Journal of Threatened Taxa |
www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 March 2021 | 13(3): 18015–18019
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893
(Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.6164.13.3.18015-18019
#6164 | Received 15 May 2020 | Final received
02 August 2020 | Finally accepted 05 March 2021
Addition of four woodlice species
(Crustacea: Isopoda) to the checklist of Iranian Oniscidea
Yaser Bakhshi
1, Saber Sadeghi 2, Hamid Darvishnia 3 & Meysam
Dashan 4
1,2,4 Department of Biology, Faculty of
Sciences, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran.
3 Department of Biology, Payame Noor University, 19395-3697, Tehran, Iran.
1 bakhshiyaser@gmail.com, 2 ssadeghi@shirazu.ac.ir
(corresponding author), 3 darvishnia_h@pnu.ac.ir, 4 meysamdashan@yahoo.com
Editor: Anonymity
requested. Date of publication:
26 March 2021 (online & print)
Citation: Bakhshi,
Y., S. Sadeghi, H. Darvishnia & M. Dashan (2021). Addition of four woodlice species
(Crustacea: Isopoda) to the checklist of Iranian Oniscidea. Journal of Threatened Taxa 13(3): 18015–18019. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.6164.13.3.18015-18019
Copyright: © Bakhshi
et al. 2021. Creative Commons Attribution
4.0 International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and
distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to the
author(s) and the source of publication.
Funding: None.
Competing interests: The authors
declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgments: We cordially thank Dr. Ghasem Mohammadi
Kashani (Zanjan University)
for sending us some hardly accessible papers on terrestrial isopods. We also thank Hossein Bakhshi
and Reza Bakhshi for their help during the field
trips. Farzaneh
Morovat is also thanked for collecting some of the
specimens.
Abstract: Four new records of Oniscidea from Iran including Armadillidium
azerbaidzhanum, A. nasatum,
Platyarthrus schoeblii,
and Armadillo alievi are provided. Important diagnostic characters of the
recorded species are photographed.
Keywords: Armadillidium, Armadillo, Iran, Platyarthrus, terrestrial Isopods, woodlice.
Terrestrial isopods comprise more than 3,700 species
with worldwide distribution (Sfenthourakis & Taiti 2015). They
have occupied various terrestrial habitats from seashores to the extremely dry
environments of deserts (Oliver & Meechan 1993).
The environmental heterogeneity of Iran, hosting a
variety of habitats from deserts to dense woodlands, provides rich
opportunities for woodlice speciation.
Hence, many species of terrestrial isopods are estimated to be present
in the country. Existence of Ligia persica Khalaji-Pirbalouty
& Wägele 2010, adaptated
to life in the intertidal zones of Persian Gulf islands, and Hemilepistus spp., living in the dry environments of
the eastern deserts of Iran, indicates the remarkable variety of habitats and
hence, the potentially high diversity of terrestrial isopods adapted to these
habitats in the country.
In order to protect biodiversity and to recognise
threatened species, it is very important to know what species are present in a
continent, a country or smaller area, and exactly where they occur.
Several studies that have been published by Schmalfuss (1986), Kashani et al.
(2013, 2016, 2018), Kashani (2014, 2016, 2018), Eshaghi et al. (2015), Kashani
& Hamidnia (2016), and Bakhshi
et al. (2020) have considerably increased our knowledge of terrestrial isopods
of Iran. Kashani
(2018) published a comprehensive checklist of all the terrestrial isopods
reported from Iran including 45 species belonging to 25 genera and 11
families. Nevertheless, due to the
geographic situation of Iran, which is in between the three biogeographic
realms (i.e., Palaearctic, Oriental, and Afrotropical faunal regions), it can
be expected that there are many new species and new records of these
crustaceans are expected to be discovered in the country.
Here we report one genus and four species of the
suborder Oniscidea from Iran, all of which are
considered to be new records based on their absence in the checklist of the
terrestrial isopods of Iran published by Kashani
(2018). Images of the whole body and the
body parts with diagnostic importance are provided for each of the newly
recorded species, so that they can be used for further studies and comparison
with other specimens from different regions.
According to these findings, the number of known species of the genera Armadillidium, Armadillo, and Platyarthrus in Iran is increased to three, one, and
two, respectively.
Genus Armadillo is also recorded in Iran for
the first time, although it seems that the genus is distributed in many
parts of the country (unpublished data).
Material and Methods
The present study was conducted during 2015–2019 and a
number of woodlice were collected from different parts of Iran. Our new records are from north (Guilan and Mazandaran provinces), northwest (Azarbaijan-e Gharbi Province),
west (Kermanshah Province), and south (Fars Province) of Iran. The collected specimens were preserved in 70%
ethanol and transferred to the Entomology Research Lab in the Biology
Department at Shiraz University.
Identification of the specimens conducted based on morphological
characters. Images of whole body and
body parts with diagnostic importance are provided for each species. Digital photographs of the specimens were
taken by a Canon 7D digital camera mounted on a Zeiss stemi11 stereomicroscope
and on an Olympus CH40 compound microscope, and the microphotographs were taken
using a Tescan Vega3 scanning electron
microscope. The studied material is
deposited in the Zoological Museum, Collection of Biology Department of Shiraz
University (ZM-CBSU).
