Enchytraeus demutatus, Schmelz & Klinth & Chalkia & Anastasiadou & Vavoulidou, 2019

Schmelz, Rüdiger M., Klinth, Mårten J., Chalkia, Christina, Anastasiadou, Pelagia & Vavoulidou, Evangelia, 2019, Enchytraeus demutatus sp. nov. (Enchytraeidae, Oligochaeta) has characters hitherto unrecorded in the genus, Soil Organisms 91 (3), pp. 87-96 : 90

Enchytraeus demutatus sp. nov.

( Figures 1 , 2 )

Type material. Holotype. ZMB 12202 , anterior body end, stained whole mount. Regional division of Ilia, Greece, 37°18’N – 38°06’N, 21°54’– 22°12’E. Organically enriched soil from tomato greenhouse plantation, soil sample taken by Chr. Chalkia. Specimen isolated from soil sample and fixed 13 Aug 2018 by R. M. Schmelz at the University of A Coruña.

Paratypes. ZMB 12203 , same data as holotype . ZMB 12204-12211 , stained whole mounts. Specimens reared in Agar Agar substrate, isolated and fixed Dec 2018. Four paratype specimens in the collection of the laboratory of Agricultural Zoology and Entomology of the Agricultural University of Athens in Greece, without accession numbers .

Further material. C. 20 specimens, adult, subadult, and juvenile, from cultures in soil or Agar Agar, investigated in vivo, not preserved.

DNA sequences. Holotype: Anterior part: ZMB 12202 . Posterior part, processed for DNA extraction: CE35377 (C. Erséus Collection, see Table 1, Fig. 3 ).

Etymology. The Latin adjective demutatus means changed, altered, transformed (perfect passive participle of demutare). Named for the characters that differ from the patterns hitherto known in the genus.

Figures

Figure 1. Enchytraeus demutatus sp. nov. (A)Anterior body end, lateral view, paratype ZMB 12203. Shaded-grey:pharyngeal pad, afferent fascicles and pharyngeal glands, a functional unit. (B)Anterior body end, ventral view, holotype, pharyngeal glands omitted. Shaded grey: ventral nerve cord. Brain and pharyngeal pad indicated by dotted lines. (C) Spermatheca, as seen in living specimen (comp. Fig. 2C). (D) Male reproductive organs in XI, XII, paratype ZMB 12205. Shaded grey: thickened lip on male bursa, surrounded by bursal slit. Asterisk: spherical accessory gland, attached to elongated gland. A, B, D from stained whole mounts, C from live photograph. Scale bars = 100 µm (same bar for A, B, D).

Figure 2. Enchytraeus demutatus sp. nov. (A) Pharyngeal glands and further details in III–VI, dorsal view. (B) Clitellum, ventrolateral view, specimen flattened. (C) Spermatheca. The dots in the ectal duct wall and the ectal gland are cell nuclei. (D) Coelomocytes. (E) Anterior clitellum, midventral part with bursal slits. Photographs A, E from paratype specimens, stained whole mounts, B–D from living specimens, not preserved; in all, anterior body end to the top. Scale bars 100 µm in A, B, E, 50 µm in C, D.

Figure 3. Phylogenetic tree based on a concatenation of six genetic markers, estimated using Bayesian inference. Posterior probabilities below 0.8 not shown. Scale bar indicates expected number of substitutions per site. For authorities of names see Table 1.