Cleantioides carpentaria, Poore, 2012

Poore, Gary C. B., 2012, Four new valviferan isopods from diverse tropical Australian habitats (Crustacea: Isopoda: Holognathidae and Idoteidae), Memoirs of Museum Victoria 69, pp. 327-340 : 328

Cleantioides carpentaria sp. nov.

Figures 1–2

Material examined. Holotype. Queensland, Karumba, Norman River mouth (17°28'S, 140°49'E), sandy sediment with seagrasses Halodule uninervis and H. pinifolia , 1 m, K. Neil, 2001, NMV J62815 (ovigerous female, length 13.5 mm).

Other material. Queensland, Lucinda, Sugar Loading Jetty Outer (18°31.3'S, 146°19.9'E), sediments, 5 m, K. Neil, CRC Reef Research, 01 Jun 1999, QM 462915 (juvenile, 7.6 mm) .

Description. Ovigerous female. Body approximately 6 times as long as wide. Dorsal surface largely smooth, without setae. Head 1.4 times as wide as long, excavate and depressed anteriorly at midpoint, with small medial pseudorostrum; posterior margin convex; transverse maxillipedal segmental groove obvious. Pleotelson 0.32 whole length, twice as long as wide; pleonite 1 free and articulating, barely visible under pereonite 7; pleonites 2 and 3 well defined but not articulating, pleonite 3 fused medially, lateral margin hidden under pleonite 2; remaining pleotelson parallel-sided and with semicircular apex; dorsum of distal half with oblique (c. 30° from horizontal) circular plane occupying 0.4 of pleotelson length, well-defined by a sharp ridge extending three-quarters around, with obscurely rugose surface.

Antenna 1 reaching to end of article 2 of antenna 2 peduncle; peduncle article 1 as long as wide; flagellum about third length of last article of peduncle, with 4 apical aesthetascs. Antenna 2 0.3 length of body, article 2 with narrow ventromesial projection with bilobed apex; flagellum of 1 article, 0.25 total antenna length, with fine setae all over and a dense clump at apex.

Maxillipedal endite with 2 plumose setae mesially and 8 on transverse apex, palp width 0.45 length, 5 articles visible but suture between 2 and 3 not articulating; articles 2–5 mesially setose; article 3 mesiodistally lobed; article 5 wider than long, 0.2 length of article 4; epipod tapering and obliquely truncate.

Pereopod 1 with dense robust setation on margins of merus, carpus and propodus; propodus 1.8 times as long as wide, with 13 robust setae on mesial face. Pereopods 2 and 3 similar, anterodistal setae on merus and carpus, and margins of propodus; propodus 2.4 times as long as wide. Pereopod 4 0.4 length of pereopod 3, ischium without setae; merus, carpus and propodus with posterodistal U-shaped rows of 11, 18 and 12 robust setae respectively; dactylus reduced to a compact unguis only. Pereopod 5 longer than 4, posteriorly with few spines; dactylus slightly hooked. Pereopods 6 and 7 more elongate than 5, propodus of pereopod 7 4.6 times as long as wide. Oostegites on pereopods 1–5.

Uropodal endopod as wide as long, distally truncate at right-angles to mesial margin over about 0.4 width.

Colour. Holotype unpigmented. Juvenile brown, darkest across front of head, antenna 1 peduncle, articles 1, 2 and 5 of antenna 2, laterally on body segments and coxa.

Etymology. From the type locality, Gulf of Carpentaria (noun in apposition).

Distribution. Australia, Queensland, east and west coasts of Cape York at c. 18°S; to 5 m depth.

Remarks. Cleantioides carpentaria is similar to the southern Australian species C. albaniensis Poore and Lew Ton, 1990 . It differs in being narrower (6 times vs 5 times as long as wide) and having slightly narrower limbs. It differs from all other species in the obscurely rugose surface of the pleotelsonic plane. The other Australian species, C. striata Poore and Lew Ton, 1990 , from NSW, is longitudinally striped, as are several species in this genus, and has a steeper pleotelsonic plane. The Asian species differ as follows: C. emarginata Kwon and Kim, 1992 has an emarginate telsonic apex, C. poorei Kwon and Kim, 1992 is more compact, C. japonica Richardson, 1912 has a median tubercle on the pleotelsonic plane, and C. rotundata Kussakin, 1982 has a more acute pleotelson. Cleantioides natalensis ( Barnard, 1925) is more elongate (Kensley, 1978).

Figures

Figure 1. Cleantioides carpentaria sp. nov. Holotype.

Figure 2. Cleantioides carpentaria sp. nov. Holotype. Left antennae 1 and 2 detail in ventral view. x = ventral view of left side of pereonite 7 and anterior pleotelson showing pleonal epimera 1–3. Scale bar = 1 mm (habitus only) and 0.2 mm (pereopods).