Genus Soteriscus gen. nov.

Type species: Soteriscus gaditanus Vandel, 1956b by present designation

Remarks

Soteriscus was erected by Vandel (1956b) as a subgenus of Metoponorthus Budde- Lund, 1879 (junior synonym of Porcellionides) to accommodate four species: Metoponorthus ( Soteriscus) stricticauda Dollfus, 1893 from the Canary Islands; Metoponorthus ( Soteriscus) wollastoni Paulian de Félice, 1939 from Madera Island; Metoponorthus (Soteriscus) fuscovariegatus (Lucas, 1849) from Algeria; and the new species Metoponorthus (Soteriscus) gaditanus from south-western Spain and northwestern Morocco. No type species for the subgenus Soteriscus was selected neither by Vandel (1956b), nor by Vandel and Matsakis (1959) when the subgenus was elevated to genus rank, nor in any other subsequent publication dealing with this genus. Thus, according to article 13.3 of ICZN (1999), the name is unavailable (see also Schmidt and Leistikow 2004). In order to revalidate the genus we designate here Metoponorthus (Soteriscus) gaditanus as type species of the genus Soteriscus . For the diagnosis of the genus see Vandel (1960b).