Mexicerberus Schultz, 1974

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Suggested Common Name: Nosy Cave Cerberus
Number of subordinate taxa: Monotypic, endemic to our region.
Etymology: Mexico +  -cerberus,  the commonly used suffix used for Microcerberids. See species for common name reasoning.
Taxonomic History: none
Size Range: to 2.5mm
Description: (based off of Wägele, Voelz & Vaun McArthur, 1995 and Schultz, 1974) Body pigmentless, elongate, lateral margins concave. Head with elongate, rounded rostrum extending past anterolateral corners. Eyes absent. Pereopods 2-4 coxae ring-like. Pleopod 1 present. ♂ pleopod 2 endopod uniramous, slender, elongate. Pleopod 4 short, biramous; rami at least partly covered by pleopod 3. Uropod protopod short; both rami extending past telson; exopod half as long as endopod.
Type taxon: Mexicerberus troglodytes Schultz, 1974
Notes: This monotypic genus is only known from a single cave in Tamaulipas, Mexico. It appears to be fairly basal in Microcerberidae, with the retention of pleopod 1 only being found in one other monotypic genus (Bulgarocerberus).
Like many cavernicolous species in the region, its most likely that this species became stranded in whats now the Sierra de Guatemala during the Cretaceous embayments of North America.

Subordinate taxa: Mexicerberus troglodytes

Sources

Schultz, G. A. (1974). Mexicerberus troglodytes n. gen., n. sp. from a cave in Mexico, with notes on isopod crustaceans of the Microcerberidea from the New World. Crustaceana, 26(3):308-312.

Wägele, J. W., Voelz, N. J., & Vaun McArthur, J. (1995). Older than the Atlantic Ocean: discovery of a fresh water Microcerberus (Isopoda) in North America and erection of Coxicerberus, new genus. Journal of Crustacean Biology, 15(4):733-745.

Published: Feb 15, 2023