Ramiellona lasiura ( Graff, 1957 )

Fragoso, Carlos & Rojas, Patricia, 2014, New species and records of the earthworm genus Ramiellona (Annelida, Oligochaeta, Acanthodrilidae) from southern Mexico and Guatemala, Zootaxa 3753 (6), pp. 549-572 : 568

Ramiellona lasiura ( Graff, 1957)

Howascolex (Graceevelynia) lasiurus Graff, 1957: 129 . Figs. 16-19 Ramiellona lasiura: Gates 1962: 215 .

Gates (1962) transferred this species to Ramiellona , considering that it has only meronephridia and lacks holonephridia. This author pointed out that in the original description several characters were not indicated or wrongly placed. Thanks to the kindness of Dr. J. Römbke, in 1987 the first author of this paper had the opportunity to briefly see the holotype of this species (Naturmuseum Senckenberg, Frankfurt, Cat No. 2783). Accordingly, with respect to the original description the species diagnosis should be modified as follows:

One gizzard in segment 5 (not in 6 as in the original description). Calciferous glands in segments 8–12 (9–13 in o.d.). Only one pair of seminal vesicles in segment 12 (doubtful in 11 in o.d.) and one pair of iridescent male funnels in 11 (not seen in o.d.). It was not possible to assert the position and number of hearts because they had been removed; however, since the position of the gizzard is in 5 and not in 6 as originally described, it is highly probable that also the hearts are located one segment more anteriorly, i.e. not in 9–13 but in 8–12. As Gates (1962) already suggested, we found that R. lasiura is a metandric species with its gizzard placed in the usual position for this genus and with last hearts probably in segment 12.