A peer-reviewed open-access journal ZooKeys 520:Two 27–40 new (2015) species of Asellota (Crustacea, Isopoda) from coral reefs on Iriomote Island... 27 doi: 10.3897/zookeys.520.5943 RESEARCH ARTICLE http://zookeys.pensoft.net Launched to accelerate biodiversity research Two new species of Asellota (Crustacea, Isopoda) from coral reefs on Iriomote Island, Okinawa, Japan Michitaka Shimomura1, Tohru Naruse2 1 Kitakyushu Museum of Natural History and Human History, Kitakyushu 805-0071, Kitakyushu, Japan 2 Tropical Biosphere Research Center, Iriomote Station, University of the Ryukyus, 870, Uehara, Taketomi, Okinawa 907-1541, Japan Corresponding author: Michitaka Shimomura (
[email protected]) Academic editor: Niel Bruce | Received 24 April 2015 | Accepted 28 August 2015 | Published 16 September 2015 http://zoobank.org/909933C6-76BD-47F2-9B89-861034DE09E2 Citation: Shimomura M, Naruse T (2015) Two new species of Asellota (Crustacea, Isopoda) from coral reefs on Iriomote Island, Okinawa, Japan. ZooKeys 520: 27–40. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.520.5943 Abstract Pleurocope iriomotensis sp. n. and Prethura tuberculata sp. n. are described from Iriomote Island, Ryukyu Archipelago, southern Japan. These are the first records of Pleurocope from the Pacific and of Prethura from the Asian Pacific coast.Pleurocope iriomotensis differs from its congeners in having lateral spine-like processes on pereonite 4 and coxal plates of pereonite 7. Prethura tuberculata can be distinguished from its single congener in having a lateral short projection of protopod of pleopod 2. Keywords Isopoda, Pleurocopidae, Pleurocope, Santiidae, Prethura, Japan Introduction Iriomote Island (Fig. 1) in the southwestern part of the Ryukyu Archipelago is located in a subtropical climate zone for terrestrial environments, but its marine fauna is more tropical, being strongly influenced by Kuroshio, a prominent warm oceancurrent.