Scherotheca boccaverghju Marchan, Decaens & Dominguez 2023, n. sp.
Creators: name: Marchán, Daniel Fernández
name: Domínguez, Jorge
name: Hedde, Mickaël
name: Decaëns, Thibaud
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Annelida
Clitellata
Crassiclitellata
Lumbricidae
Scherotheca
Scherotheca boccaverghju

description: Scherotheca boccaverghju Marchán, Decäens & Domínguez, n. sp.
(Fig. 3D)
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 5A5 CAD 1F-B242-418D-856E-3646F3D64BD7
TYPE MATERIAL. — Holotype. Corsica • Adult; Haute-Corse, Albertacce, Col de Vergio; 42°17’27”N, 8°52’44”E; 1450 m a.s.l.; 28.III.2021; T. Decaëns, D. Fernández Marchán leg.; BOLD Sample ID: DFM-0054; MNHN.
Paratypes. Corsica • 1 adult specimen; Haute-Corse, Albertacce, Col de Vergio; 42°17’27”N, 8°52’44”E; 1450 m a.s.l.; 28.III.2021; T. Decaëns, D. Fernández Marchán leg.; BOLD Sample ID: DFM-0053; Eco&Sols • 1 juvenile specimen; same data as for preceding; BOLD Sample ID: DFM-0057; MNHN.
ETYMOLOGY. — The species name is derived from the Corse name of the type locality (Bocca à Verghju, Col de Vergio). Name in apposition.
DIAGNOSIS. — Scherotheca boccaverghju Marchán, Decäens & Domínguez, n. sp. can be distinguished from all the other species of Scherotheca by the combination of position of the clitellum in segments 27-36, tubercula pubertatis in segments 31-34(½ 35) and multiple spermathecae in segments 12 and 13 (Table 1; 2; Figs 2; 3D). COI uncorrected average pairwise distances and topology of multilocus molecular phylogenetic trees support the status of Scherotheca boccaverghju Marchán, Decäens & Domínguez, n. sp. as independent from other morphologically similar species.
DISTRIBUTION AND ECOLOGY. — Sc. boccaverghju Marchán, Decäens & Domínguez, n. sp. was found in Col de Vergio, Albertacce (Fig. 4A), in an alpine grassland at a relatively high elevation (1450 m).
DESCRIPTION
External morphology
Body pigmentation faint brown. White-beige with dorsal brownish mid-segment brown bands in fixed specimens (Fig.3D). Average length, 109 mm (93-125 mm, n = 2 adults); body cylindrical in cross-section; average number of segments, 189 (187-191, n = 2 adults; 187 segments in the holotype). Average weight (fixed specimens), 1.66 g (1.34-1.99 g, n = 2 adults). Prostomium epilobous, closed. Longitudinal furrows in segments 1 and 2. First dorsal pore in unknown intersegmental furrow. Nephridial pores “en solfège” (irregularly distributed). Spermathecal pores in intersegmental furrows 12/13 and 13/ 14 in setal line c, multiple. Male pores in segment 15, surrounded by a well-developed porophore. Female pores in segment 14. Clitellum saddle-shaped in segments 27-36. Tubercula pubertatis in segments 31-34(½ 35). Chaetae small and closely paired. Genital papillae in segments 28,30,35,36.
Internal anatomy
Septa 5/6-10/11 thickened and muscular. Hearts in segments 6-11, oesophageal. Calciferous glands in segments 10-14, with diverticula in segment 10. Crop in segments 15-16, gizzard in segments 17-19. Typhlosole pinnate.Male sexual system holandric, testes and funnels (not enclosed in testes sacs, but with sperm present) located ventrally in segments 10 and 11. Four pairs of reniform seminal vesicles in segments 9, 10, 11 and 12, with the latter two pairs being significantly larger. Ovaries and female funnels in segment 13, ovarian receptacles (ovisacs) in segment 14. Multiple small globular spermathecae in segments 12 and 13 (intersegments 12/13, 13/14). Nephridial bladders U-shaped, reclinate in segment 30.
REMARK
This species corresponds to Sc. corsicana L 1 in the checklist of Corsican earthworms of Marchán et al. (2022a).
description: Published as part of Marchán, Daniel Fernández, Domínguez, Jorge, Hedde, Mickaël & Decaëns, Thibaud, 2023, The cradle of giants: insights into the origin of Scherotheca Bouché, 1972 (Lumbricidae, Crassiclitellata) with the descriptions of eight new species from Corsica, France, pp. 107-128 in Zoosystema 45 (3) on page 116, DOI: 10.5252/zoosystema2023v45a3, http://zenodo.org/record/7681295