First record of Janinella nom. nov. (Crustacea: Isopoda: Microparasellidae) in the South Atlantic: revision of the genus and description of a new Brazilian species

Abstract

The family Microparasellidae (Crustacea: Isopoda) is reported for the first time from South America. The genus Janinella nom. nov. is proposed as the replacement name for Paracharon Coineau 1970. It is new for the Atlantic Ocean. A new species of Janinella from the interstitial Brazilian infralittoral is described. Janinella brasiliensis sp. nov. is distinguished from the New Caledonian congener Janinella renaudae by the tiny antennal scale, the number of teeth of the mandibular incisor and the shape of the maxilliped epipod. These species differ also by the morphology of the male and female pleopods, and the length of the uropodal exopod. Based on the re-examination of J. renaudae and the characters of J. brasiliensis sp. nov., a revised diagnosis of the genus Janinella is provided. Habitat preferences are described: Janinella species live in well-sorted coarse-grained sands affected by high hydrodynamics. The chemical composition of the grains is of low relevance.

http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:8594F887-1183-44CB-BB31-E59A0F7E2167

Keywords:

• Microparasellidae
• South Atlantic
• infra-littoral interstitial
• Janinella
• systematics
• habitat preferences

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the French–Brazilian programme Biodiversity and Environment of the Universities P. et M. Curie-Paris 6-Observatoire Océanologique de Banyuls and Santa Ursula-Rio de Janeiro. N.C. and E.F.A. are grateful to Madre M.F. Ramos, the late Chancellor of the University Santa Ursula. The authors thank Marcelo Reis who collected the isopods. We are grateful to the Universities Santa Ursula at Rio de Janeiro, Marrakesh in Morocco, and the Observatoire Océanologique de Banyuls for laboratory facilities during the elaboration of this work. Comments and suggestions of the referees are also appreciated.