Fridericia miraflores Sesma and Dózsa-Farkas, 1993

Rota, Emilia, 2015, Five new species of Enchytraeidae (Annelida: Clitellata) from Mediterranean woodlands of Italy and reaffirmed validity of Achaeta etrusca, Fridericia bulbosa and F. miraflores, Journal of Natural History 49 (33), pp. 1987-2020 : 2017-2018

Fridericia miraflores Sesma and Dózsa-Farkas, 1993

Fridericia miraflores Sesma and Dózsa-Farkas, 1993, pp. 252–254 , figures 8–14.

Fridericia miraflores, Rota 1995, pp. 211–212 , tables 5–6; Rota and Healy 1999, p. 58; Rota et al. 2013, table 1 and figure 3 (species ‘s25’); Rota et al. 2014, tables 1, 2 and Suppl. 1.

Fridericia sylvatica, Schmelz 2003, pp. 330–333 , figure 65A–H; Schmelz and Collado 2010, pp. 130, 142.

Material examined

Published material. Specimens from Tuscany, Latium and Calabria ( Rota 1995).

New material (in the author’ s collection). 12 specimens from Italy, Campania (Ca-1), 14.05.2009 and 27.10.2009 . 32 specimens from Campania (Ca-2), plots N2 and N3 , 13.05.2009 and 26.10.2009 .

Remarks

This is one of few species in Fridericia having the clitellum interrupted both dorsally and ventrally ( Rota and Healy 1999, p. 58; see also Schmelz 2003, as F. sylvatica ). This feature and the occurrence of ventral pharyngeal glands in VII ( Schmelz 2003, as F. sylvatica ) is confirmed for the present and previous material from Italy (as well as for specimens from Algeria), including those with short diverticula.

The synonymy of this species with the poorly defined F. sylvatica Healy, 1979 was established by Schmelz (2003), on the basis of the similar chaetal formula and the laterally projecting spermathecal diverticula, and despite important differences in the two original descriptions (size of chaetae, origin of the dorsal vessel, variation in size of the spermathecal gland) and the lack of type material of F. sylvatica . Schmelz (2003) himself discovered that the sole specimen (submature and incomplete) labelled as type of F. sylvatica was not compatible with any of the key characters in the original diagnosis. Although F. miraflores can be collected at the type locality of F. sylvatica (UCD campus, Dublin) ( Rota 1995), I believe the circumstances rather suggest that F. sylvatica should be considered a nomen dubium, in that (1) ‘the taxonomic identity of the taxon cannot be determined from its existing name-bearing type’ (ICZN 1999: Art. 75.6), and (2) the original description of F. sylvatica probably involved one or more different species (in particular, the reported variation in the spermatheca towards more globular ampullar diverticula and larger ectal gland point to F. globuligera Rota, 1995 , a species also present in the UCD area; own unpublished record). In conclusion, the originally better described and type-based F. miraflores is to be regarded as a valid name. This choice is consistent with the reasoning by Schmelz (2003) on the analogous cases involving F. tirolensis Schmidegg, 1938 and F. discifera Healy, 1975 .

Distribution

Euro-Mediterranean. Present in both seasons at Naples sites.

Funding

This research was partly supported by a grant from MIUR (PRIN-2007AH8KT8, coordinator Professor Anna Alfani, University of Salerno).