Corresponding author: Saber Sadeghi (
Academic editor: O. Moldovan
A new cave isopod species of the genus
Bakhshi Y, Sadeghi S, Messana G (2018) First record of the family Stenasellidae (Crustacea, Isopoda) in Iran with the description of a new cave-dwelling species. Subterranean Biology 26: 27–38.
With approximately 1.65 million km2, Iran is a vast country in the Western Palearctic. Iran hosts a high variety of habitats including more than 2000 caves, mostly located in the Zagros Range (
In the last two decades, several studies have been conducted regarding the fauna of Iranian caves (e.g.
The family
In 1999, in a paper dealing with four new
Left: Map of Iran, showing the location of Tashan Cave (black circle); Right: the type locality in Tashan Cave, with
All the specimens (two males and three females) were collected using a small hand net in Tashan cave, located 12 km north of Behbahan city in Khuzestan Province (southwest Iran). Tashan cave is located on the western side of the Zagros Mountains (Figure
The collected specimens were preserved in ethanol 96%. One male and one female were dissected and microscopic slides of their body parts were prepared using Euparal mounting medium. To study the specimens, a stereomicroscope (Zeiss Stemi SV 11 Apo) and a compound microscope (Olympus BX 50) were used. For the chaetotaxy,
The type specimens of
(complementary to iconography) (Figure
Antenna I (Figure
Antenna II (Figure
Left mandible (Figure
Right mandible (Figure
Mandibular palp (Figure
First maxilla (Figure
Second maxilla (Figure
Maxilliped (Figure
Peraeopod I (Figure
Peraeopods II–VII (Figure
Genital papilla (Figure
Male Pleopod I (Figure
Female pleopod II (Figure
Male pleopod II (Figure
Pleopods III–V (Figure
Uropods (Figure
Topotypic, referring to the type locality, Tashan Cave.
Several species of the genus
Hence, as
Maximum body length in
The general morphology of the
Probably molecular genetic analysis could lead to a better comprehension of the relationship of the various taxa present in the region. Several molecular studies exist on peri-Mediterranean and American stenasellids (
Male pleopod I of
Male pleopod II of
Squama of antenna II of
The authors thank Shiraz University for providing financial support. We would like to thank Prof Marian Glenn (Seton Hall University) for reviewing the English language of the manuscript. Our thanks are also due to Kelly L. Merrin (Australian Museum) for sending us some useful publications. We also thank Oana Moldovan, Julian Lewis and an anonymous referee, for their critical revision of the paper.