Chilota purcelli, (Michaelsen, 1913)

Plisko, Jadwiga Danuta, 2012, An annotated checklist of the South African Acanthodrilidae (Oligochaeta: Acanthodrilidae: Acanthodrilinae, Benhamiinae), Zootaxa 3458, pp. 4-58 : 22

Eodriloides purcelli (Michaelsen, 1913)

Acanthodrilus purcelli Beddard, 1897: 337 [partim]. Acanthodrilus (Eodrilus) purcelli: Michaelsen, 1913a: 491 . Eodrilus purcelli Michaelsen, 1913b: 47 .

Eodrilus purcelli (Michaelsen, 1913) [sic!]: Pickford 1937: 121. Eodrilus purcelli : BMNH; SAMC.

Eodriloides purcelli (Michaelsen, 1913) : Zicsi 1998: 62.

Type locality. RSA, WC: Cape Peninsula, Table Mtn ‘Under rotten logs in woods on the Newlands slope’ ( Beddard 1897: 337); ‘Newlands slope, Table Mtn near Cape Town’ ( Michaelsen 1913b: 47) = ‘one specimen, F. Purcell leg.’.

Distribution. WC, Cape Peninsula: Kirstenbosch, Skeleton Gorge, under leaves. Aloe Knoll, near Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens, under dead leaves. Paradise Estate, oakwoods below Lady Anne Barnard’s house. Between Window and Skeleton Gorges, gravelly loam ( Pickford 1937). The species is known only from the Table Mtn and its eastern foothils, in the northern part of peninsula.

Remarks. One out of ten specimens identified by Beddard (1897: 337) as Acanthodrilus purcelli after examination by Michaelsen (1913a: 491) was identified as Acanthodrilus (Eodrilus) purcelli . In the following paper Michaelsen corrected this endorsement, and recognized the species as Eodrilus purcelli Michaelsen 1913b , different from Acanthodrilus purcelli Beddard, 1897 (now Chilota , see above). The name of Acanthodrilus (Eodrilus) purcelli Michaelsen, 1913a became invalid, being a primary homonym under the provision of Article 57.2 of the Code (ICZN).

One specimen SAMC A21724 identified by Pickford as Eodrilus purcelli , marked ‘from the sample A21724 [sic!] Chilota purcelli Beddard’ was probably used by Pickford (1937) for consecutive species redescription. BMNH 1938.7.1.170–183, 1938.7.1.184–186 consist of numerous tubes with variable field labels referring to material collected by Pickford in 1925–1926 at the foothills of Table Mtn.