Armadillidium galiciense Schmölzer, 1955

Cifuentes, Julio, Robla, Jairo & Garcia, Lluc, 2024, Description of Armadillidium boalense sp. nov. from northern Spain, with remarks and a key of the genus in the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands (Isopoda: Oniscidea: Armadillidiidae), Zootaxa 5497 (1), pp. 83-99 : 92-93

Armadillidium galiciense Schmölzer, 1955

Fig. 7

Armadillidium galiciense, Schmölzer, 1955 , p. 189–192, fig. 9

Material examined

Spain • ♂ Holotype, male; high-definition photographs of the slide containing male pleopods 1–2 and pereopods 1 and 7 (see comments and taxonomic remarks).

Additional material

Spain • 1♀; Galicia, Pontevedra, Cerdedo; 31 Apr. 1952; Franz leg.; Schmölzer det.; MNCN 20.04/9634.

Taxonomical remarks

Vandel (1962) considered A. galiciense a junior synonym of A. pictum , a criterion followed by other authors ( Cruz 1993; Cifuentes 2019). However, A. galiciense is a valid and distinct species. A. galiciense differs from A. pictum mainly in the endopod of the male pleopod 1 ( Fig. 7A ), which is straight, progressively tapered, and only slightly bent and pointed distally; and in the exopod, which is longitudinally elongated, without posterior lobe and twice as wide as long. It also differs in the male pleopod 2 ( Fig. 7B ) (not illustrated in the original description), by the exopod with a triangular posterior lobe, not bent nor narrowed as in A. pictum . According to the original description, the coloration of the body is also different. For all these reasons, it does not seem justified that A. galiciense is considered a junior subjective synonym of A. pictum and we can confirm the validity of this species. From A. boalense sp. nov. differs mainly in the exopods of the male pleopods 1–2 and in having the male pereopods 1 and 7 ( Fig. 7C–D ) without evident modifications, instead of strongly differentiated.

Distribution remarks

Schmölzer (1955) described A. galiciense as an endemic species of northwestern Spain, based on specimens from Galicia ( Fig. 1A, 1D ). The same author reported this species in other localities of the Cantabric region: Asturias and Cantabria ( Schmölzer 1971) ( Fig. 1A, 1D ). This species has never been reported again since 1971.

Comments on holotype

According to the original description of A. galiciense , it is a clearly different species from A. pictum and from A. boalense sp. nov. The holotype slide ( Fig. 7A–E ) contained the male pleopods 1 and 2 (the left exopod 1 is missing), the genital papilla and the pereopods 1 and 7. It is hand-labelled ( Fig. 7E ) as following: « Armadillidium (A.) galiciensis (sic) Schmlzr (sic)» inked-written and « Holotypus » pencil-written. Additional information inked-written included «Sp 169/1F Leg. Franz» and «K. SCHMÖLZER INNSBRUCK». It is important to comment that in its original description, Schmölzer (1955) did not expressly designated an holotype but indicated «Cerdedo» (Pontevedra province, Galicia, Spain) as its type locality, corresponding to the locality «(Sp 179, loc. typ.), leg. F». Otherwise, the slide annotated as « holotypus » corresponded to the locality of Pyrnedo (sic), (i.e.,., Piornedo, province of Lugo, Galicia, Spain), recorded in the original description as «(loc. Sp 169), leg. F». So, a complete review of the type series of A. galiciense should be addressed in a subsequent work.

Figures

FIGURE 1. A. Distribution of Armadillidium species in Asturias (red, within Spain seen in darker blue). B. Habitat of Armadillidium boalense sp. nov. in Os Chaos (Boal, Asturias). C. A more detailed photograph of the rocky wall where A. boalense sp. nov. specimens were found. D. Distribution of Armadillidium species in the group ‘pictum’ in northern Iberian Peninsula with the provinces with available data of northern Spain in gray. In both maps: New records (★) and bibliographic records (●). A. album (blue), A. assimile (orange), A. boalense sp. nov. (red), A. galiciense (green), A. nasatum (pink), A. pictum (purple), cf. A. pictum (purple?) and A. vulgare (black).

FIGURE 7. Armadillidium galiciense. Slide of the Holotype. A. Pleopods 1 ♂ and Genital papilla (one exopod missing). B. Pleopods 2 ♂. C. Pereopod 1 ♂. D. Pereopod 7 ♂. E. Detail of label (scale bars: A–B, 0.65 mm; C–D, 0.75 mm).