Bennelongia triangulata, Martens, Halse & Schon, 2015

Martens, Koen, Halse, Stuart & Schön, Isa, 2015, On the Bennelongia nimala and B. triangulata lineages (Crustacea, Ostracoda) in Western Australia, with the description of six new species, European Journal of Taxonomy 111, pp. 1-36 : 26

Bennelongia triangulata lineage

Diagnosis of the B. triangulata lineage

Large (L> 2 mm) and triangular species, with ventral margins nearly smooth, without an antero-ventral beak on the LV. Anterior LV/RV overlap moderate. CpD and CpV without pronounced anterior rostrum. Last 3 juvenile stages with fully flat ventral side, not so in adults.

Remarks

De Deckker & Martens (2013) described the morphology of the last 3 instar juveniles of B. triangulata sp. nov. (as B. sp. 414) and found that they have, unlike juveniles of any other Benelongia species, a fully flat ventral side. This feature is an important part of the diagnosis of the lineage.

This lineage and species are atypical for Bennelongia , in that some of the obvious features, such as the long beak in the B. australis lineage or the large LV/RV overlap in the B. nimala lineage, are missing. Nevertheless, the structure of the valve margins of both valves is most similar to the other species in the genus, and also the soft parts, apart from being slightly more elongated, show no structural differences. We thus maintain this species in Bennelongia .