New endemic species of freshwater crayfish Parastacus Huxley, 1879 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Parastacidae) from the Atlantic forest in southern Brazil

Abstract

Two new species of Parastacus Huxley, 1879 are described from the Atlantic Forest in southern Brazil: Parastacus buckupi sp. nov. from a highland stream in the hydrographic basin Maquiné river, Maquiné, state of Rio Grande do Sul; and Parastacus pilicarpus sp. nov. from a first order stream in the hydrographic basin Araranguá River, Morro Grande, state of Santa Catarina. Parastacus buckupi sp. nov. is distinguishable from all other Parastacus species via its large and globose chelipeds, by the presence of tufts of long and simple setae in the cutting edge of cheliped fingers, which are more abundant proximally and by possessing a telson with an acute distal margin. Parastacus pilicarpus sp. nov. is diagnosed mainly by the distal portion of the carpus which possess tufts of long, simple setae, and by having an epistome whose anteromedian lobe is heptagonal and as long as it is wide. Finally, P. pilicarpus antennal scales lateral margin terminates in a very strong terminal spine and mandibles incisive lobe has nine teeth, with the first tooth from the anterior margin being the largest. The conservation status based on the sub-criterion B1 of IUCN Red List allowed us to classify these species as “ENDANGERED” and “DATA DEFICIENT”, respectively.

Key words
Astacidea; Neotropical region; taxonomy; limnetic ecosystems; freshwater decapods