Terrestrial isopods (Crustacea: Isopoda: Oniscidea) from Brazilian caves

Up to date only six species of terrestrial isopods (Benthana iporangensis Lima & Serejo, 1993;Amazoniscus eleonorae Souza, Bezerra & Araujo, 2006; Trichorhina guanophila Souza-Kury,1993; Circoniscus buckupi Campos-Filho & Araujo, 2011; Circoniscus carajasensis Campos-Filho & Araujo, 2011; Gabunillo aridicola Souza, Senna & Kury, 2010) were known from Brazilian caves but only four could be considered as troglobionts. We have lately examined a large collection of Oniscidea from many Brazilian karst caves in the states of Pará, Bahia, Minas Gerais and São Paulo. The specimens are deposited in the collections of the Museu de Zoologia, Universidade de São Paulo, and the Coleção de Carcinologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. The Pará caves (10) are located along the Xingu River in the Amazonian forest; Bahia caves (5, some of which are tourist caves) in the Atlantic forest area, Minas Gerais caves (2) in the Cerrado, and the São Paulo Cave in a karst system near the Betari River. Twenty species of Oniscidea have been identified, of which 12 in the families Styloniscidae, Philosciidae, Scleropactidae, Platyarthridae, Dubioniscidae, and Armadillidae are new to science. Three new genera (two in the family Styloniscidae and one in Scleropactidae) are also recognized. Four new species in the families Styloniscidae and Scleropactidae, are highly troglomorphic and can be considered as troglobionts. All the remaining species are rogloxene, including thealready known species Miktoniscus medcofi Van Name, 1940, Circoniscus intermedius Souza& Lemos de Castro, 1991, Dubioniscus goeldii (Lemos de Castro, 1967) and Dubioniscus marmoratus Lemos de Castro, 1970 from Pará caves, Porcellionides pruinosus (Brandt, 1833)and Cubaris murina Brandt, 1833 from Bahia caves, and Benthana taeniata Araujo & Buckup,1994 and Armadillidium vulgare (Latreille, 1804) from Minas Gerais caves.