Scherotheca mausoleana Marchán, Decäens & Domínguez, 2023

Marchán, Daniel Fernández, Domínguez, Jorge, Hedde, Mickaël & Decaëns, Thibaud, 2023, The cradle of giants: insights into the origin of Scherotheca Bouché, 1972 (Lumbricidae, Crassiclitellata) with the descriptions of eight new species from Corsica, France, Zoosystema 45 (3), pp. 107-128 : 119-120

Scherotheca mausoleana Marchán, Decäens & Domínguez n. sp.

( Fig. 3H )

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:6F27625A-7EA2-44DC-A22D-3FB3A1B1A1B2

TYPE MATERIAL. — Holotype. Corsica • Adult; Haute-Corse, Olmi-Cappella, Mausoleo, Tartagine ; 42°29’38”N, 8°59’45”E; 779 m a.s.l.; 28.III.2021; T. Decaëns, D. Fernández Marchán leg.; BOLD Sample ID: DFM-0327 ; MNHN.

Paratypes. Corsica • 1 juvenile specimen; Haute-Corse , Mausoleo; 42°30’14”N, 9°0’14”E; 635 m a.s.l.; 28.III.2021; T. Decaëns, D. Fernández Marchán leg.; BOLD Sample ID: DFM-0516; MNHN • 2 adult specimens; Haute-Corse , Olmi-Cappella , Mausoleo, Tartagine; 42°29’38”N, 8°59’45”E; 779 m a.s.l.; 28.III.2021; T. Decaëns, D. Fernández Marchán leg.; BOLD Sample ID: DFM-0326, DFM-0328; Eco&Sols • 1 adult specimen; same data as for preceding; BOLD Sample ID: DFM-0329; MNHN .

ETYMOLOGY. — The species name is derived from the municipality of Mausoléo where the type population has been discovered.

DIAGNOSIS. — Scherotheca mausoleana Marchán, Decäens & Domínguez , n. sp. can be distinguished from non-Corsican species of Scherotheca by the shorter and more anterior clitellum. It resembles Sc. qiui Marchán, Decäens & Domínguez , n. sp. and Sc. litoralis Marchán, Decäens & Domínguez , n. sp. It differs from Sc. qiui Marchán, Decäens & Domínguez , n. sp. by the presence of body pigmentation, the number of seminal vesicles (4 pairs instead of 2 pairs) and by the longer tubercula pubertatis (30-34(35) instead 30-33(1/ n 34)). It can further be distinguished from Sc. litoralis Marchán, Decäens & Domínguez , n. sp. by the position of genital papillae and the longer clitellum ((26)27-36(37) instead of 27-36) ( Tables 1 ; 2 ; Fig. 3H ).

COI uncorrected average pairwise distances and topology of multilocus molecular phylogenetic trees support the status of Sc. mausoleana Marchán, Decäens & Domínguez , n. sp. as separate from other morphologically similar species.

DISTRIBUTION AND ECOLOGY. — Sc. mausoleana Marchán, Decäens & Domínguez , n. sp. is known only from the type locality in the municipality of Mausoleo, Haute-Corse ( Fig. 4A ), where it has been found in Pinus laricio forest and Mediterranean chaparral at moderate elevation (635-779 m).

DESCRIPTION

External morphology

Body pigmentation brown. Beige with antero-posterior brownish gradients and white-beige clitellum in fixed specimens ( Fig. 3H ). Average length unknown (no complete specimens available) body cylindrical in cross-section; average number of segments unknown (no complete specimens). Average weight (fixed specimens) unknown (no complete specimens). Prostomium epilobous, closed. Longitudinal furrows in segments 1 and 2. First dorsal pore unknown. Nephridial pores “en solfège” (irregularly distributed). Spermathecal pores in intersegmental furrows 12/13 and 13/ 14 in setal line c. Male pores in segment 15, surrounded by a moderately-developed porophore. Female pores in segment 14. Clitellum saddle-shaped in segments (26)27- 36(37). Tubercula pubertatis in segments 30-34(35). Chaetae small and closely paired. Genital papillae in segments 11-14,16,28-30,35,36.

Internal anatomy

Septa 5/6-10/11 thickened and muscular. Hearts in segments 6-11, oesophageal. Calciferous glands in segments 10-14, with diverticula in segment 10. Crop in segments 15-16, gizzard in segments 17-19. Typhlosole pinnate.Male sexual system holandric, testes and funnels (not enclosed in testes sacs, but with sperm present) located ventrally in segments 10 and 11. Four pairs of reniform seminal vesicles in segments 9, 10, 11 and 12, with the latter two pairs being larger. Ovaries and female funnels in segment 13, ovarian receptacles (ovisacs) in segment 14. Two pairs of small globular spermathecae in segments 12 and 13 (intersegments 12/13, 13/14). Nephridial bladders U-shaped, reclinate in segment 30.

REMARK

This species corresponds to Sc. corsicana L 5 in the checklist of Corsican earthworms of Marchán et al. (2022a).

Figures

FIG. 3. — External morphology of the newly described species of Corsican Scherotheca Bouché,1972:A, Scherotheca altarocca Marchán,Decäens & Domínguez, n. sp.; B, Scherotheca marceli Marchán, Decäens & Domínguez, n. sp.; C, Scherotheca darioi Marchán, Decäens & Domínguez, n. sp.; D, Scherotheca boccaverghju Marchán, Decäens & Domínguez, n. sp.; E, Scherotheca qiui Marchán, Decäens & Domínguez, n. sp.; F, Scherotheca litoralis Marchán, Decäens & Domínguez, n. sp.; G, Scherotheca capcorsana Marchán, Decäens & Domínguez, n. sp.; H, Scherotheca mausoleana Marchán, Decäens & Domínguez, n. sp. Left side, lateral view; right side, ventral view. Scale bars: 1 cm.

FIG. 4. — Distribution of the genus Scherotheca Bouché, 1972 in Corsica: A, localities documented in this work of the newly described species and other Scherotheca species sampled during this work; B, distribution of Corsican species of Scherotheca and Eumenescolex Qiu & Bouché, 1998 according to Bouché (1972), Qiu & Bouché (1998) and Szederjesi et al. (2021).