Mexicope Hooker, 1985

Bruce, Niel L., 2004, Mexicope sushara sp. nov., the first New Zealand record of the isopod crustacean family Acanthaspidiidae (Asellota), Zootaxa 489, pp. 1-11 : 2

Genus Mexicope Hooker, 1985

Restricted synonymy: Just, 2001: 913.

Type species: Mexicope kensleyi Hooker, 1985 , original designation.

Remarks: Recent generic revisions have given restrictive diagnoses to the genera of the Acanthaspidiidae , including Mexicope ( Just 2001) but have not identified possible or potential defining apomorphic character states. The new species described herein accords well with the generic diagnosis given by Just (2001) but two characters differ, notably in presence of a rostral process or spine, and the development of a pre­ocular spine on the head. The presence or absence of a rostral spine is considered to be a diagnostic character separating Mexicope from the genera Acanthaspidia and Ianthopsis .

Mexicope has been defined as lacking a rostrum or rostral spine. Mexicope is also diagnosed as having the eyes in a lateral position, on a short stalk, and preceded by a preocular spine ( Just 2001). In Mexicope sushara sp. nov. the eyes agree precisely with the diagnosis given by Just (2001) but the pre­ocular spine is more in the form of an extension of the anterolateral angle of the head, a flat, acute pre­ocular lobe. The close correspondence of other defining characters, namely lateral projections on pereonites 2–4, dorsally and anteriorly directed setae on the lateral margins of pereonites 2, 3, 6 and 7, strongly prognathus mouthparts, tapering mandibular molar, short maxilliped epipod, shape of the male pleopod 1 and the coiled stylet all confirm that the new species described here is a species of Mexicope , and that the generic diagnosis should be modified to allow inclusion of species with or without a rostral spine.