Pauqueba 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 : 256

Pauqueba James, Bartz & Brown , gen. nov.

Type species: Pauqueba bonita sp. nov.

Etymology. The genus name is derived from the first syllable of the names of three other South American ocnerodrilid genera bearing 2 pairs of calciferous glands in ix and x, Paulistus Michaelsen, 1925 , Quechuona Gates, 1941 (= Quechua Michaelsen, 1923 ), and Bauba Righi, 1980 .

Diagnosis: Setae lumbricine, dorsal pores lacking, male pores on xviii or in secondary combined male and prostatic pore openings on xix, prostatic pores in xix; female pores paired in xiv, spermathecal pores paired in 8/9; segments i and ii fused, first setae on iii, prostomium epilobic. Male sexual system holandric, free; seminal vesicles multilobed, post-septal in xi, xii; prostates one pair based in xix, ducts muscular, glandular portions in tight spiral coil, this coil in turn wrapped around central muscle band attached to body wall near copulatory bursae in xix. Spermathecae adiverticulate, bound to body wall by muscle fibers, bulbous muscular duct; ovaries free in xiii. Gizzards lacking, esophagus muscular and elongate in vi, muscular and short in vii; calciferous glands with honeycomb tubular structure, paired in ix, x; intestinal origin in xiii, no typhlosole; nephridia commence before gonadal segments.

Remarks: Paulistus also lacks gizzards but is microscolecine rather than balantine ( Pauqueba gen. nov.) in the reduction of the male field and prostates (though Pauqueba gen. nov is microscolecine in the spermathecal location), and has penial setae in xvii. Quechuona though also holandric has the male and prostatic pores joined on xviii and prostates in xviii, making it an example of the megascolecine reduction. Bauba has the acanthodriline male apparatus, dorsal pores, a typhlosole, and a single large gizzard in the space of vi and vii.