Results
Order Isopoda Latreille,
1817
Suborder Oniscidea Latreille, 1802
A: Family Armadillidiidae
Brandt, 1833
Genus Armadillidium
Brandt, 1833
Armadillidium azerbaidzhanum Schmalfuss, 1990
Material examined:
ZM-CBSU 1282, 22.iv.2015, 7 males & 7 females, Guilan
Province, Talesh, 37.75°N, 48.91°E, 206m, leg. H. Darvishnia. ZM-CBSU
1286, 10.ix.2016, 6 males & 3 females, Azarbaijan-e-Gharbi Province, Urmia, near the Urmia Lake, 37.708°N,
45.216°E, 1,276m, leg. Y. Bakhshi & M. Dashan.
The identification of the collected specimens was
performed based on the description and line drawings presented by Schmalfuss (1990): pages 5–7; Figures 6, 7, 9–11 ).
Distribution: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran (new record).
Remarks:
Males are darker in colour and have fewer bright spots than females, especially
on the body sides (Image 1). Armadillidium azerbaidzhanum
is very similar to A. vulgare but differs from it by its smaller
size and different shape of pleopods I and II, as well as the shape and size of
the segments of pereopod VII (Image 2). A.
azerbaidzhanum has previously been recorded from
Caucasus region (Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia) (Schmalfuss
1990). In contrast to A. vulgare
which is widely distributed in Iran (Kashani 2014),
it seems that the distribution area of A. azerbaidzhanum
is restricted to the northern and northwestern parts
of the country.
Armadillidium nasatum Budde-Lund, 1885
Material examined:
ZM-CBSU 1289, 23.iv.2015, 7 males & 4 females, Qazvin province, Qazvin-Buin
Zahra road, 36.166°N, 50.016°E, 1,227 m, leg. H. Darvishnia. ZM-CBSU 1291, 27.viii.2017, 6 males & 5
females, Mazandaran Province, Tonekabon, 36.816°N,
50.858°E, 15m, leg. Y. Bakhshi. ZM-CBSU 1293, 03.vii.2019, 2 males & 1
female, Fars Province, Shiraz, 29.633°N, 52.533°E, 1,577m, leg. F. Morovat.
The identification of the collected specimens is
performed based on the description and line drawings presented by Oliver &
Meechan (1993: pages 88, 98–99, figures 32 D–F, 38)
Distribution: Northern and western Europe (France, Germany, Italy,
the Netherlands, Russia, Spain, United Kingdom), Caucasus Mountains, Japan,
United States, Iran (new record).
Remarks: The
conspicuous upright scutellum of the head (Image 3) and the structure of
pleopod exopodite I and pereopod VII of male (Image 4) make Armadillidium
nasatum easily distinguishable from all other
congeneric species. Previous records of A.
nasatum were mainly from Europe, however, it
has probably been introduced in Asia and many other parts of the world. Even though this species is considered to be
cosmopolitan (Schmalfuss 2006), it had not been
recorded in Iran until now. Some
specimens were collected from a garden in Shiraz, which may indicate the
possibility of the introduction of this species into the country along with the
imported plants.
B: Family Platyarthridae Verhoeff, 1949
Genus Platyarthrus
Brandt, 1833
Platyarthrus schoeblii Budde-Lund, 1885
Material examined:
ZM-CBSU 1273, 19.v.2016, 7 males & 9 females, Kermanshah Province, Sarpole Zahab, 34.633°N,
45.966°E, 855m, leg. Y. Bakhshi & H. Darvishnia. SEM photographs for the collected specimens
are presented in images 5 and 6.
The identification of the collected specimens was
based on the description and drawings presented by Budde-Lund
(1885: pages 200–201) and Vandel (1946: pages
218–223, figures 64–66).
Distribution: Macaronesian Islands; Mediterranean region and the Black Sea
coasts.
Remarks: The
genus Platyarthrus is mainly distributed in
the Mediterranean region. P. schoeblii is the second species of the genus
recorded in Iran. Before the present
study, only P. hoffmannseggii was
reported from the country (Bakhshi & Sadeghi
2019). The specimens were collected in
some ant nests under stones.
Our specimens belong to the Platyarthrus-schoeblii-complex and show some similarities to P.
schoeblii esterelanus
(or P. esterelanus) according to the
structure of dorsal sculptures (Image 5) and the male pleopod endopodite I
(Images 6E,F).
The systematics of the Platyarthrus-schoeblii-complex is not clear. Some members of this species-complex are
considered either as subspecies by some authors (e.g., P. s. esterelanus) or as a distinct species by others
(e.g., P. esterelanus) (Schmalfuss, 2003).
Therefore, more morphological and molecular studies are required to
clarify the systematic situation of this species complex.
C: Family Armadillidae Verhoeff, 1917
Genus Armadillo Latreille,
1802
Armadillo alievi Schmalfuss, 1990
Material examined:
ZM-CBSU 1280, 23.iv.2015, 3 males
& 2 females, Qazvin Province, Qazvin-Buin Zahra road, 36.166°N, 50.016°E,
1,227m, leg. H. Darvishnia. The identification of the collected specimens
was based on the description and drawings presented by Schmalfuss
(1990: figures 38–41). Photographs of
whole body and male appendages are presented in image 7.
Distribution: Azerbaidjan, northwestern Iran (new record).
Remarks: Armadillo alievi has previously been recorded in Azerbaidjan,
the type locality of the species. Some
other species of the genus Armadillo have also been reported from the
neighbouring countries of Iran such as Iraq and Turkey (Schmalfuss
2003). Therefore, although Armadillo alievi is considered as the first representative of the
genus Armadillo in Iran, several species of the genus are expected to be
found in the country.
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