Ozestheria henryae, Schwentner & Hethke, 2025

Schwentner, Martin & Hethke, Manja, 2025, Revision of the Australian Ozestheria Schwentner & Richter, 2015 (Crustacea: Branchiopoda: Spinicaudata) fauna, with the descriptions of 27 new species, European Journal of Taxonomy 992, pp. 1-172 : 68-71

Ozestheria henryae sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:26EFE2F6-F832-45F9-AD47-50E142A3EDA8

Fig. 22

Ozestheria sp. D 3 – Schwentner et al. 2015a: figs 2, 6.

Ozestheria rubra – Schwentner et al. 2020: figs 1–2.

Diagnosis

Ozestheria henryae sp. nov. is characterized by a short condyle and wide occipital notch; a rounded ventral carapace margin; carapace ornamentation with medium to large, well-developed polygonal reticulations, each polygon with polygonal secondary ornamentation (best seen under SEM); male rostrum with strongly convex anterior margin, apex strongly rounded with acute (nearly rectangular), ventral margin concave, pointing apex downwards; female rostrum anterior margin slightly s-shaped, apex pointed (not elongated or drawn out), ventral margin slightly concave; 14–18 (male) or 14 (female) antenna I lobes reaching to antenna II flagellomeres V–VII (male) or III (female); 14–16 (male) or 13 (female) antenna II flagellomeres; 22 complete thorax segments; 21–30 small, unequally sized and spaced conical telsonic spines, spines in the central part of the telson enlarged; 5–6 furcal setae.

Differential diagnosis

See differential diagnosis of O. elliptica .

Etymology

The species is named in honor of Marguerite Henry (1895–1982), who was one of the few female Australian zoologists and taxonomists in the early 20 th century. She described one species of Ozestheria – Ozestheria rubra ( Henry, 1924) . Ozestheria henryae sp. nov. is probably the sister species to O. rubra . For details on her scientific life and achievements see Damkaer (2014).

Type material

Holotype

AUSTRALIA – Queensland • ♂; Lake Galilee ; 22°25′37.3″ S, 145°42′13.4″ E; 15 Feb. 2010; M. Schwentner, C. Sieves and B.V. Timms leg.; GenBank no: KJ705637 ( COI); AM P.91408.

Paratypes

AUSTRALIA – Queensland • 2 ♂♂, 1 ♀; same data as for holotype; GenBank nos: KJ705610, KJ705610, KJ705636 ( COI); AM P.91381, P.91382, P.91407 • 1 ♂; same data as for holotype; GenBank no: KJ705638 ; NHWM-CR-28476 .

Type locality

Australia, Lake Galilee, 22°25′37.3″ S, 145°42′13.4″ E.

Description

Males

CARAPACE ( Fig. 22a, c–d). Length 5.4–7.3 mm (HT: 6.9 mm), height 3.3–4.3 mm (HT: 4.3 mm). Coloration light. 17–23 (HT: 23) growth lines, 17–20 (HT: 20) widely spaced and 0–3 crowded.

CARAPACE SHAPE. Dorsal margin straight, distinct dorso-posterior corner. Posterior margin broadly rounded, supracurvate (b/H 0.40–0.41, HT: 0.40). Ventral margin widely rounded. Umbo position anterior (Cr/L 0.19–0.22, HT: 0.22).

CARAPACE ORNAMENTATION ( Fig. 22e–h). Larval valve with shallow reticulations. Each growth band with medium to large, well-developed, strongly raised reticulations. Reticulations form polygonal mesh across each growth band with each polygon usually being a pentagon, hexagon or heptagon. Polygon-size increasing during ontogeny, largest in the dorsal to median part of each growth band; under SEM secondary mesh or polygonal reticulation within each primary polygon (less strongly developed or absent ventrally within growth bands and on carapace). Ornamentation uniform across all non-crowded growth bands, crowded growth bands usually a single row of polygonal reticulations resulting in radial appearance. Concentric ridges raised. Setae mostly long and thick; preferentially preserved ventral and posterior parts of the carapace. Setal pores in single, irregular row along all growth lines.

HEAD ( Fig. 22i). Condyle rounded, short, only weakly protruding; occipital notch wide. Condyle lacking anterobasal hump. Margin between condyle and ocular tubercle straight. Ocular tubercle well developed, forming obtuse (~90°–120°) angle with rostrum. Anterior margin of rostrum strongly convex. Apex strongly rounded, acute (nearly rectangular). Ventral margin of rostrum weakly concave, pointing apex slightly downwards; small notch anteriorly. Naupliar eye elongated, sub-triangular to sub-rectangular. Antenna I long with 14–18 (HT: 14) lobes, reaching to antenna II flagellomeres V–VII (HT: VII). Antenna II with 14–16 (HT: 14) flagellomeres.

THORAX. 22–23 (HT: 22) segments, 22 thoracopod-bearing and none to one posterior limbless segment not reaching dorsal margin. Mid to posterior thoracopod-bearing segments with spine bearing dorsal extensions. Dorsal extensions increasing in size posteriorly over successive segments; spines mostly short, in posterior segments with fewer spines and central spines stouter but shorter.

THORACOPOD III (only P.91408; Fig. 22k). Endite I short and curved dorsally. Endites II–V broad, decreasing in size. Endite V palp one-segmented. Exopod ventral extension slightly overreaching endopod, dorsal extension wide, narrowing distally, overreaching epipod. Epipod long, cylindric.

TELSON ( Fig. 22l–m). 21–30 (HT: 30) spines. First (anterior) spine enlarged. Spines conical, subequally spaced, anterior spines smaller, followed by several larger spines close to the central part of the telson (with few interspersed smaller spines); posteriorly spines slightly thinner and more drawn out and increasing in length (last ~¼ of telson). Dorsal margin straight, posteriorly weakly concavely curved. Right terminal claw more strongly curved than left, in some individuals equally curved.

FURCA ( Fig. 22l–m). Proximally with dorsomedial longitudinal row of 5–6 (HT: 5) setae, row ending distally in a single conical spine. Distal part ⅔ of furcal length, with numerous small denticles.

Female

Overall appearance as in males. Carapace ( Fig. 22b) length 6.8 mm, height 4.2 mm; 18 growth lines, these 16 widely spaced and 2 crowded; Cr/L 0.22 and b/H 0.4. Ocular tubercle forming nearly straight angle with rostrum ( Fig. 22j). Anterior margin of rostrum slightly s-shaped (dorsally slightly convex, ventrally slightly concave); apex pointed (~45°), weakly drawn out; ventral margin weakly concavely curved. Antenna I with 14 small lobes, lobes smaller than in males; reaching to antenna II flagellomere III. Antenna II with 13 flagellomeres. 22 segments, all of these thoracopod-bearing. Telson with 26 dorsal spines; left and right terminal claws equally curved. Furca with 5 setae.

Distribution ( Fig. 22n)

Ozestheria henryae sp. nov. is known only from the northern regions of the Cooper Creek catchment in central Queensland.

Remarks

Schwentner et al. (2020) wrongly identified this species as O. rubra . A comparison with the respective type material showed that O. henryae sp. nov. is not conspecific with O. rubra . So far only a single female of O. henryae could be studied, so the intraspecific variability cannot be assessed for female characters (e.g., rostrum shape).

The carapace shape of Ozestheria henryae sp. nov. ( Fig. 5) is distinct from that of most other species and overlaps fully with that of O. rubra and partly with those of O. gemina sp. nov., O. matuwa sp. nov. and O. richteri sp. nov.