Fridericia bulbosa ( Rosa, 1887 )

Chen, Juanjuan, Zhang, Junqian & Xie, Zhicai, 2025, List of species records of enchytraeids (Enchytraeidae, Clitellata, Annelida) in China, Zootaxa 5566 (1), pp. 61-96 : 68-69

? Fridericia bulbosa ( Rosa, 1887) (T)

Neoenchytraeus bulbosus Rosa, 1887 .

Fridericia bulbosa Michaelsen 1889 ; Rota 2015.

For further synonymies see Schmelz (2003), but see Rota (2015).

Type locality. Italy, Torino , in soil and decaying wood.

Distribution in China. Only found in Chongqing City, in the bamboo forest ( Xie et al. 1999b).

Remarks. The characters of the Chinese specimens recorded by Xie et al. (1999b) were said to conform with the description of the species given by Nielsen & Christensen (1959) ( Xie et al., 1999b) in: 2 per chaetae per bundle, short oesophageal appendages (“peptonephridia” in Xie et al. 1999) with 2–3 terminal or subterminal branches, “ type a” nucleated coelomocytes, medium-sized ectal duct gland and long ectal duct. However, Schmelz (2003) considered F. bulbosa sensu Nielsen & Christensen in large parts a species different from F. bulbosa and named it F. benti Schmelz, 2002 . Further records of this species were considered doubtful or transferred to other species; F. bulbosa itself was considered a nomen dubium due to lack of type material and an original description poor in details.

Later Rota (2015) collected material from a site not far from the type locality and revalidated F. bulbosa with an emended redescription that contained the following characters, among others: (1) small body size (length: 5–7 mm; segments: 24–42); (2) chaetae up to 4 per bundle, chaetae behind clitellum generally 2 per bundle; (3) oesophageal appendages short, unbranched; (4) spermathecal ectal ducts very long, each with a small ectal gland, ampullae small and bulb-shaped; (5) 5 pairs of preclitellar nephridia (6/7–10/11); (6) nucleated coelomocytes hyaline (type a); (7) dorsal blood vessel from XVI–XVII, chylus cells in XIII–XV. The account of Xie et al. (1999b) differs from this account in: (1) larger body size (length: 9–10 vs. 5–7 mm; segments: 49–54 vs. 24–42); (2) chaetae 2 per bundle throughout; (3) branched oesophageal appendages. It also differs from F. benti in a higher segment number, branched oesophageal appendages and a small spermathecal ectal gland, among other characters. The identity of F. bulbosa sensu Xie et al. 1999b is hence unresolved; resampling of the single locality where this species was found in China may be promising.