Nicodrilus tetramammalis, Perez-Onteniente & Rodriguez Babio, 2002

Pérez Onteniente, A. & Rodríguez Babío, C., 2002, Three new species of earthworm (Annelida: Oligochaeta: Lumbricidae), from the Valencian Community, Spain, Journal of Natural History 36 (5), pp. 515-530 : 521-523

Nicodrilus tetramammalis n. sp.

(®gure 3)

HOLOTYPE. A specimen of 118 mm length and 178 segments collected in

Siete Aguas, Valencia, Spain (details in Localities and material and Ecology) by

A. P. Onteniente (12 March 1995), and labelled Siete Aguas 118 (178). PARATYPES. Three specimens collected at Siete Aguas (type locality). Localities and material. Province of Valencia: Siete Aguas : 4M. Pine and holm oak wood. BunÄol: 5M, 11 I. Pine and holm oak wood. Province of Toledo : Casa de los Ballesteros: 3M, 1I; Robledillo: 2M.

Derivatio nominis. The name refers to the presence of four mamelon-shaped perithecal papillae.

External characters. Colour as previous species, although the medium dorsal postclitellar dark line may be absent, and the caudal end may be slightly darker. Length 85±126 mm (av. 112.5, SD 12.2). Maximum diameter 4.7±6 mm (av. 5.28, SD 0.57), postclitellar 4.5±5 mm (av. 4.7, SD 0.26). Weight 0.900± 2.520 g (av. 1.596, SD 0.48). Number of segments 153±183 (av. 169.1, SD 9.4). Prostomium epilobic from half to quarter closed. First dorsal pore 7/8 (63%) or 8/9 (37%). Postclitellar relative distances between setae (segment 40) are aa:34; ab:5; bc:25; cd:4.5; dd:102. Setae ab always in perithecal papillae in xi and xii; in ¯at clitellar anterior papillae in xxvi (13%), clitellar posterior papillae in xxix, xxx (100%). Clitellum from xxvi, 1/ n xxvi (88%) or xxvii (12%) to xxxiv (100%), with pellucid area in the rest of xxvi and the whole or part of xxv. Tubercula pubertatis always from 1/ n xxx (63%) or xxxi (37%) to 1/ n xxxiv.

Internal characters. Septa 5/6 to 11/12 thickened, the thickest from 7/8 to 9/10. Typhlosole pennate (®gure 4b) with central crest, beginning gradually in xxi (17%), xxii (67%) or xxiii (17%), ending in cxii±cxx (av. 114.8, SD 2.86). Number of atyphlosolate segments: 37 ±56 (av. 50.5, SD 6.95). Other characters as in the previous species.

Ecology. Found between 610 and 800 m altitude (type locality 610 m alt.) in the mesomediterranean zone, with dry ombroclimate. The habitat is pine and holm oak wood.

Companion species. A. rosea , N. monticola n. sp. and M. phosphoreus .

Remarks. This species diOEers from N. trapezoides mainly in the perithecal papillae and in the production of sperm; there are signi®cant diOEerences in length (p <0.05), number of segments (p <0.002), weight (p <0.05) and in the end of the typhlosole (p <0.002), and notable diOEerences have been found in clitellar papillae. Nicodrilus nocturnus is diOEerent in regard to the porophores and clitellum, and also in the perithecal papillae. Also the clitellar papillae, the ®rst dorsal pore, the end of the typhlosole and the number of atyphlosolate segments vary. Finally, N. caliginosus diOEers in pigmentation, perithecal papillae, extent of the clitellum, origin of the tubercula pubertatis and in shape of the typhlosole, and signi®cant diOEerences are found in length (p <0.002), number of segments (p <0.002), weight (p <0.002) and the end of the typhlosole (p <0.002).

The most similar species to the three new ones described in this work are N. trapezoides and N. nocturnus . The main morphological±anatomical diOEerences between them are shown in table 1. There are also ecological diOEerences: in the Valencian Community, N. trapezoides occurs in more humid habitats (river banks, crops, etc.) than the three new species, which appear almost exclusively in dry areas (pine woods, pine and holm oak woods, Mediterranean scrub).