Mesoniscus is a genus of woodlice, placed in its own family, Mesoniscidae, and section, Microcheta. It contains two species – Mesoniscus alpicolus and Mesoniscus graniger – that live in Central and Eastern Europe, mostly in and around caves.
| Mesoniscus | |
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| M. graniger | |
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| Section: | Microcheta Schmalfuss, 1989
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| Family: | Mesoniscidae Verhoeff, 1908
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| Genus: | Mesoniscus Carl, 1906
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Distribution
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Mesoniscus is restricted to Central Europe and the Balkan Peninsula; the ranges of its two species do not overlap.[1]
M. alpicolus is found in Lombardy and the Northern Calcareous Alps.[1] In Austria, its range extends from the Karwendel near Innsbruck to the eastern edge of the Wienerwald, although it is also found in isolated pockets of Triassic and Silurian–Devonian limestone in Styria.[2]
M. graniger has a wider distribution than its congener; it is found in much of the Carpathians, including the Bihor and Banat mountains, and in the Dinaric Alps and Julian Alps.[1] It is also found in the Caves of Aggtelek Karst in Hungary.[3]
Taxonomy
editThe first description of a woodlouse now in the genus Mesoniscus was in 1858, when Camill Heller described "Titanethes alpicolus" in 1858.[4] This was followed in 1865 by the description by János Frivaldszky (Ján Frivaldský) of the subspecies "Titanethes alpicolus graniger".[4]
Mesoniscus is the only genus in the family Mesoniscidae,[5] and is considered so distinct from other woodlice that the family is placed in a separate section, named Microcheta.[5][6]
Ecology
editMesoniscus species lack the pleopodal lungs found in many other woodlice, and are restricted to damp environments.[7]
References
edit- ^ a b c Andrei Giurginca (2001). "The spreading of the genus Mesoniscus in the Romanian Carpathians" (PDF). Travaux de l'Institut Spéleologique "Émile Racovitza". 39–40: 11–22.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Hans Strouhal (1951). "Die österreichischen Landisopoden, ihre Herkunft und ihre Beziehung zu den Nachbarländern" [The terrestrial isopods of Austria, their origins, and their relationship to neighbouring countries] (PDF). Verhandlungen der Zoologisch-botanischen Gesellschaft Wien (in German). 92: 116–142.
- ^ Ferenc Vilisics; Antal Nagy; Péter Sólymos; Roland Farkas; Zita Kemencei; Barna Páll-Gergely; Máté Kisfali; Elisabeth Hornung (2008). "Data on the terrestrial Isopoda fauna of the Alsó-hegy, Aggtelek National Park, Hungary" (PDF). Folia Faunistica Slovaca. 13 (4): 19–22. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-06-05.
- ^ a b H.-E. Gruner & I. Tabacaru (1962). "Revision der Familie Mesoniscidae Verhoeff, 1908 (Isopoda, Oniscoidea)". Crustaceana. 6 (1): 15–34. doi:10.1163/156854063X00318. JSTOR 20102517.
- ^ a b Helmut Schmalfuss (2003). "World catalog of terrestrial isopods (Isopoda: Oniscidea) – revised and updated version" (PDF). Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde, Serie A. 654: 341 pp.
- ^ Alice Michel-Salzat & Didier Bouchon (2000). "Phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial LSU rRNA in oniscids". Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences, Série III. 323 (9): 827–837. doi:10.1016/S0764-4469(00)01221-X. PMID 11072627.
- ^ Christian Schmidt & Johann Wolfgang Wägele (2001). "Morphology and evolution of respiratory structures in the pleopod exopodites of terrestrial Isopoda (Crustacea, Isopoda, Oniscidea)". Acta Zoologica. 82 (4): 315–330. doi:10.1046/j.1463-6395.2001.00092.x.
External links
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Data related to Microcheta at Wikispecies- Data related to Mesoniscidae at Wikispecies
- Data related to Mesoniscus at Wikispecies
