SREL Reprint #2003
Older than the Atlantic Ocean: discovery of a freshwater Microcerberus (Isopoda) in North America and erection of Coxicerberus, new genus
J.W. Wägele1, N. J. Voelz2, and J. Vaun McArthur3
1Fakultät für Biologie, Universität Bielefeld, P.O.B. 10 01 31, D-33615 Bielefeld, Germany
2Department of Biological Sciences, St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, Minnesota 56301-4498, USA
3Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Drawer E, University of Georgia, Aiken, South Carolina 29802, USA
Abstract: The first fresh-water microcerberid isopod (Isopoda: Asellota) from the United States is reported from wells in South Carolina (Microcerberus carolinensis, new species). The closest relatives occur in southeastern Europe and belong to a distinct fresh-water clade with triramous pleopod 4 (genus Microcerberus sensu stricto), a group which must be older than the Atlantic Ocean. Reconstructed evolution of morphology indicates that the fresh-water microcerberids are the more primitive ones. For the more derived coastal mesopsammal species, the new genus Coxicerberus is proposed.
SREL Reprint #2003
Wägele, J.W., N.J. Voelz, and J.V. McArthur. 1995. Older than the Atlantic Ocean: discovery of a freshwater Microcerberus (Isopoda) in North America and erection of Coxicerberus, new genus. The Journal of Crustacean Biology 15:733-745.
This information was provided by the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (srel.uga.edu).