Martiodrilus Michaelsen, 1936

Csuzdi, Csaba & Pavlíček, Tomáš, 2011, New and little known species of the genus Martiodrilus Michaelsen, 1936 from French Guiana (Oligochaeta, Glossoscolecidae), Zootaxa 3099, pp. 57-64 : 57-58

Martiodrilus Michaelsen, 1936

Martiodrilus Michaelsen, 1936: 1172 ., Righi 1995: 512., Zicsi & Csuzdi 1997: 82., Zicsi 2001: 113, Fragoso & Brown 2007: 53.

Thamnodrilus Beddard, 1887 (part.): Michaelsen 1900: 434., Černosvitov 1935: 18.

Thamnodrilus (Thamnodrilus) (part.): Michaelsen 1918: 86., Černosvitov 1934: 53., Fragoso & Brown 2007: 59. Thamnodriloides Gates, 1968: 14 .

Remarks. The genus Martiodrilus was described by Michaelsen (1936) to accommodate most of the species, which were previously classified in Thamnodrilus Beddard, 1887 , with eight pairs of composite-tubular calciferous glands (Kompositenschlauchtasche) in 7–14 and therefore different from the type species Th. gulielmi , which possesses 6 pairs of panicled-tubular glands (Rispenschlauchtasche) in 9–14. The genus was thoroughly revised by Zicsi (1998, 2000, 2001) and Zicsi & Csuzdi (1997) in a series of papers resulting in the recognition of four subgenera:

– Martiodrilus (Martiodrilus) Michaelsen, 1936 with strongly thickened septa after the gizzard and nephridia with simple nephtostome (26 spp.)

– Martiodrilus (Cordilleroscoloex) Zicsi & Csuzdi, 1997 with strongly thickened septa after the gizzard and nephridia with multiple nephrostome (20 spp.)

– Martiodrilus (Botaria) Zicsi, 1998 with simple nephrostome, membranous septa after gizzard and two to three pairs of spermathecae (20 spp.)

– Martiodrilus (Maipure) ( Righi, 1995) with simple nephrostome, membranous septa after gizzard and four pairs of spermathecae (14 spp.)

The species M. duodenarius with membranous septa and six pairs of spermathecae was overlooked by Zicsi (2001) during his revision of the subgenus Maipure. This was probably a reason why Fragoso and Brown (2007) kept it in Thamnodrilus in spite of the presence of eight pairs of composite-tubular calciferous glands. In the present material we found another species, M. gaucheri sp. nov., with five pairs of spermathecae that did not fit into any of the Martiodrilus subgenera. Until the proper taxonomic positions of these species are determined, we modified the diagnosis of Martiodrilus (Maipure) subgenus to accommodate these species.