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AMCS Bulletin 5 ReprintTHE GENUS SPHAEROMICOLA (OSTRACODA, ENTOCYTHERIDAE) IN MEXICOHorton H. Hobbs, Jr., and H. H. Hobbs IIISmithsonian Institution and Indiana UniversityChiefly through the diligence and cooperation ofthose active in surveying the troglobitic fauna ofMexico, the range of the genus Sphaeromicola israpidly becoming more accurately defined. Almostcertainly, the occurrence of ostracods of this genus inMexico is limited by the ranges of their isopod hosts,and collections of these much more conspicuous animalshave resulted in the accumulation of specimensof Sphaeromicola from some 18 localities in thestates of Nuevo Leon, San Luis POtOSI: and Tamaulipas.All of the localities from which these ostracodsare known are reported here together with referencesto earlier records of their occurrence in each cave.One or both of us have examined specimens fromevery locality cited except Cueva de EI Pachon,Tamaulipas.The host of the new species described here is notknown with certainty, for the ostracods were retrievedfrom a container in which there were fourspecies of isopods: Mexistenasellus parzefalli Magniez,M. wilkensi Magniez, an undescribed member of thefamily Cirolanidae, and another belonging to the genusCyathura. These specimens were collected inCueva del Huisache, San Luis POtOSI~We should like to thank all of those collectorscited for permitting us to examine the specimens onwhich this report is based. Special thanks are dueJames R. Reddell, who sorted and transmitted mostof the specimens to the Smithsonian, William R. Elliott,who permitted the removal of specimens fromisopods that were in his collection, and Thomas E.Bowman who kindly identified most of the hosts.We are also grateful to Fenner A. Chace, Jr., MargaretA. Daniel, and James E. Peters for their criticisms ofthe manuscript.Sphaeromicola cirolanae RiojaFig. 1a, bSphaeromicola cirolanae Rioja, 1951:170.Hobbs (1971 :45-47) reviewed the range of thisostracod, including several new locality records, citeda previously unreported host, and called attention tothe two types of clasping apparatus, here designatedthe angular (Fig. 1a) and curved (Fig. 1b) types, thatoccur in the male.Listed below are all of the known locality recordsfor this ostracod together with the host and the typeor types of clasping apparatus represented in eachcave. The species is known only from Mexico.NUEVO LEON:Cueva La Chorrera, 27.3 km SW Linares, on Speocirolanaguerrai Contreras, 13 June 1971, SalvadorContreras-Balderas, coil. - curved type.SAN LUIS POTOSI:Sotano de Yerbaniz, 21 km NNE Ciudad Valles, onSpeocirolana pelaezi (Bolivar), 7 January 1970, R.W.Mitchell et aI., coil. - curved type.Sotano del Tigre, 14 km NNE Ciudad Valles, on S.pelaezi,1 February 1968, R.W. Mitchell, coil. - angularand curved types (Hobbs, 1971 :46).Sotano del Arroyo, 12 km NNE Ciudad Valles, onS. pelaezi, 24 November 1962, M. Tandy and W.Russell, coil. - angular type (Hobbs, 1971 :46).Sotanito de Montecillos, 9 km NE Ciudad Valles,on S. pelaezi, 21 May 1971, C. Bittinger, coil. -39