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A new species of Platyarthrus Brandt, 1833 from Tunisia: Morphological description, geographical distribution and ecological remarks

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Abstract

Platyarthrus monastirensis sp. n. is a newly described species. Its geographical distribution is limited to Tunisia's central and south-eastern coast, in semi-arid to arid bioclimatic regions. This species is easily distinguishable by its prominent ridges throughout its dorsal surface (cephalon, pereon, and pleon) and the cephalon, with protruding semi-circular median lobe and developed lateral lobes. Platyarthrus monastirensis sp. n. has myrmecophilous habits, and it was collected in ant-nests of seven species.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to express our gratitude to Pr. Stefano Taiti (Museum of Natural History of Florence, ‘’La specola’’), for letting us consult the Platyarthrus collection of the museum and checking the morphological description of Platyarthrus monastirensis sp. n. We would also like to thank Professor Gianna Innocenti curator of Crustacean and Echinoderm collections along with Professor Luca Bartolozzi curator of the Entomology collections for helping us in consulting the ant collection, as well as Professor Annamaria Nistri head of La Specola section. We are also thankful to Laure Corbari, specialist and curator of the crustaceans’ collection of the National Museum of Natural History of Paris along with Paula Martin Lefèvre manager of the marine invertebrate collections. We would also like to thank Mr. Momen Marzouk for the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) photos at the National Institute of Research and Physical and Chemical Analysis at the Technopole of Sidi Thabet (I.N.R.A.P), and Mrs.Wala Oueslati for helping us in identifying some ant species.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, Research Laboratory of Diversity, Management and Conservation of Biological Systems, LR18ES06, University of Tunis El Manar, El Manar II, 2092, Tunis, Tunisia

    Salsabil Abidi & Sonia Hamaied

  2. Higher Institute of Medical Technologies of Tunis, University of Tunis El Manar, 9 Doctor Zouheïr Safi St, 1006, Tunis, Tunisia

    Sonia Hamaied

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  1. Salsabil Abidi
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  2. Sonia Hamaied
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study’s conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Salsabil Abidi and Sonia Hamaied. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Salsabil Abidi and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Salsabil Abidi.

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Ethical approval was waived by the local Ethics Committee of El Manar-University given the retrospective nature of the study and that all the procedures being performed were part of the routine care.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Abidi, S., Hamaied, S. A new species of Platyarthrus Brandt, 1833 from Tunisia: Morphological description, geographical distribution and ecological remarks. Biologia 79, 109–114 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11756-023-01503-6

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