Pauqueba uirassu James, Bartz & Brown, 2023

James, Samuel W., Bartz, Marie L. C. & Brown, George G., 2023, New Ocnerodrilidae genera, species and records from Brazil (Annelida: Crassiclitellata), Zootaxa 5255 (1), pp. 235-269 : 258-260

Pauqueba uirassu James, Bartz & Brown , sp. nov. ( Fig. 14 a-g)

Holotype. BRBADNA0325, one adult, Serra Bonita Private Reserve ( RPPN Serra Bonita), Camac „, Bahia state, Brazil, S15.38485° W39.57453°, 908 m asl., in bromeliad leaf axils of primary forest; 11 November 2014, M.L.C. Bartz, H. Nadolny, E. da Silva and G.G. Brown, colls.

Paratype. BRBADNA0322, adult amputee, Serra Bonita Private Reserve ( RPPN Serra Bonita), Camac „, Bahia state, S15.384846°, W39.574535°, in forest floor litter ; 11 November 2014, G.G. Brown, coll.

Etymology. The species is named for the Instituto Uiraçu, the manager of the reserve at Serra Bonita. The term comes from the Brazilian native indigenous language Tupi, meaning large bird, and is the Tupi name given to the harpy eagle, Harpia harpyja (Linnaeus, 1758) , which occurs in the native forest at Serra Bonita.

Description. Dimensions> 56-61 mm by 2.7-3.2 mm at segment x, 3.0- 3.5 mm at clitellum, 3.0- 3.4 mm at xxx, body slightly ovate flattened, segments>109, 131+32 regenerates. Setae AB paired, CD unpaired; first setae in iii, setal formula AA:AB:BC:CD:DD = 2.5:1:4:3:5 at x, 3:1:4:3.5:4.5 at xxx. Prostomium broad epilobous open but furrow 1/2 missing, so could be tanylobous from length of prostomial grooves; segments lacking secondary annulations. Deep dorsal chestnut brown pigment in alcohol preservation, bright blue-purple in life; ventral face of head segments brown, AA zone of ventrum otherwise unpigmented. No dorsal pores, spermathecal pores 8/ 9 in A, wide slits with papilla in the opening. Ovipores in xiv in B midway between equator and 13/14; male pores at anterior ends of short seminal grooves in xviii, secondary prostatic pores equatorial in xix (1) or 19/20 (1); seminal grooves in AB but with T-junction at equator of xix or 19/20. Setae AB present in xvii, xix, absent in xviii. Clitellum in xiv-xix, ½ xx, annular; genital markings absent ( Fig. 14 a-c).

Septa 5/6-12/13 slightly muscular, numerous trans-septal muscles originating near gut in v-xii, inserting on body wall in vi-xiii, respectively; septa and entire peritoneum in anterior segments with red pigment. Alimentary canal with slight muscularity of esophagus in vi, vii but no gizzard; esophagus valvular in xii, intestinal origin in xiii, laterally pouched in xiii-xvi; no typhlosole. Calciferous glands spherical to ovate, paired in ix and x, with honeycomb-like internal structure composed of wide tubes ( Fig. 14d, e ); glands of ix, x with blood vessel from anterior end to septum 9/10, 10/11 respectively; blood vessel from posterior end of glands to supra-esophageal vessel. Gland attachment at dorso-lateral face of esophagus. Holonephric, first nephridia in segment iv, in intestinal segments small, confined to BC, tubular throughout.

Vascular system with ventral trunk, single dorsal trunk, lateral vessels in v-ix, esophageal hearts in x-xi. Supraesophageal vessel in ix-xi.

Ovaries, funnels free in xiii; paired large spermathecae in ix, consisting of duct with ectal third or less muscular, internally fluted, bearing sperm masses, duct not clearly marked off from ampulla externally; internally the fluting stops abruptly.Ampulla a flat ovate sac tightly bound to lateral body wall by short muscle or connective tissue fibers ( Fig. 14f ).

Male sexual system holandric, testes and funnels free in x, xi; vas deferens non-muscular, superficial on body wall from 10/11 to xviii where it enters small bulb on body wall; seminal vesicles acinous in xi, xii. Slender tubular prostates coiled twice; once in a tight spiral and secondly the primary coil is wrapped around a band of muscle and mesentery with blood vessels, thus very long glands are densely packed under intestine within xv-xx. Prostatic ducts muscular, widening ectally to union with coelomic muscular copulatory pouch in xix ( Fig. 14g ).; primary prostatic pore on papilla within pouch. Transverse muscle fibers in xviii-xx crossing male field area.

Remarks: comparisons with P. bonita sp. nov. are given under the description of that species. DNA barcodes obtained for this species are in the supplemental information as BRBADNA0322 (paratype), BRBADNA0325 (holotype); and are distinct from the other Pauqueba species.

What is apparently a third species of this genus, of similar coloring and size, was represented only by a partially clitellate anterior fragment with a distinctive DNA barcode (Supplemental Information: BRBADNA 0333), collected at the Veracel Station near Porto Seguro (see Silva et al. 2023). This worm has only paired transverse slits on xix for a male field, and internally a coelomic copulatory pouch with the vas deferens terminating on an anterior bulbous appendage of the pouch. Its intestinal nephridia have a dense white cellular mantling from segment xx posteriorly.

Figures

FIGURE 14. Pauqueba uirassu sp. nov. A. Lateral view; B. Ventral view, scale bar 2 mm; C. Detail of male field with male pore (mp), prostatic pore (pp), scale bar 0.5 mm; D. and E. Calciferous gland cross section, original and cleared, respectively; F. Spermathecae. G. Internal view with copulatory pouch (cp) and prostate (p).