144. Jamieson, B.G.M. 1995b. New
species
and a new genus of earthworms in the collections of the Queensland
Museum
(Megascolecidae: Oligochaeta). Memoirs of the Queensland Museum
38, 575-596.
The
present study adds to the endemic earthworm fauna of Australia
(Megascolecidae), one
species of
the subfamily Acanthodrilinae
(Rhododrilus
glandifera
sp. nov.) and nine species of the subfamily
Megascolecinae, in the
tribes
Perionychini (Heteroporodrilus
montiserratae,
Terrisswalkerius
windsori, Cryptodrilus bunyaensis spp.
nov.); Dichogastrini (Digaster
lingi, D. moretonensis spp. nov.); and
Megascolecini (Oreoscolex
retrocystis sp. nov., Propheretima eungella gen.
et sp. nov., Propheretima
hugalli sp. nov., and Spenceriella conondalei
sp. nov.). Rhododrilus
glandifera
is the second species of this primarily
New Zealand genus to be
described
from Australia (both from Queensland).
It is possible that it
has acquired
the microscolecin arrangement of male
pores (prostates one
pair discharging
with the vasa deferentia in XVII)
from a precursor with
the acanthodrilin
arrangement (prostate pores 2
pairs, in XVII and XIX;
male
pores in XVIII) independently of the New
Zealand species. Type
localities
of Heteroporodrilus montiserratae,
Terrisswalkerius
windsori,
Digaster
lingi, D. moretonensis, Oreoscolex
retrocystis
and Spenceriella conondalei are well within the ranges of
their respective genera.
However,
the insular locality of D. moretonensis,
on Moreton Island, is of
zoogeographic
interest and Cryptodrilus
bunyaensis represents
a northern extension for its genus. The new genus
Propheretima,
has been
erected for species which resemble the Oriental and
Australo-Papuan
Pheretima assemblage
of genera in having setae between the
male pores but which are
plesiomorphic
in retaining the gizzard in segment
V, not in the apomorphic
location
of VIII seen in all pheretimas. It
endorses the view that
the ancestry
of the Pheretima assemblage was
Australian.