Aulophorus tridentatus Hrabe, 1966

Righi, Gilberto & Hamoui, Viviane, 2002, Oligochaeta, Naididae Of The West Indies And Adjacent Regions, Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia 42 (6), pp. 119-167 : 137-138

Aulophorus tridentatus Hrabe, 1966

( Fig. 2 K-S)

Aulophorus tridentatus Hrabe, 1966: 380 , figs. 24-28.

Material: Margarita 10: 3 specimens (ZU-1321); 12: 4 specimens; 18: 9 specimens. Habitat: Linetic to weakly oligohaline; salinity 0.21-0.99%.

Description: Length 4-5 mm. Diameter 174-257 µm. Number of segments 32-48. Eyes and division-zone missing. Prostomium conic, as long as wide. Wide branchial fossa ( Fig. 2S ) with 4 pairs of foliaceous gills and one pair of short parallel palps. The pharynx goes to IV. Septal glands are in IV-V. The thick walled stomach is dilated in IX-X. The intestine begin at XI. Chloragocytes are in VI backwards. The dorsal vessel is on the left and commissural vessels in VII-IX. The dorsal setae begin at V, one hair and one needle per bundle. The hairs are smooth and straight or a little curved. The needles present straight proximal 2/3 and a little curved distal 1/3; the short and divergent teeth have similar length or the proximal tooth is somewhat longer; there are 1-2 thin intermediate denticles difficult to see ( Fig. 2 K-L). The ventral setae are 3-4 per bundle to XI, 3 backwards and 2 in the last segments. The nodulus is submedial and the apex bicuspidate of thinner distal tooth; the distal tooth of II-IV, V is 1.3-1.5 longer than the proximal one ( Fig. 2 M-P); towards the back the teeth present similar length or the proximal one is slightly longer ( Fig. 2 Q-R). The length of the setae of one specimen of each locality are in Table 2.

Origin Hairs Needles Ventral II-IV Ventral V-XV

Margarita 10 161-170 55-64 82-86 71-78 Margarita 12 177-193 57-65 86-90 60-76 Margarita 18 138-176 61-70 76-78 65-77

Remarks: Aulophorus tridentatus Hrabe (1966) was known only by one specimen from Ghana, Volta Lake at Kpandu (7.0°N- 0.18°E). The African specimen differs from the Caribbean ones by its greater number of ventral setae. According to Hrabe the ventral setae of II-IV are 5-6 per bundle, 5 backwards and 4- 1 in the last segments. We consider this difference without taxonomical value because there is concordance of other characteristics.

Figures

Fig. 2. Dero tuna: A, branchial fossa. B, needle. C-D, ventral setae of IV and IX. Aulophorus kalina: E, branchial fossa. F, needle. G-J, ventral setae of II, V, VI and XII. Aulophorus tridentatus: K-L, needles. M-R, ventral setae of II-VII. S, branchial fossa. Scales to Fig. A, E, S = 50 µm to other figures 10 µm.