Mesoniscus

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
M. graniger
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Subphylum:
Crustacea
Class:
Malacostraca
Order:
Isopoda
Suborder:
Oniscidea
Section:
Microcheta

Schmalfuss, 1989
Family:
Mesoniscidae

Verhoeff, 1908
Genus:
Mesoniscus

Carl, 1906
Species
  • M. alpicolus (Heller, 1858)
  • M. graniger (Frivaldsky, 1865)

Distribution
The Baradla cave in north-eastern Hungary is home to a population of Mesoniscus graniger.

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

The 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

Mesoniscus species lack the pleopodal lungs found in many other woodlice, and are restricted to damp environments.[7]

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References
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. Helmut Schmalfuss (2003). "World catalog of terrestrial isopods (Isopoda: Oniscidea) – revised and updated version" (PDF). Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde, Serie A. 654: 341 pp.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
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