Redescription of the type species of the genus Cassidinidea Hansen, 1905 (Crustacea: Isopoda: Sphaeromatidae), with notes on geographic distribution of the New World species

ABSTRACT

Cassidinidea ovalis (Say, 1818), the type species of Cassidinidea Hansen, 1905 is redescribed, photographed and illustrated, based on material from South Carolina. Cassidinidea lunifrons (Richardson, 1905) is herein considered as a junior synonym of C. ovalis. This species occurs on the Atlantic coast of North America from New Jersey to Florida. A map of the distribution of the North and South American species of Cassidinidea Hansen, 1905, is provided. In addition, a revised generic diagnosis and description is given for the genus.

KEYWORDS:

• Isopoda
• Sphaeromatidae
• Cassidinidea ovalis
• North and South America
• taxonomy

Acknowledgements

We are particularly grateful to Dr Jean-Marc Gagnon and Dr Robert Anderson for provision of facilities during the first author visit in 2019 to the Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa. Dr Saskia Brix (Senckenberg Research Institute, Germany) and two anonymous referees are appreciated for reviewing the manuscript and providing valuable comments and advice. Financial support for this study was provided by Canadian Museum of Nature Visiting Scientist Awards, 2019 and partly supported by the Shahrekord University, Iran. This is contribution number 517 from the NWU-Water Research Group.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).