Shabuddin Shaik

HABROBATHYNELLA BORRAENSIS N. SP. (SYNCARIDA: BATHYNELLACEA: PARABATHYNELLIDAE) FROM THE BORRA CAVES OF SOUTHEASTERN INDIA, WITH A NOTE ON THE TAXONOMIC SIGNIFICANCE OF PARAGNATH MORPHOLOGY

Up until now, the genus Habrobathynella Schminke, 1973 had ten species in the world. Of these, two are known from Madagascar and eight from India. Habrobathynella borraensis n. sp. is described herein from the Borra Caves, southeastern India. This is the first cavernicolous species of the genus. The species has a unique combination of characters: male Th VIII elongate, somewhat subquadrate in lateral views, with both dentate and inner lobes moderately produced and reaching about the level of exopod; outer lobe thumb-like, much shorter than basipod and fused with protopod; exopod distinct from basipod, claw-like, incurved in lateral views and with denticulate apical margin; female Th VIII in the form of triangular lobe lying anteriorly; uropodal sympod with inhomonomous row of 4 spines, ultimate spine longer and thicker than proximal ones; pleotelson protruded at postero-lateral angle and shorter than caudal furca; and maxilla with 1 normal seta on first segment. The affinities of the new species with its congeners, especially Habrobathynella nagarjunai Ranga Reddy, 2002, are briefly discussed. The paragnath morphology is illustrated afresh for seven of the eight Indian species, and its usefulness as a species-specific criterion discussed. The length of the outer seta vs. the apical, inner seta of the uropodal exopod is also proposed as a new specific feature. Furthermore, a brief note on the biogeography of the species of Habrobathynella is added.

Camachobathynella meghalayaensisn. gen., n. sp., the first Palearctic element of Bathynellacea (Eumalacostraca: Bathynellidae) from northeastern India

A new bathynellacean, Camachobathynella meghalayaensisn. gen., n. sp., is described from a hyporheic habitat in Meghalaya, a northeastern Indian state. This is the first Palearctic bathynellacean from India. It has very little in common with the hitherto known tropical Bathynellidae Grobben, 1905 of India and other Gondwana landmasses, but it shows some close morphological relationships with the Palearctic members of the subfamily Bathynellinae Grobben, 1905. It has a unique of constellation of characters: antennule 7-segmented, with 5 setae on segment 7; antennary endopod 5-segmented and perpendicular to antennule, and exopod without medial seta; mandible sexually isomorphic with 3-segmented palp and distinct gnathobase; maxilla 4-segmented, setal formula 6-4-6-4; Th I-VII with 4-segmented endopod; male Th VIII penile region consisting of 3 lobes, none of them denticulate, basis armed with 2 setae on inner margin, exopod bent outwards and armed with 5 setae, and endopod absent; female Th VIII with large, biarticulate epipod, exopod and endopod 1-segmented, with 2 setae each; pleopod I 2-segmented, with 6 setae on distal segment; uropodal sympod with 5 equal spines; caudal furca with 4 spines; and pleotelson with 2 dorsal moderately strong setae. Of these characters, the male Th VIII lacking endopod and the caudal furca having only four spines can be considered the autapomorphies of the new genus within in the subfamily Bathynellinae. The position of the new taxon in Bathynellidae is discussed, and a brief note on its ecology and biogeography is also added.

A new genus and two new species of Parastenocarididae (Copepoda: Harpacticoida) from southeastern India

ABSTRACT Indocaris gen. nov. with two new species, Indocaris imbricata sp. nov. and Indocaris inopinata sp. nov., and also for the already known Indocaris tirupatiensis (Ranga Reddy 2011a) comb. nov. – all from the groundwaters in peninsular India. The highly diagnostic synapomorphy of the new genus is a composite character associated with the male leg 4 basis: five or six prominent, imbricate, enlarged, petal-like spinules, arranged as a semi-whorl at the insertion of the endopod and increasing in size from internal to external. Another distinctive feature of the same appendage is that its one-segmented endopod is dilated or bulbous in the proximal half, produced distally into an incurved spiniform or horn-like structure about as long as the corresponding first exopodal segment, and ornamented with three or four fine spinules on the subproximal outer margin. The three species also share a unique constellation of other salient morphologic features, which along with the phylogenetic position of Indocaris gen. nov. within the family Parastenocarididae are discussed. Indocaris gen. nov. has closest phylogenetic affinity with the Neotropical Remaneicari Jakobi, 1972. A short note on the ecology and biogeography of the parastenocaridid species of the Indian subcontinent is provided besides a key for their identification.

