Aktedrilus sp.

Pinder, Adrian M., Eberhard, Stefan M. & Humphreys, William F., 2006, New phallodrilines (Annelida: Clitellata: Tubificidae) from Western Australian groundwater, Zootaxa 1304 (1), pp. 31-48 : 42

Aktedrilus sp. ( Fig. 6b )

Material examined. WAM V 4451 , one mature and one immature whole­mounted, Turners Spring, 34º21’00”S 115º09’15”S, 25m asl, Leeuwin­Naturaliste region , Western Australia ( Fig. 1 ), 27 Feb 2002, coll. S. Eberhard. AP colln, several immature specimens in alcohol or whole­mounted, collection details as above .

Remarks. What little of the genitalia that can be seen in the poorly preserved and obliquely mounted mature specimen resembles that of A. leeuwinensis , except that the penis sheaths ( Fig. 6B ) are almost twice the size (curved length 60 µm, height 41 µm) than those of A. leeuwinensis ( Fig. 6A ). The chaetae are also slightly larger (up to 38 µm anteriorly), although the mature worm (width 0.15 µm at XI and length 5.4 mm) is of about the same size as A. leeuwinensis . The penis sheaths are similar in shape to (but shorter than) those of the marine species Aktedrilus longitubularis Finogenova and Shurova 1980 which is widespread but known from south­western Australia. More specimens are required determine the identity of this species.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Map of Western Australia showing major geological units and localities for 1) Pectinodrilus ningaloo, 2) Aktedrilus parvithecatus, 3) Aktedrilus podeilema, 4) Aktedrilus leeuwinensis and 5) Aktedrilus sp.

FIGURE 6. Penis sheaths of A) Aktedrilus leeuwinensis n. sp. and B) Aktedrilus sp. from Turners Spring. Scale bar 25µm.