Parakermania Vandel, 1973

Hong, Xinkai, Wang, Yutao & Li, Weichun, 2022, A third species of Parakermania Vandel, 1973 (Isopoda: Oniscidea: Armadillidae) from China, Zootaxa 5087 (3), pp. 484-488 : 485

Genus Parakermania Vandel, 1973

Type species: Parakermania minima Vandel, 1973

Diagnosis. Parakermania able to roll up into perfect ball, dorsum with distinct tubercles; head with short and stout antenna, cephalon with frontal shield slightly protruding over vertex; epimera of pereonites and pleonites curve outwards, and pereonites 2−7 with triangular epimera, pereonites 1 and 2 with small lobe and large tooth on ventral side, respectively; telson with quadrangular distal part, uropodal protopodite nearly trapezoidal, minute exopodites inserted dorsally on protopodite ( Kwon & Taiti 1993).

Remarks. The relationships among the genus Parakermania and the other genera within the family Armadillidae are unknown. In morphology, the genus is close to Tuberillo Schultz, 1982 ( Taiti et al. 1992). But it can be distinguished by the frontal shield protruding less over the vertex, the pereonites 2−7 with triangular epimera instead of quadrangular epimera, and the pereonite 1 with a small ventral lobe instead of a schisma ( Kwon & Taiti 1993).

List of Parakermania species

Parakermania minima Vandel, 1973 . Parakermania minima Vandel, 1973: 142 , figs. 109−110. Type locality: Dyaul Island , New Ireland, Bismarck Archipelago. Distribution: Australia (New Ireland) .

Parakermania maculata Kwon & Taiti, 1993 . Parakermania maculata Kwon & Taiti, 1993: 77 , figs 315−324. Type locality: Qingdao , Hainan Island, China. Distribution. China (Hainan) .

Parakermania longa Hong, Wang & Li, sp. nov. Distribution. China (Hainan).

Key to Parakermania species

1. Pereonites 1–6 with twelve long spine-shaped projections near lateral margin ( Vandel 1973).................. P. minima

- Pereonites 1–6 without spine-shaped projections............................................................ 2

2. Pereonite 6 with two small round tubercles on outer sides ( Kwon & Taiti 1993).......................... P. maculata

- Pereonite 6 with two thin and long ornamentations on outer sides, going beyond apex of telson ( Fig. 1 ).... P. longa sp. nov.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Parakermania longa sp. nov. A, habitus in life; B, holotype in dorsal view; C, holotype in lateral view; D, cephalon and pereon-epimera 1 and 2 of holotype in ventral view. Scale bars: 0.1 mm.