Description of a new species of Aegla (Decapoda, Anomura) from the Paraná 3 hydrographic basin, Brazil

Abstract

Freshwater crustaceans of the genus Aegla are endemic to southern South America, and present greater richness in the river basins of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. However, recent studies have shown the enormous potential for discovering new species of Aegla in the state of Paraná. In the last six year the number of species recorded has almost doubled, increasing from 9 to 16. In the present work, we expand the current knowledge about the diversity of Aegla in a set of poorly explored drainage basins in the western region of the state and describe a new species, Aegla urussanga n. sp., based on morphological and molecular evidence. A combination of morphological characters supports the new species: orbital spine absent, non-elevated epigastric prominences, robust protogastric lobes with scales, anterior dorsal margin of epimeron 2 armed and with pronounced concavity, sub-rectangular palmar crest of chelipeds, internal margin of the ventral face of the ischium of the cheliped with a proximal stout spine, a distal stout spine, and up to three tubercles with spiniform scales. The molecular data, based on partial COI sequences, also support the distinction of the new species from others that occur in adjacent river basins. The species with the smallest genetic distance from A. urussanga n. sp. is Aegla castro Schmitt, 1942 which occurs in the Iguaçu River basin. The new species occurs in distinct streams, probably interconnected in the past and currently isolated by the Itaipu reservoir and is the second species of Aegla described from the complex of drainage basins called Paraná 3 basin.