Graeconiscus thermophilus (Çağlar, 1948)

(Figures 3–5)

Material examined

72 ♂♂, 132 ♀♀, 3 juvs, St. 8, leg. S. Taiti and C. Rossano, 28 September 2005 (MZUF 9455); 2 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀, same data (SMNS 15676); 2 ♂♂, 1 ♀, same locality and collectors, 28 April 2004 (MZUF 9456).

Distribution

Graeconiscus thermophilus was previously known from the southern Aegean islands including Crete and western Turkey. New record for the Rif region.

Remarks

Haplophthalmus thermophilus was described by Çağlar (1948) on specimens from a warm spring at Armutlu, near Gemlik (Turkey). Strouhal (1963) redescribed and figured this species from the type locality. Schmalfuss et al. (2004) included the species in the genus Graeconiscus and considered Calconischellus aegeus Schmalfuss, 1972 recorded from Crete and several southern Aegean islands as a junior synonym of G. thermophilus. The specimens from Ghar-Knadel Cave (maximum length ♂ 3 mm, ♀ 3.7 mm) are tentatively identified as Graeconiscus thermophilus since they correspond to the redescription provided by Strouhal (1963, p. 392, Figures 22–26); in the disposition of dorsal ornamentation and the morphology of the male pereopod 7 and pleopod 1. They differ in lacking the eyes and in the shape of the tubercles on pereonite 7 and pleonite 3. In G. thermophilus the pereonite 7 has 3 + 3 tubercles as in the Moroccan specimens but the medial tubercle on each side is much smaller, and the single tubercle on pleonite 3 is transversally elongated while it is rounded in the Ghar-Knadel Cave specimens. The main characters of these specimens are illustrated in Figures 3–5.