New records of terrestrial isopods (Isopoda; Oniscidea) from Iran

During the last few years, some contributions have been published on terrestrial isopod fauna of Iran (Khalaji-Pirbalouti & W?gele 2010; Kashani et al. 2010, 2013; Kashani & Sari 2012); however, currently our knowledge on this taxon is very poor. Since 1885 that Budde-Lund described the first species, more than 30 terrestrial species are reported from Iran. Nevertheless, some cosmopolitan or broadly distributed species, expected to be present in this region, are not recorded yet. In the following paragraphs, five species of terrestrial isopods are reported from Iran for the first time. Recently, Kashani et al. (2014) reported two cosmopolitan species, namely Porcellionides pruinosus (Brandt, 1833) and Agabiformius lentus (Budde-Lund, 1885) from Gakal cave, southwestern Iran, while these two species have broad distribution in Iran (unpublished data). The specimens of the present study were collected in many localities throughout Iran mainly by the author. The specimens were collected by hand and preserved in 96% ethanol. The species were identified based on comparison with original descriptions and confirmed mostly by Dr H. Schmalfuss (Stuttgart). For synonymies, only the original name is presented for each species. Detailed synonymies and distributional data are provided in Schmalfuss (2003). The specimens are deposited in Iranian Research Institute of Plant Protection (IRIPP). Some more specimens are kept in personal collection of the author.