Pristina americana Cernosvitov, 1937

Righi, Gilberto & Hamoui, Viviane, 2002, Oligochaeta, Naididae Of The West Indies And Adjacent Regions, Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia 42 (6), pp. 119-167 : 147-148

Pristina americana Cernosvitov, 1937

Pristina americana f. typica Cernosvitov, 1937: 136, figs. 1-5, 10; du Bois-Reymond Marcus, 1947: 8, fig. 7.

Pristina americana var. loretana Cernosvitov, 1937: 139 , figs. 6-9, 11-12.

Pristina americana, Marcus, 1943: 106 , figs. 80, 82, 83, 98; 1944: 50; du Bois-Reymond Marcus, 1949: 2; Sperber, 1948: 226; Brinkhurst, 1971b: 398, fig. 7.211, 7.231 -M; Harman, 1974: 14; Harman et al. 1988: 2238, fig. 1. Pristina cf americana, Grimm, 1974 , fig. 2A-C.

Pristina peruviana Cernosvitov, 1939: 83 , figs. 1-7; du Bois-Reymond Marcus, 1947: 9; Brinkhurst, 1971b: 399, fig. 7.23N-P; Dumnicka, 1986: 276, fig. 9; Harman et al. 1988: 2238, fig. 1.

Pristina longidentata Harman, 1965: 28 , figs. 1-2; 1973: 159; 1974: 16; Dumnicka, 1986: 276, fig. 8; Botea, 1987: 70, fig. 6A-C. Righi & Hamoui, 1989: 409, figs. 1-13; Varela, 1990: 224, fig. 2.7a-d; Coates & Stacey, 1994: 82.

Pristina orghidani Botea, 1983: 23 , fig. 5A-C, 1987: 71.

Material: St. Christopher 503: 13 specimens. Nevis 413: 1 specimen. Montserrat 838: 177 specimens. Guadeloupe 729: 2 specimens. Martinique 852: 5 specimens. St. Lucia 854: 3 specimens. Barbados 866: 2 specimens. Grenada 860 3 specimens; 860A: 1 specimen. Surinam 646: 2 specimens; 925: 39 specimens. Habitat : Limnetic to oligohaline; salinity 0.03-2.7 %.

Distribution: Africa ( Grimm, 1974). North America ( Harman et al. 1979). Neotropical Region: Argentina: Prov. Missiones, San Juan, Corrientes ( Cernosvitov, 1937; Harman et al. 1988; Varela, 1990). Brazil: States São Paulo, Alagoas, Pará ( Marcus, 1943; 1944; du Bois-Reymond Marcus, 1947; 1949). Peru: Dept. Puno ( Cernosvitov, 1939; Harman et al. 1988). Venezuela: State Aragua ( Botea, 1987). Surinam ( Harman, 1974). Cuba ( Botea, 1983). Montserrat ( Righi & Hamoui, 1989). Grenada; Barbados; St. Lucia; Martinique; Guadeloupe; Montserrat; Nevis; Sr. Christopher (Righi & Hamoui).

Remarks: Studying Naididae of the Brazilian Amazonia du Bois-Reymond Marcus (1947) described the same worm of P. americana having needles with equal and unequal teeth and smooth hairs, and specimens of P. neruviana Cernosvitov with hairs presenting two series of threads like in americana of our material and of Africa ( Grimm, 1974). On comparing the original descriptions of P. americana Cernosvitov (1937) , P. neruviana Cernosvitov (1939) and the variations observed in our material, a single distinctive characteristic remains to distinguish neruviana . It is the needle teeth of similar length and thickness and almost parallel to one another (an angle of 7°-8° is measured in Cernosvitov’s 1939 figure) which is not sufficient to separate from our specimens from Nevis). The distinction between P. americana and P. synclites is based on the hairs (plumose in the first and smooth in the second) and in the posterior vascular loops (well seen in synclites and unrecognizable in americana ). Righi & Hamoui (1989), studying specimens from Montserrat Island, have shown there are no differences between the asexual forms of P. longidentata and P. americana . The shape of the male sexual atrium is the only one difference between the sexual forms, and it was interpreted as a parthenogenetic consequence. However, these authors have maintained the two names to distinguish the two forms. P. orghidani Botea (1983) is seen as a junior synonymy of P. americana because they were set apart solely by the prostomial proboscis, which is well known to be a very variable characteristic to species of short proboscis ( Marcus, 1943; Righi & Hamoui, 1989).