Iphinoe elisae Bâcescu, 1950

Mazziotti, Cristina & Lezzi, Marco, 2020, The cumacean genus Iphinoe (Crustacea: Peracarida) from Italian waters and I. daphne n. sp. from the northwestern Adriatic Sea, Mediterranean, Zootaxa 4766 (2), pp. 331-357 : 345

Iphinoe elisae Bâcescu, 1950

Material examined. 2 ovigerous females, st. 2; 1 ovigerous female, 1 adult male st. 26; 1 ovigerous female without uropod, st. 39.

Remarks. Iphinoe elisae was described by Bâcescu (1950). It is characterized by four perianal setae, like I. serrata . However, I. elisae only has one aesthetasc on antenna 1, while I. serrata has two. These traits are common for both male and female specimens.

The adult females observed from station 2 have four setae in the first uropod segment as do the males, rather than three as described by Ledoyer (1965). The integument is covered by scarce bristles.

Distribution and Ecology. Iphinoe elisae is a common species in the Black Sea ( Băcescu 1950; Revkov et al. 2002; Kirkim et al. 2006; Todorova & Konsulova 2006; Dumitrache et al. 2013), but has also been reported from the western Mediterranean (Sánchez Moyano et al. 2012).

Up to now, I. elisae had not been reported from Italian waters. Here we report its presence in area 9 ( Table 3 ).

Iphinoe elisae was first discovered in muddy sediment at a depth of 30–80 m in the Black Sea ( Băcescu 1950). Kirkim et al. (2006) recorded I. elisae on the Anatolian coast in both mud and fine sand sediment; Sánchez Moyano et al. (2012) in the interior of Algeciras Bay ( Spain), and in Caulerpa prolifera meadows (2–5 m deep).

A specimen of Iphinoe elisae was found in our samples on biocenosis with 60% of sand, at a depth ranging between 2 and 39.5 m ( Table 1 ).