Pristina jenkinae (Stephenson, 1931)

Schenková, Jana, Pařil, Petr, Petřivalská, Karla & Bojková, Jindřiška, 2010, Aquatic oligochaetes (Annelida: Clitellata) of the Czech Republic: check-list, new records, and ecological remarks, Zootaxa 2676, pp. 29-44 : 37-38

Pristina jenkinae (Stephenson, 1931)

Synonyms: Naidium jenkinae Stephenson, 1931 ; Pristina idrensis Sperber, 1948 ; Pristinella jenkinae (Stephenson, 1931)

Records. Teplá Brook, Vĕžná, 49°26'42"N / 16°16'33"E, lgt. PP, det. PP (2003); Bečva River, Lipník-Osek, 49°29'48"N / 17°31'06"E, lgt. KB, det. PP (2004); Gránický Brook, Znojmo, 48°51'60"N / 16°01'33"E, lgt. PP, det. PP (2005); all specimens were immature.

Characteristics of sites. The species was found in two different habitats: epirhithral and hyporhithral streams. The epirhithral habitat was represented by two small brooks (2nd and 3rd Strahler order) with dominating stony-gravel substrates, natural channel morphology and forested catchments (catchment area up to 20 km 2). The hyporhithral habitat was a 30 m wide shallow reach of the river of 7th Strahler order (catchment area 1,526 km 2) with cobble-pebble substrate, which flows through extensively used farmland. A natural self-restoration of this reach of the river resulted from a big flood in 1997.

Ecology. Pristina jenkinae , a detritophagous oligochaete, was recorded in different freshwater habitats (Timm & Veldhijzen van Zanten 2002), including hyporheic zones (Strayer & Bannon-O’Donnell 1988; Giani et al. 2001; Wetzel & Taylor 2001), and in wet soil of a tropical rainforest ( Collado & Schmelz 2001). In central Europe, it was reported from rhithral and potamal zones, with preferences from xeno- to betamesosaprobity ( Hörner et al. 2002). The absence of any historic records of this species from the Czech Republic are likely attributed to difficulties in its identification (ecophenotypic variation in its chaetae, and status as a valid taxon) and its rare to occasional occurrence ( Wetzel & Taylor 2001).

Morphology. This species can be distinguished from related European Pristina species by none or slight shortening of the upper teeth in ventral chaetae from the anterior to posterior end, parallel teeth of dorsal needles with upper teeth slightly (anterior most) or distinctly (posterior bundles) shorter and thinner (from 1/2 to 2/3), smooth hair chaetae, and gradual intestinal dilatation from ½ VI to VII ( Collado & Schmelz 2001; Timm & Veldhijzen van Zanten 2002). A single spermathecal chaeta is present in VII in mature specimens, but we unfortunately did not find any sexually active individuals during this present study.

Distribution. Pristina jenkinae has a cosmopolitan distribution (Timm & Veldhijzen van Zanten 2002) and it has been reported from many other European countries: Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Moldova, Romania, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Norway, Sweden, The Netherlands, the UK, Greece, and Finland ( Timm & Giani 2004). However, the absence of records in other European countries can be connected with identification difficulties and the unclear taxonomical status of this taxon. P. j e n k i n a e was at first synonymised with P. idrensis by Kathman (1985) and recently redescribed and discussed as probably distinct species by Collado & Schmelz (2001).