Short Communication |
Corresponding author: Armen Seropian ( armen.seropiani@iliauni.edu.ge ) Academic editor: Levan Mumladze
© 2022 Eka Arsenashvili, Giorgi Iankoshvili, Shota Japarashvili, Natalia Bulbulashvili, Armen Seropian.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Arsenashvili E, Iankoshvili G, Japarashvili S, Bulbulashvili N, Seropian A (2022) Discovery of Hemilepistus (Hemilepistus) klugii (Brandt, 1833) (Isopoda, Oniscidea) in the Republic of Georgia with an overview of the ecology and biology of the subgenus. Caucasiana 1: 13-16. https://doi.org/10.3897/caucasiana.1.e86183
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The terrestrial woodlice Hemilepistus (Hemilepistus) klugii (Brandt, 1833) is reported from Georgia for the first time, with a commentary on the species composition of the genus Hemilepistus Budde-Lund, 1879 in the Caucasus. A short review of the ecology of the subgenus H. (Hemilepistus) is also provided.
Agnaridae, CaBOL, Chachuna Managed Reserve, South-Caucasus, woodlice
Hemilepistus
was established as a subgenus of the genus Porcellio Latreille, 1804 (
Until the end of the first decade of the 21st century, all finds of representatives of the genus Hemilepistus in the South-Caucasus were known only from the territory of Azerbaijan (
The material for the present study was collected at the foot of Qila Kupra (Chachuna Managed Reserve) mud volcanoes and Dalis Mta (Dali mountain) Reservoir by the “Caucasus Barcode of Life” (CaBOL- https://ggbc.eu/) team of the Ilia State University (ISU) in 2021-2022 season. Additional material was collected from the same location on November 6, 2021. The specimens were collected during the day by hand from burrows in the ground, then preserved in 96% ethanol and deposited in the collection of ISU (Table
Photos of preserved Hemilepistus (Hemilepistus) klugii (Fig.
The newly recorded Hemilepistus klugii differs from the other potential congeners that might occur in the area in the arrangement of tubercles on the head, forming a large circle of eight tubercles in the middle of the head which may encircle no or a few large ones, and a row of 3–5 large tubercles that run to the postero-lateral margins (Fig.
Study of the life cycle of Hemilepistus klugii (
Unlike most terrestrial isopods, the members of the subgenus Hemilepistus (Hemilepistus) display strictly monogamous behavior. In spring adults form monogamous co-operative pairs in which partners recognize each other individually and later form, with their progeny, strictly closed family communities (
Hemilepistus (Hemilepistus) klugii (Brandt, 1833), Qila Kupra (Chachuna Managed Reserve); A: dorsal view (the scale bar: 4 mm). B: dorsal view of the head, showing tubercles form a large circle on middle of head (scale bar: 1 mm). C: H. (Desertellio) elongatus Budde-Lund, 1885, Dalis Mta Reservoir (Chachuna Managed Reserve) (scale bar: 4 mm).
Hemilepistus (Hemilepistus) klugii (Brandt, 1833) and H. (Desertellio) elongatus Budde-Lund, 1885 collected by the CaBOL team in Georgia.
Location | Latitude, Longitude | Altitude (m) | Date | Sex | CaBOL-ID | |
H. (Hemilepistus) klugii | ||||||
Qila Kupra | 41.3338, 45.7692 | 411 | 18.04.2021 | ♀ | 1010068 | |
Qila Kupra | 41.3338, 45.7692 | 411 | 18.04.2021 | ♂ | 1020602 | |
Qila Kupra | 41.3338, 45.7692 | 411 | 18.04.2021 | ♂ | 1020603 | |
Qila Kupra | 41.3338, 45.7692 | 411 | 18.04.2021 | ♀ | 1020604 | |
Qila Kupra | 41.3338, 45.7692 | 411 | 06.11.2021 | ♀ | 1011130 | |
Qila Kupra | 41.3338, 45.7692 | 411 | 06.11.2021 | ♀ | 1011189 | |
Qila Kupra | 41.3338, 45.7692 | 411 | 18.04.2022 | ♂ | 1023325 | |
Qila Kupra | 41.3338, 45.7692 | 411 | 18.04.2022 | ♀ | 1023326 | |
Qila Kupra | 41.3338, 45.7692 | 411 | 18.04.2022 | ♀ | 1023327 | |
Qila Kupra | 41.3338, 45.7692 | 411 | 18.04.2022 | ♀ | 1023328 | |
H. (Desertellio) elongatus | ||||||
Dalis Mta Reservoir | 41.2758, 45.8877 | 268 | 18.04.2022 | ♂ | 1023332 | |
Dalis Mta Reservoir | 41.2758, 45.8877 | 268 | 18.04.2022 | ♂ | 1023333 | |
Dalis Mta Reservoir | 41.2758, 45.8877 | 268 | 18.04.2022 | ♂ | 1023334 |
The project on which this report/study is based was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research under the grant 01DK20014A. Our special thanks to the Agency of Protected Areas for giving us the collection permit #655-0-2-202103182033. We are grateful to Ghasem M. Kashani (University of Zanjan) and the academic editor Dr Levan Mumladze for reading and improving the draft of the manuscript.