Drawida fenqihuensis Shen & Chih, 2018

Shen, Huei-Ping, Chang, Chih-Han & Chih, Wen-Jay, 2018, Two new earthworm species of the genus Drawida (Oligochaeta: Moniligastridae) from southwestern Taiwan, Zootaxa 4496 (1), pp. 302-312 : 307-310

Drawida fenqihuensis Shen & Chih , sp. nov.

( Figure 2 )

Holotype: Clitellate (mature) specimen (47 mm in total length, dissected), Zhuqi, along Cedar Wooden Plank Trail on the south side of Fenqihu railway station, 23°30'09.44''N, 120°41'06.03''E, 1407 m asl, 29 April 2014, H.-T. Fang (TESRI-O-H-52; Ali052).

Paratype: 1 aclitellate, Zhuqi, along Cedar Wooden Plank Trail on the south side of Fenqihu railway station, 23°30'11.44''N, 120°41'33.17''E, 1418 m asl, 25 July 2013, H.-T. Fang (TESRI-O-P-47; Ali019).

Diagnosis. Small, slender worm. Length 47 mm (holotype) and 36 mm (paratype), weight 0.07 g (holotype) and 0.04 g (paratype) in 95% ethanol, diameter 1.9 mm (holotype) and 1.3 mm (paratype). Segments numbering 115 (holotype) and 88 (paratype). Prostomium prolobous. Dorsal pores absent. Setae lumbricine, short and closely paired. Clitellum in X–XIII, paler than rest of the body, swollen. Spermathecal pores one pair in 7/8. Penes short, conical protuberances across 10/11. Female pores minute, one pair on anterior-most border of XII, each pore in line with seta b. Genital markings absent. Gizzards two in XIV–XV. Testis sacs one pair, large, wedge-shaped, each suspended on septum 9/10. Sperm duct thin, delicate, short with a loop. Male atrium a small, round, white pad. Spermathecae one pair. Ampulla small, round, with slender, coiled duct. Spermathecal atrium small, oval-shaped. Accessory glands absent.

TABLE]. A comparison of characters among Drawida alishanensis sp. nov., Drawida fenqihuensis sp. nov., Drawida syringa , Drawida beddardii anđ Drawida fakir .

1 Data from Kobayashi (1938).

Description. External: Length 47 mm (holotype) and 36 mm (paratype), weight 0.07 g (holotype) and 0.04 g (paratype) in 95% ethanol, diameter 1.9 mm (holotype) and 1.3 mm (paratype). Segments numbering 115 (holotype) and 88 (paratype). Prostomium prolobous. Dorsal pores absent. Setae lumbricine, short and closely paired, ab = cd, aa = bc, aa = 7 ab, dd greater than 0.5 body circumference. Clitellum in X–XIII, paler than rest of the body, swollen. Spermathecal pores one pair in 7/8, small, inconspicuous slits, each pore medial to seta c. Penes short, conical protuberances across 10/11 ( Fig. 2A ). Margins around the secondary male apertures white. Female pores tiny holes, one pair on anterior-most border of XII, each pore in line with seta b. Genital markings absent. Preserved specimens pale gray.

Internal: Septa 5/6–8/9 thick and muscular, 9/10 thin. Gizzards two in XIV–XV, round, white, muscular and shining. Hearts four pairs in VI–IX. Nephridia holoic. Testis sacs one pair, large, white, wedge-shaped, each suspended on septum 9/10, about 0.85 mm in long axis and up to 0.5 mm in short axis. Sperm duct thin, delicate, short with a loop, entirely confined to segment X, entering the lower left side of the male atrium ( Fig. 2B ). Male atrium a small, vague, round, white pad about 0.15 mm in diameter. Ovarian chamber formed by septa 10/11 and 11/12, dorso-lateral to the esophagus. One pair of follicular, yellowish ovisacs dorso-lateral on both sides of the digestive tract, extending posteriorly to segmen XVI. Spermathecae one pair, both ampulla and spermathecal atrium lying on posterior face of septum 7/8. Ampulla small, round, about 0.3 mm in diameter, its duct first straight and then making a few coils to join the spermathecal atrium ( Fig. 2B ). Atrium small, oval-shaped, about 0.15 mm in length. Accessory glands absent.

DNA barcodes. GenBank accession numbers MH 051137 (Ali052, holotype) and MH 051136 (Ali019, paratype).

Etymology. The name fenqihuensis is given to this species with reference to its type locality near Fenqihu railway station, Chiayi, southwestern Taiwan.

Remarks. Among all the aforementioned species of Drawida , Drawida fenqihuensis sp. nov. is most similar to Dr. alishanensis (Table 1). Dr. fenqihuensis is known only from its type locality which is only 2–3 km away from those of Dr. alishanensis . Both species are small without genital papillae and have simple, short sperm ducts confined to segment X. The two new species can be distinguished from each other by the position of the gizzards, position of spermathecal atrium, shape of testis sacs and male atrium, and number of segments occupied by ovisacs (Table 1). They are also genetically distinct ( Fig. 3 ).

Figures

FIGURE 2. Drawida fenqihuensis sp. nov. Holotype (TESRI-O-H-52). A. Ventral view of spermathecal and male pore region (sp, spermathecal pore; p, penis). B. Dorsal view of right spermatheca (amp, ampulla; sa, spermathecal atrium), testis sac (ts), sperm duct (sd), and male atrium (ma). Scale bars = 1 mm.

FIGURE 3. Neighbor-joining tree of Drawida based on COI gene and Kimura’s two-parameter model, and rooted using Amynthas corticis. Author and year of species names as follows: Dr. beiganica Shen & Chang, 2015, Dr. dongyinica Shen & Chih, 2015, Dr. eda Blakemore, 2010, Dr. japonica (Michaelsen, 1892), Dr. companio Blakemore, 2014, Dr. koreana Kobayashi, 1938, Dr. iucn Blakemore, 2013, Dr. anchingiana Chen, 1933, Dr. hattamimizu Hatai, 1930, Dr. odaesan Blakemore, 2014, Dr. jeombongsan Blakemore, 2014, Dr. songae yeongdo Blakemore, 2013, and Dr. impertusa Stephenson, 1920. Specimens from this study are shown by their voucher numbers (Ali). Sequences retrieved from GenBank are labelled with GenBank accession numbers. Sequences acquired from Blakemore et al. (2014) are labelled with the original sample IDs. Type materials are indicated and preceded by the specific epithets (in parentheses). Sp1–sp5 refer to unknown species recognized in Blakemore et al. (2014). Numbers around nodes are bootstrap values above 50.