Pristina trifida sp. nov.

(Figures 1, 2, Tables 1, 2)

Holotype. INPA Cat. No. 119, sexually mature specimen.

Type locality: Primary rain forest plot of the SHIFT project ENV 52 study area, 02° 53’47” S, 59° 59’45” W; at km 29 on the road Manaus­Itacoatiara close to the agroforestry research station EMBRAPA­CPAA in the state of Amazonas, Brazil. Soil samples collected in March 1999 by Jörg Römbke, worms extracted from soil in April 1999 in the laboratory of Systematic Zoology, University of Osnabrück.

Paratypes. INPA Cat. No. 120 a­c, 3 sexually mature specimens.

Material examined. Types (living and preserved). Further material: 4 specimens, sexually mature, fixed and embedded for future TEM microscopy; 4 non­sexual specimens, prepared for SEM­microscopy; 2 non­sexual specimens, embedded in glycerine; 5 sexual and non­sexual specimens, squashed for examination of chaetae. All specimens examined alive before fixation or preparation. All specimens from type locality. Two SEM­prepared specimens from soil sample collected in June 1997, all other specimens from soil sample containing the type specimens.

Derivatio nominis. Trifidus (Lat.) = three­split, named after the shape of the needle chaetae tip.