Four new earthworm species of the genus Amynthas (Oligochaeta: Megascolecidae) from Kinmen, Taiwan

Abstract

Four new species of terrestrial earthworms belonging to the genus Amynthas were collected on the islands of Kinmen andLieyu, Taiwan from March to November, 2008. They are Amynthas kinmenensis sp. nov., Amynthas wuhumontis sp. nov.,Amynthas wujhouensis sp. nov., and Amynthas taiwumontis sp. nov. Amynthas kinmenensis sp. nov. is quadrithecal andis the most abundant earthworm widely distributed on the main island of Kinmen. It has numerous small genital papillaeand is closely related to Amynthas polyglandularis (Tsai, 1964) from northern Taiwan. Amynthas wuhumontis sp. nov. issexthecal and is distributed only in areas around Mt. Wuhu and Mt. Taiwu in east Kinmen. It has male pores eachsurrounded by three genital papillae: one anterior, one posterior and one medial. Amynthas wujhouensis sp. nov. andAmynthas taiwumontis sp. nov. are octothecal. The former has a sporadic distribution in Kinmen while the latter was onlyfound in areas around Mt. Taiwu. Amynthas wujhouensis sp. nov. has a pair of large genital papillae closely adjacent tothe crescent or semicircular shaped male porophores in XVIII. Amynthas taiwumontis sp. nov. has simple male porestructure and no genital papillae or genital markings. DNA barcodes (the 5' end sequences of the mitochondrialcytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 gene) from type specimens and other materials of the first three species are also reported.