Pseudojanira meganesus, Kensley & Schotte, 2002

Kensley, B & Schotte, M, 2002, New species and records of Asellota from the Indian Ocean (Crustacea: Peracarida: Isopoda), Journal of Natural History 36, pp. 1421-1461 : 1437-1439

Pseudojanira meganesus sp. nov.

(gures 9, 10)

Type material. HOLOTYPE: USNM 253317 , 4.0 mm, IIOE sta JR-28 , Nosy Bé , Madagascar, 13ss29¾S, 48ss14¾E, shallow water, 9 January 1964 . PARATYPES: USNM 253318 , six 2.8–4.0 mm, two ovigerous 2.9–3.1 mm, three, nine juveniles , IIOE sta JR-28 , same data as holotype .

Other material. USNM 253319 , one 2.2 mm , IIOE sta 357B, oV Natal , South Africa, 29ss11¾S, 32ss02¾E, 69 m, 30 July 1964 ; USNM 253320 , one, one juvenile , IIOE sta 372B, oV Inhambane, Mozambique, 24ss48¾S, 34ss59¾E, 42 m, 19 August 1964 ; USNM 253321 , three, two juveniles , IIOE sta 403E, north of Beira , Mozambique, 19ss09¾S, 36ss55¾E, 88 m, 9 October 1964 .

Diagnosis. Rostrum broadly rounded, basally wider than midlength, anterior margin having about ten teeth. Cephalon having low rounded bump in position of antennal tooth; anterolateral tooth large, acute, not reaching anteriorly as far as rostrum. Eyes reniform, composed of 13 ommatidia arranged in 2.5 rows. Pleotelson width about one-third greater than middorsal length, lateral margin with single small tooth. Pereopod 1 in male with merus having anterior and posterior patches of elongate setae on mesial surface, stout anterodistal seta present; carpus with anterior and posterior dense patch of elongate setae; propodus longer than wide, widening distally, with band of dense elongate setae on anterior margin, palm demarcated by stout seta, followed by nine or ten more slender fringed setae; dactylus with ten fringed setae on posterior margin. Pereopod 2, ischium having rounded ange on anterior margin bearing six stout setae; merus with anterodistal lobe bearing single stout seta; carpus rectangular, having three stout setae on posterior margin; propodus shorter than carpus, rectangular, with four stout setae on posterior margin; dactylus with two strong ungui plus smaller more proximal seta.

Remarks. The easiest diVerence to detect, between the present species and P. stenetrioides lies in the rostrum: rounded and entire in the earlier species, rounded and toothed in P. meganesus . The latter is dorsally very sparsely setose, unlike P. stenetrioides which is fairly densely setose. The pattern of dense elongate setae on the mesial surface of pereopod 1 in the male diVers between the two species, with a distinctive anterior and posterior patch on both the merus and carpus in P. meganesus . This species apparently also lacks the strong patch of pigment on the dorsum of the cephalon seen in the earlier species.

The three species of Pseudojanira recorded from Australia ( P. investigatoris Poore and Just, 1990 ; P. justi Serov and Wilson, 1999 ; P. fremantlensis Serov and Wilson, 1999 ) all possess narrowly triangular rostra, unlike the two western Indian Ocean species.

Etymology. The speci c name is derived from the Greek for ‘large island’ referring to the type locality, Nosy Bé in Madagascar.