Two new species of Parastenocarididae (Copepoda, Harpacticoida) from India.

To date, 20 species of Parastenocarididae are known from the Indian subcontinent. This paper gives the description of two more new species from the coastal deltaic belt of the Rivers Krishna and Godavari in the Andhra Pradesh state of the southeastern Indian peninsula. They are: Parastenocaris enckelli n. sp. from a hyporheic habitat, and Dussartstenocaris bisetosa n. sp. from a farm bore. Parastenocaris enckelli belongs to the brevipes-group of the genus Parastenocaris Kessler, 1913 sensu Lang 1948 and Reid 1995, and is characterized by the following features: the male leg 4 basal complex consists of a large chitinized plate, with two digitiform hyaline structures at its proximal outer corner of the anterior surface, and one smooth, moderately strong, claw-like spine at the inner distal corner of basis; the endopod of the same leg is membranous, with bulbous proximal part having a diagonal row of three spinules, and its distal part is drawn out into smooth pointed structure; and the male leg 3 ancestral proximal segment is subproximally dilated, elongate, with ladle-shaped apophysis, which is slightly longer than the spiniform thumb. Parastenocaris enckelli is closely related to the Indian P. edakkal Totakura, Ranga Reddy & Shaik, 2014, and the Sri Lankan P. brincki Enckell, 1970. To accommodate Dussartstenocaris bisetosa in the monotypic Western Australian genus Dussartstenocaris Karanovic & Cooper, 2011, three of the original generic criteria are amended. D. bisetosa is chiefly characterized by the complex exopodal thumb on the male leg 3, the caudal ramus having only two lateral setae located slightly anterior to its midlength together with the distally inserted dorsal seta, and also the presence of a short spiniform process at the inner distal corner of leg 5 in both sexes. Dussartstenocaris bisetosa differs from D. idioxenos Karanovic & Cooper, 2011, by its shorter caudal rami, distinctly ornamented anal somite, two long modified spinules on the male leg 4 coxa, and rather small fifth legs with only two setae each in both sexes and smooth inner margins. This is the first report of the genus Dussartstenocaris from the Indian subcontinent. Brief biogeographic notes are also given for the two new species.

Two new species of the genus Habrobathynella Schminke, 1973 (Syncarida, Parabathynellidae) from the southwestern peninsular India

The genus Habrobathynella Schminke, 1973, comprises 14 species: two from Madagascar and 12 from the peninsular India. Two more new hyporheic species of this genus, viz. H. muvattupuzha n. sp. and H. adishankara n. sp., from the southwestern peninsular India, are described and illustrated, and their position in the genus is discussed. Both new species are more closely related to each other than to their hitherto known congeners. H. muvattupuzha n. sp. has a unique combination of characters: male Th VIII small in size, with protopod distinctly expanded latero-externally, and basipod balloon-shaped; uropodal sympod with inhomonomous row of five spines, with penultimate spine longer and thicker than others, and ultimate spine same as proximal spines; paragnaths with minaret-like smooth coupler and short lateral lobes; fifth antennular segment with only two long aesthetascs; and first maxillary segment with two setae. H. adishankara n. sp. is distinct from its congeners in having a unique set of characters: uropodal sympod with inhomonomous row of six spines, with penultimate and ultimate spines as in the preceding species; paragnaths with thumb-like, smooth coupler and small lateral lobes; first antennary segment nearly as long as the second one; fifth antennular segment with three long aesthetascs; and first maxillary segment with one seta. The principal morphological characters and their states among the Habrobathynella species, with special reference to the new species, are briefly discussed. Also, brief notes on the ecology and biogeography are given, as is an updated key to Habrobathynella species.

