 mm, collected in Sezana, Slovenia. Scale bars: 50 µm (A), 10 µm (B and C).

Figure 5. Trachelipus vespertilio, cephalothorax of male, 11 mm, collected in Sezana, Slovenia. A dorsal view of cephalothorax; B frontal view of cephalothorax; C right eye; D left eye. Scale bars: 100 µm.

Figure 6. Appendages of cephalothorax and pereon, Trachelipus vespertilio. A antenna, ventral view; B left mandible; C right mandible; D outer branch of maxilllula; E inner branch of maxillula; F maxilla; G maxilliped; H pereopod 7, anterior view. A - D and F - H: male, 11 mm, collected in Sezana, Slovenia E: female, 11 mm, collected in Sezana, Slovenia.

Figure 7. Trachelipus vespertilio, pereopods 1 and 7 of male, 11 mm, collected in Sezana, Slovenia. A pereopod 1, anterior view; B patch of setae on merus of pereopod 1; C patch of setae on propodus of pereopod 1; D pereopod 7, anterior view. Scale bars: 100 µm (A, B and D), 10 µm (C).

Figure 8. Appendages of pleon, Trachelipus vespertilio male, 11 mm, collected in Sezana, Slovenia A pleopod 1, exopod; B pleopod 1, endopod; C pleopod 1, endopod at high magnification; D pleopod 2; E pleopod 3; F pleopod 4; G pleopod 5; H uropod.

Figure 9. Trachelipus vespertilio observed in Paklenica, Croatia. A photograph of male, spotted above Lugarnica cottage in Velika Paklenica Canyon; B spring on the side of the road in Velika Paklenica Canyon where a female was found.