Terrestrial isopods of the genus Porcellio Latreille, 1804 (Isopoda; Oniscidea) in Iran, with a description of a new species
Kashani, Ghasem M.
Ahdiyeh, Abedini
Zahra, Hatami
Zootaxa
2017
4311
1
129
136
7PTS4
Latreille, 1804
Latreille
1804
[238,535,293,319]
Malacostraca
Porcellionidae
Porcellio
Animalia
Isopoda
1
130
Arthropoda
genus
Type species: Porcellio scaberLatreille, 1804
Diagnosis.A member of the genus Porcelliocan be diagnosed by the enlarged pleon-epimera constituting continuous outline with the pereon; pereon-epimera I with cocave posterolateral margins; head with welldeveloped lateral lobes; eyes with more than 20 ommatidia; telson triangular with concave lateral margins; pleopod exopodites I–II with monospiracular covered lungs and no conglobation ability ( Schmalfuss & Ferrara 1978, Schmalfuss 1992).
Remarks.The genus Porcelliois a large taxonomic group that cannot be defined by a single character. Indeed, none of the above mentioned features satisfactorily diagnose the genus ( Schmalfuss 1992). Schmalfuss (1998)considered Porcellioas a paraphyletic group including two different linages that have been united due to convergent evolution. According to him, “the north African laevis-hoffmannseggi-group defined by elongated male pleopod exopodites, probably should be considered a separate genus which then must be called RogopusBudde- Lund, 1908”. The northern Mediterranean scaber-obsolotus-group is diagnosed by short pleopod exopodites that includes also west Asian species ( Schmalfuss 1992). Obviously, a revision of the genus Porcelliois required to be divided to more natural genera.