A NEW SPECIES OF ANDHRACOIDES WILSON AND RANGA REDDY, 2011 (ISOPODA: HYPSIMETOPIDAE) FROM BELUM CAVE, ANDHRA PRADESH, INDIA, WITH A PHYLOGENETIC REVIEW OF THE FAMILY

Andhracoides gebaueri n. sp. from Belum Cave is the second hypogean representative of the genus Andhracoides Wilson and Ranga Reddy, 2011, the first one being Andhracoides shabuddin Wilson and Ranga Reddy, 2011, from Guthikonda Cave; both these caves are located in southeastern India. The new species can be easily distinguished from A. shabuddin by the following features: body with elongate robust setae on low bumps adjacent to prominent pereional mid-dorsal setal rows; pereionites wider than long in lateral view; maxillipeds with only one coupling hook each; and distal tip of appendix masculina extending beyond midpoint of the exopod. Discovery of this new species adds to the known diversity and distribution of the Indian hypsimetopid fauna. A key to the taxa of the Indian Hypsimetopidae is given. A phylogenetic analysis of 68 species of Phreatoicidea and out-groups have yielded eight trees with strongly supported clades of Hypsimetopidae, Andhracoides + Nichollsia and Andhracoides. The trees are consistent with Gondwana tectonic separation of Indian-Australian continents and imply that the family as a whole might have an age of origin earlier than the initial separation of India and Australia. Because Hypsimetopidae do not show the derived features of the remainder of the phreatoicideans that appear in the fossil record, their origin could predate the oldest known phreatoicidean fossils in the late Paleozoic.

A phylogenetic review of the genus Atopobathynella Schminke, 1973 (Crustacea, Malacostraca, Bathynellacea) with three new species from southeastern India

ABSTRACT To date, the genus Atopobathynella Schminke, 1973, contains 12 Gondwanan species, including two species from India. Three new species of this genus, viz. A. indica sp. nov., A. nelloreensis sp. nov., and A. inopinata sp. nov., from southeastern India are described herein. The various characters and their states in Atopobathynella, in relation to other parabathynellid species known so far, are discussed; especially its closeness with the genus Kimberleybathynella is highlighted. A morphological phylogenetic analysis of the genus Atopobathynella,along with its closely related genus Kimberleybathynella is also done, and the inter-relationships among the 15 species of Atopobathynella and six species of Kimberleybathynella are deduced, using the software PAUP 4.0b10. This analysis, based on 39 unordered characters, has yielded 23 most parsimonious trees, with a length of 138 steps, a consistency index (CI) of 0.3768, a homoplasy index (HI) of 0.6232, a retention index (RI) of 0.6211, and a rescaled consistency index (RC) of 0.2341. The cladogram thus obtained suggests the grouping of ((A.wattsi, A. glenayleensis), (A. readi, ((((A. gascoyneensis, A. hospitalis), A. hinzeae), (((A. compagana, A. chelifera), A. valdiviana), (((A. operculata, A. paraoperculata), A. nelloreensis), (A. indica, A. inopinata)))), (A. schminkei, (((((K. gigantea, K. kimberleyensis), K. argylensis), K. pleochaeta), K. mandorana), K. hexapoda)))), outgroup). It also shows that the five Indian species are nestled between the Australian Atopobathynella and Kimberleybathynella species. The Indian species appear to be much derived as compared to their Australian counterparts. A brief note on the origin of Bathynellacea is also added at the end. www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:18BD9A75-5D38-470F-B8C2-D56F645831C4

On the genus Habrobathynella Schminke, 1973 (Crustacea, Malacostraca, Bathynellacea), with description of three new species from India

The genus Habrobathynella Schminke, 1973 contains 16 species, 2 from Madagascar and 14 from the peninsular India. This is a remarkably species-rich genus when compared to the three other genera of the family Parabathynellidae known from India: Atopobathynella Schminke, 1973 (5 spp.), Chilibathynella Noodt, 1964 (1 sp.), and Parvulobathynella Schminke, 1973 (3 spp.). This paper provides a monographic treatment of Habrobathynella together with a detailed illustrated account of three new cavernicolous species, viz. Habrobathynella bose n. sp., Habrobathynella ernstmayr n. sp. and Habrobathynella raman n. sp., from the States of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, India. For each of the already described species, the following details are provided: reference to original description, diagnosis, type data, type locality, distribution, ecology, co-occurrence with other species and remarks on taxonomic affinity. Distribution maps and a dichotomous key for identification of all species in Habrobathynella are provided. We also include a brief note on the biogeography and conservation status of the Indian bathynellaceans.