Drawida somavarpatana Rao, 1921

Narayanan, S. Prasanth, Sathrumithra, S., Christopher, G. & Julka, J. M., 2017, New species and new records of earthworms of the genus Drawida from Kerala part of the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot, India (Oligochaeta, Moniligastridae), ZooKeys 691, pp. 1-18 : 6-7

Drawida somavarpatana Rao, 1921

Drawida somavarpatana Rao, 1921. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (ser. 9), 8: 497.

Drawida somavarpatana , Stephenson 1923. Fauna Br. India, Oligochaeta: 158.

Material examined.

6 clitellate (ACESSD/EW/405), Ranipuram (12°25'5.7"N; 75°21'4.4"E), Kasaragod district, India, 935 m a.s.l., grassland and evergreen forest, 17 December 2013, S.P. Narayanan and S. Sathrumithra coll.; 2 clitellate (ACESSD/EW/408), Paithalmala (12°10'1.7"N; 75°33'31.1"E), Kannur Dist., India, 1076 m a.s.l., higher altitude evergreen forest, 30 November 2012, S.P. Narayanan, T. Augustine and S. Sathrumithra coll.; 1 clitellate, 3 aclitellate (ACESSD/EW/410), Koombanmala (12°20'43.2"N; 75°24'41.4"E), Kasaragod district, Kerala, India, 867 m a.s.l., grassland, 20 October 2012, S.P. Narayanan, S. Sathrumithra, M. Ramesan and T. Augustine coll.; 1 clitellate, 1 aclitellate (ACESSD/EW/411), Kottathalachimala (12°15'53.1"N; 75°25'45"E), Kannur district, Kerala, India, 664 m a.s.l., deciduous forest, 28 November 2012, S. Sathrumithra, T. Augustine and S.P. Narayanan coll.; 2 clitellate (ACESSD/EW/412), Kunnathoorpadi (12°4'55"N; 75°37'39.1"E), Kannur district, Kerala, India, 579 m a.s.l., evergreen forest with reed breaks, 30 November 2012, S.P. Narayanan, T. Augustine and S. Sathrumithra coll.; 2 clitellate (ACESSD/EW/413), Sree Deviyottukavu sacred grove - Aalapadamba (12°12'34.1"N; 75°15'9.7"E), Kannur district, Kerala, India, 8 m a.s.l., evergreen sacred grove, 29 November 2012, S.P. Narayanan, T. Augustine and S. Sathrumithra coll.; 9 clitellate, 12 aclitellate (ACESSD/EW/414), Kottencheri (12°20'57.6"N; 75°24'5.9"E), Kasaragod district, Kerala, India, 801 m a.s.l., evergreen forest, 20 October 2012, S.P. Narayanan, T. Augustine, S. Sathrumithra and M. Ramesan coll.; 4 aclitellate (ACESSD/EW/449), Panathoor (12°27'31.3"N; 75°20'42.9"E), Kasaragod district, Kerala, India, 98 m a.s.l., 24 October 2014, areca nut and coconut plantation, S. Sathrumithra coll.

Diagnosis.

Length 82-133 mm, diameter 4-6 mm, 111-154 segments. Ventral setae enlarged on pre-clitellar segments; aa = 5 ab = bc = 5 cd on segment 7, aa = 11 ab = 0.7 bc = 11 cd on segment 35. Male pores paired puckered orifices with tumid lips, slightly lateral to setae b lines, at 10/11. Spermathecal pores paired, small, at 7/8, at setae c lines or in bc but closer to c. Gizzards 3-5, in segments 15-20. Prostates glandular, bilobed; vas deferens discharges at junction of prostatic lobes. Spermathecae paired in segment 8; atrium bilobed, elongate and erect; one lobe in segment 7 and the other in segment 8; spermathecal duct discharges at junction of atrial lobes.

Distribution.

India: Kerala: District Kasaragod: Koombanmala, Kottencheri, Panathoor, Ranipuram; District Kannur: Kottathalachimala, Kunnathoorpadi, Paithalmala, Aalapadamba (all new records from Kerala) (Fig. 2); Karnataka: District Kodagu (Coorg): Somavarpatana, spelt as ‘Somvarpet’ ( Stephenson 1923), Coorg Hills ( Rao 1921).

Biology.

Spermathecae and male genitalia are absent in a number of worms from Kerala, indicating parthenogenetic mode of reproduction.

Remarks.

The diagnosis is based on the present material from Kerala, description as given by Stephenson (1923) and re-examination of type material in Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata (Reg. no. W416/1). Worms from Kerala are longer and stouter, and have a greater number of gizzards than worms from Karnataka ( Rao 1921). Body dimensions and number of gizzards in Kerala worms are: average length 94.61 mm (range = 82-133 mm; n =13); average width 5.38 mm (range 5-6 mm; n = 17); average number of segments 128.23 (range 111-154; n = 13), gizzards 3-5, mainly located between segments 15-20 (Table 4).