Burmoniscus meeusei (Holthuis, 1947)

Karasawa, Shigenori & Goto, Kenshi, 2014, Burmoniscus kitadaitoensis Nunomura, 2009 (Crustacea, Isopoda, Oniscidea) from southern Japan, a junior synonym of B. meeusei (Holthuis, 1947), ZooKeys 386, pp. 21-28 : 24-25

Burmoniscus meeusei (Holthuis, 1947) Figs 1-3

Chaetophiloscia meeusei Holthuis, 1947: p.124-130, Figs 1-2.

Brumoniscus meeusei : Taiti and Ferrara 1991, p.212, Figs 7-8; Kwon and Jeon 1993, p.142-143, Fig. 7; Araujo et al. 1996, p.118-120, Figs 15-21.

Brumoniscus kitadaitoensis Nunomura, 2009, p.79-81, Fig. 3; Nunomura 2011, p.60. Syn. n.

Material examined.

Holotype of Burmoniscus kitadaitoensis , TOYA-Cr-14899, male, dissected, near Daitogu, Kitadaitojima Island, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, 25th November 2006, Noboru Nunomura leg; non types, 2 male, KMNH-IvR 500720 and 500721, 25.9314°N, 131.3094°E, Minami, Kitadaito Village, Kitadaitojima Island, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, 30th June 2012, Takeshi Goto leg.; non type, 1 male, KMNH-IvR 500722, 25.9444°N, 131.3021°E, Daitogu, Kitadaito Village, Kitadaitojima Island, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, 30th June 2012, Takeshi Goto leg.; non type, 1 male, KMNH-IvR 500723, 28.3560°N, 129.3935°E, Yamato Village, Amamioshima Island, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan, 12th September 2012, Shigenori Karasawa leg.

Remarks.

Burmoniscus meeusei is characterized by the male pleopod 1 endopodite slender and gradually narrowing to the apex (Fig. 1A) with a small lobe on the inner margin close to the apex (Fig. 1B); the male pleopod 1 exopodite with triangular posterior point bent outward and inner margin evenly convex (Fig. 1C); the male pleopod 2 endopodite slender (Fig. 1D) and exopodite trapezoidal (Fig. 1E); genital papilla elongated and simple (Fig. 1F); male pereiopods 1 and 7 without particular modifications (Fig. 2A, B); the pereonite 7 with postero-lateral corners at obtuse angle (Fig. 3A); and the apex of pleotelson broadly rounded (Fig. 3B).

On the holotype of Burmoniscus kitadaitoensis , a small lobe was found on the inner margin of the male pleopod 1 endopodite, although this character was not shown in the original description (Fig. 3P in Nunomura 2009). Moreover, the other morphological characters including the co-ordinate of the noduli laterales (Fig. 4) are consistent with those of Burmoniscus meeusei (see Figs 1 and 2 in Holthuis 1947; Figs 7 and 8 in Taiti and Ferrara 1991; Fig. 7 in Kwon and Jeon 1993; Figs 15-21 in Araujo et al. 1996). Thus the present study considers Burmoniscus kitadaitoensis as a junior synonym of Burmoniscus meeusei .

Distribution.

Burmoniscus meeusei was previously reported from the United Kingdom (greenhouses), Hawaii, Brazil, Taiwan ( Schmalfuss 2004) and Japan. In Japan this species has been collected from Kitadaitojima Island only ( Nunomura 2009, 2011), but the present study found the species on Amamioshima Island, which is about 300 km from Kitadaitojima Island.

DNA sequences.

The COI, 12S rRNA, 16S rRNA, 18S rRNA and 28S rRNA alignments comprised 653, 354, 453, 675 and 635 bp, respectively. With the exception of the 12S rRNA gene, there is no difference in the four genes among the specimens collected from Kitadaitojima and Amamioshima Islands. Only one 12S rRNA gene base varied between the specimens collected from the two islands.