Niphargobatoides lefkodemonaki ( Sket, 1990 )

Ntakis, Alexandros, Karaouzas, Ioannis, Fišer, Cene & Stoch, Fabio, 2020, An annotated checklist of the Niphargidae (Crustacea: Amphipoda) of Greece, Zootaxa 4772 (3), pp. 517-544 : 526-527

Niphargobatoides lefkodemonaki ( Sket, 1990)

Synonymy: Niphargobates lefkodemonaki Sket, 1990 .

Published records: Sket (1990); Karaman G.S. (2016a).

Distribution: Endemic to Greece: Crete Island (KR).

Type material: Holotype: male 4.5 mm (please insert registered number if present), Demonospilios Cave , Lefka Ori, close to Omalos, Crete Island, (leg. B. Sket) Paratype: male 4.5 mm ,, data same as for holotype.. Holotype and paratypes are deposited in DBUL .

Remarks: Niphargobatoides lefkodemonaki was originally described by Sket (1990) as a member of Niphargobates . Karaman G.S. (2016) later moved the species to the newly erected genus Niphargobatoides . Up to date, it is known only from the type locality. The validity of the genus remains to be tested using molecular methods. As pointed out in a recent paper (Sket & Karaman G.S. 2018), the diagnostic traits of Niphargobates Sket, 1980 , Niphargobatoides Karaman G.S., 2016 and another niphargid genus, Chaetoniphargus Karaman G.S. & Sket, 2019 evolved convergently. It is possible that all these genera are nested within the genus Niphargus and their validity is questionable (Sket & Karaman G.S. 2018).

Etymology: The specific name is composed as follows: lefkoFIGUREwhite, demonakiFIGUREsmall demon in modern Greek; thus: “the white small demon” which alludes to dwarfish, white inhabitant of the Demonospilios (Demon’s cave) in Lefka Ori (White Mountains).