A revision of the Australian earthworm genus Woodwardiella with descriptions of two new genera (Megascolecidae: Oligochaeta)

Abstract

The genus Woodwardiella Stephenson, 1925, from which oriental species were excluded by Gates (1938, 1939, 1960), is further restricted to include only five south‐western Australian species, a Tasmanian species and provisionally, as species inquirenda, the Victorian W. healesi (Michaelsen, 1923) and a further Tasmanian species, W. mortoni Spencer, 1895.Twelve species originally assignable to Woodwardiella, of which one is reduced to a junior synonym, constitute a new genus, Heteroporodrilus, known only from the southeastern portion of the Australian mainland. Woodwardiella punctatus (Spencer, 1900) is shown to be a junior synonym of the sympatric Victorian W. smithi (Fletcher, 1889a) which is placed in the new monotypic genus Pseudoperichaeta. Plutellus manifestus (Fletcher, 1889), which has tubular prostates and belongs to the family Acanthodrilidae s. Gates, shows close affinities with Heteroporodrilus which is referable to the family Megascolecidae s. Gates, characterized by racemose prostates. Variation in the form of the prostates can no longer be accorded even subfamilial significance and Plutellus is transferred to the subfamily Megascolecinae. Close morphological similarity demonstrated between P. manifestus and P. heteroporus Perrier, 1873, the type species of the genus, suggests a basis for restriction of the heterogeneous assemblage known as Plutellus. Diporochaeta davallia Spencer, 1900, has close affinities with Pseudoperichaeta and, like this genus, has tufted meronephridia anteriorly.