Notes on the earthworm species, Metaphire anomala (Michaelsen, 1907) (Clitellata, Megascolecidae) in Southern Vietnam, with descriptions of two new species

Tung T Nguyen,Anh D Nguyen,Dang H Lam

doi:10.5852/ejt.2021.746.1321

Abstract

Integrative taxonomy was employed to exploit the differences between the known Metaphire anomala (Michaelsen, 1907) and other specimens collected in Vietnam. The results brought to light two new species, namely Metaphire iranomala sp. nov. and Metaphire decemtheca sp. nov. The former is easily recognised by having male pores on xix and four pairs of spermathecal pores on 5/6/7/8/9 while the latter is distinguished by having five pairs of spermathecal pores on 4/5/6/7/8/9. The K2P distances of the fragment of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene are 13.1% between M. iranomala sp. nov. and M. anomala (Michaelsen, 1907) and 18% between M. decemtheca sp. nov. and Metaphire grandiverticulata Nguyen & Lam, 2017. The intraspecific divergences are 1.5%–10.6% for M. iranomala sp. nov. and 2.1%–11.4% for M. decemtheca sp. nov.

Highlights

Michaelsen (1907) described a new species, namely Pheretima anomala, from only eight specimens collected from the Botanical Gardens of Sibpur, Calcutta (India)
During our re-examination of previously and newly collected specimens housed at Can Tho University, we found that the specimens collected from Southern Vietnam were very different from their original description (Michaelsen 1907), Gates (1925, 1972) and recent re-description (Bantaogwon et al 2011)
Some were shared with the Department of Soil Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources (IEBR), Hanoi, Vietnam

Summary

Introduction

Michaelsen (1907) described a new species, namely Pheretima anomala, from only eight specimens collected from the Botanical Gardens of Sibpur, Calcutta (India). Gates (1925) commented on the species based on specimens collected from Rangoon (Myanmar). His specimens were slightly different from the NGUYEN T.T. et al, Two new Metaphire species from Southern Vietnam original description (length 116–162 mm vs 80–90 mm, papillae on xviii–xxii vs on xvii–xxiii). The species contained six types (A, B, C, D, E, F) distinguishable in length, diameter, number of segments, location and numbers of papillae in the male region. Stephenson (1929) discussed all types of P. insolita and P. anomala He commented that the original specimens (P. anomala) possibly acted as functional males while the functional females would be P. insolita. Stephenson (1929), suggested to unite all the forms of P. anomala and P. insolita as one species, P. anomala. Michaelsen (1907)’s specimens would constitute the forma typical

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Conclusion