Venezillo muriloi Campos-Filho, Sfenthourakis & Taiti, n. sp.

(Figs 46-48; 49B)

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 16DEE86C-274A-4ECD-BAE3-52CECDC7942C

TYPE MATERIAL. — Holotype. Brazil • ♂ (parts in micropreparations); Gruna do Govi cave, Feira da Mata, state of Bahia; 13°56’43.3”S, 44°14’26”W; 682 m a.s.l.; 12.X.2020; M. E. Bichuette, D. F.Torres, J. S. Gallo, L. S. Horta & J. E. Gallão leg.; LES 28048.

ETYMOLOGY. — The new species is named after Murilo de Andrade Valle, a Brazilian speleologist of the Grupo Bambuí de Pesquisas Espeleológicas (GBPE), for his contribution to the knowledge of speleology and dedication to the conservation of the Brazilian subterranean habitats.

DESCRIPTION

Body length: 5, 5 mm. Color brown with typical muscle spot insertions. Body in lateral view as in Figure 46A. Cephalon, pereon, and telson tuberculated, arranged as follow (Fig. 46B): cephalon with 14 tubercles, pereonite 1 with 24 tubercles, pereonites 2 with 18 tubercles, pereonites 3-6 with 16 tubercles, pereonite 7 with 14 tubercles, and telson with two tubercles. Dorsal surface bearing semicircular scale-setae (Fig. 46C). One line of small noduli laterales per side, inserted on lateral side of second tubercle from lateral margin (Fig. 46D, F). Cephalon (Fig. 46 I-M) with rectangular frontal shield strongly protruding above vertex, upper portion slightly bent backwards, suprantennal line absent; eyes with about 20 ommatidia. Pereonite 1 epimera with rounded lateral margin, anterior corner directed frontwards, schisma on posterior corners, ventral and dorsal lobes of schisma rounded, ventral lobe shorter than dorsal lobe, lateral margin grooved for one quarter of length; pereonite 2 epimera with ventral lobe obliquely directed outwards, not surpassing outer margin of epimeron; pereonite 3-7 with ventral sulcus gradually increasing; pereonite 2-7 epimera subrectangular, pereonites 6 and 7 epimera with low sulcus on ventral side (Fig. 46A, D-H, J). Pleonite 3-5 epimera subrectangular, well developed; telson hourglass-shaped, proximal part wider than distal one, distal margin straight (Fig. 46N, O). Antennula (Fig. 46P) of three articles, proximal and distal articles similar in length, distal article bearing about five aesthetascs. Antenna (Fig. 46Q) short and stout, distal article of peduncle longer than flagellum; flagellum of two articles, distal article about four times as long as proximal one, bearing two lateral aesthetascs; apical organ short bearing two sensilla. Mandibles with molar penicil semi-dichotomized, left mandible (Fig. 47A) with 2+1 penicils, and right mandible (Fig. 47B) with 1+1 penicils. Maxillula (Fig. 47C) inner endite with two penicils, distal margin rounded bearing lateral tip; outer endite of 4+6 teeth, all simple. Maxilla (Fig. 47D) inner lobe rounded, covered with thick setae; outer lobe about three times as wide as inner lobe, rounded and covered with thin setae. Maxilliped (Fig. 47E) basis subrectangular; proximal article of palp with two setae distinct in length; endite subquadrangular, medial seta surpassing distal margin, outer margin rounded, distal margin bearing two short triangular setae. Uropod (Fig. 46N) protopod subrectangular, flattened, inner margin concave, endopod inserted proximally, exopod short, inserted dorsally on small protuberance. Pereopod 1 (Fig. 48A) carpus with transverse antennal grooming brush; pereopod 7 (Fig. 48B) ischium with sternal margin straight; dactylus with inner claw reaching median portion of outer claw, dactylar and ungual setae simple, not surpassing outer claw. Genital papilla (Fig. 48C) with slender and triangular ventral shield, two subapical orifices. Pleopod exopods with monospiracular covered lungs. Pleopod 1 (Fig. 48D) exopod triangular, about twice as wide as long, medial margin rounded, outer margin straight bearing one short seta; endopod more than three times as long as exopod, distal portion slightly bent outwards and bearing short setae. Pleopod 2 (Fig. 48E) exopod triangular, outer margin distinctly concave bearing few short setae; endopod flagelliform, longer than exopod. Pleopod 3-5 exopods as in Figure 48 F-H.

REMARKS

In having a tuberculated dorsal surface Venezillo muriloi Campos-Filho, Sfenthourakis &Taiti, n. sp. is similar to many other species of the genus, i.e., V. aguayoi (Boone, 1934) from Cuba, V. bellavistanus Schultz, 1995 from Paraguay, V. boneti (Mulaik, 1960), V. llamasi Rioja, 1954, V. macrosoma (Mulaik, 1960), V. pleogoniophorus (Rioja, 1951), V. soyatlanensis (Mulaik, 1960), V. sylvicola (Mulaik, 1960), and V. walkeri (Pearse, 1911) from Mexico, V. culebrae (Van Name, 1936), V. perlatus (Dollfus, 1896), and V. silvarum (Dollfus, 1896) from Caribbean and Virgin Islands, V. galapagoensis (Miers, 1877) from the Galápagos Islands (Ecuador), V. jamaicensis (Richardson, 1912) from Jamaica, V. multipunctatus (Budde-Lund, 1885), V. rubropunctatus (Budde-Lund, 1893), V. scaberrimus (Dollfus, 1893), and V. truncorum (Budde-Lund, 1893) from Venezuela, V. phylax (Van Name, 1936) from Hispaniola, V. verrucosus (Budde-Lund, 1904) from Ecuador, and V. vincentis (Budde-Lund, 1904) from Caribbean islands and Colombia. It differs in having a smooth pleon and a telson bearing two tubercles (vs pleon and telson smooth in V. aguayoi, V. bellavistanus, V. jamaicensis, V. llamasi, V. macrosoma, V. silvarum, V. truncorum, V. vincentis, and V. walkeri; pleon smooth with telson bearing one tubercle in V. sylvicola; pleonite 3-5 epimera bearing one tubercle plus three tubercles on telson in V. galapagoensis; pleon and telson tuberculated in V. boneti, V. culebrae, V. multipunctatus, V. perlatus, V. phylax, V. pleogoniophorus, V. soyatlanensis, and V. verrucosus), cephalon with frontal shield distinctly protruding upwards (vs slightly protruding in V. macrosoma; not protruding in V. sylvicola), eyes composed of about 20 ommatidia (vs 4-5 in V. boneti; 12 in V. soyatlanensis; 14 in V. bellavistanus and V. macrosoma; 15 in V. galapagoensis and V. jamaicensis; 12-14 in V. llamasi; 16 in V. rubropunctatus, V. phylax, V. truncorum, V. verrucosus, and V. walkeri; 8-9 in V. pleogoniophorus; 17 in V. sylvicola and V. multipunctatus), pereonite 1 epimeron with lateral groove for one quarter of its length (vs about one third of its length in V. culebrae, V. macrosoma, V. soyatlanensis, and V. truncorum; about half of its length in V. galapagoensis and V. jamaicensis; almost all of its length in V. bellavistanus; entirely grooved in V. aguayoi, V. boneti, V. llamasi, V. multipunctatus, V. phylax, V. pleogoniophorus, V. scaberrimus, V. silvarum, and V. walkeri), and pereonite 2 epimeron with ventral lobe subtriangular (vs subquadrangular in V. llamasi) (see Van Name 1936; Rioja 1951, 1954; Mulaik 1960; Schultz 1995).

However, regarding the above-mentioned species with dorsal tubercles, schisma on pereonite 1 epimera, and hour-glass shape of telson, it is worth mentioning that V. boneti, V. multipunctatus, V. perlatus, V. pleogoniophorus, V. scaberrimus, and V. soyatlanensis, are probably mistakenly assigned to the genus (see Van Name 1936; Mulaik 1960). These species seem to belong to other Armadillidae genera, but an examination of the type material of these taxa is needed to clarify their taxonomy.

The cave where the specimens of V. muriloi Campos-Filho, Sfenthourakis & Taiti, n. sp. were collected is located in the Brazilian xeric region of Caatinga (Morrone et al. 2022). This species is considered to be a troglophile due to the absence of troglomorphic characteristics. Probably the species moves inside caves to exploit resources and favourable micro-habitat conditions therein (Fernandes et al. 2016, 2019).