ALLUROIDIDAE Michaelsen 1900

Jamieson, Barrie G. M. & Fragoso, Carlos, 2024, A monograph of the Oligochaete family Alluroididae, Zootaxa 5529 (3), pp. 401-435 : 410-411

FAMILY ALLUROIDIDAE Michaelsen 1900 , emend. Jamieson 1968

Type genus: Alluroides Beddard 1894

Setae single–pointed, sigmoid, 4 pairs per segment commencing on II; genital or penial setae sometimes present. Lateral line (lateromuscular groove) present or absent. Clitellum one cell thick, commencing on XI, XII or XIII and occupying 2–6 segments. Male pores one pair, intraclitellar, either at the anterior border of XIII, or in its setal arc, or in XIV. Female pores one pair, at the anterior border, or more posterior in XIV. Spermathecal pores on one to three of segments VI–IX, at or near their anterior margins, lateral to dorsal, paired or single. Dorsal pores absent. Alimentary canal with or without oesophageal gizzards; lacking diverticula or other appendages. Nephridia holonephridia. Testes in X or in X and XI or in XI only (proandric, holandric or metandric). Seminal vesicles, when present, projecting into XI only or extending posteriorly through several segments as in microdriles. Prostate glands (euprostates or atria) either discharging separately from the male pores or through the latter, in some cases receiving the vasa deferentia entally. Ovaries anterior in XIII. Mature oocytes large and yolky, in ovisacs which extend posteriorly through several segments. Spermathecae without diverticula, sometimes ( Brinkhurstia donaldi ) with a single diverticulum.

Distribution. Alluroidinae , Colombia; Brazil; Saint Lucia; Mexico; Tanzania; Uganda; Zimbabwe; South Africa; Ethiopia; Argentina; Guyana; Chad; Paraguay; Kenya; Democratic Republic of the Congo; Panama. Syngenodrilinae : Kenya; Tanzania; Martinique?.

The family Alluroididae was established by Michaelsen (1900) for Alluroides pordagei Beddard (1894) . Subsequent additions were A. tanganyikae Beddard (1906) , and two species erected by Brinkhurst (1964) in a revision of the family, namely A. ruwenzoriensis and A. americanus . The latter species, referred to a new genus Brinkhurstia by Jamieson (1968), was the only American record for an otherwise African group until descriptions from Guyana of Kathrynella guyanae by Omodeo (1996) and Righiella jamiesoni by Omodeo & Coates (2001) with redescription of Brinkhurstia americanus and addition of B. donaldi . Barriejamiesonia aberratus from South Africa and Alluroides lauzannei (described as A. tanganyikae from Lakes Chad, Léré and Fianga by Lauzanne 1968) were added by Ljungström (1971). Recently Lacandodrilus paludosus was added by Fragoso & Rojas (2023) from southern Mexico.

A number of forms have been described ( Michaelsen 1913, 1914 a, 1914 b, 1915, 1935, 1936) which are of uncertain status but are referred to A. pordagei (as did Michaelsen 1936). In a taxonometric investigation, Jamieson (1968) tentatively included, in the Alluroididae , the sub–family Syngenodrilinae , a monotypic group containing only Syngenodrilus lamuensis Smith & Green 1919 , which those authors had placed in the Moniligastridae . In the same work ( Jamieson 1968) the type of a new monotypic alluroidine genus, Standeria transvaalensis (from Lake Chrissie in the former Transvaal, now the Province of Mpumalanga) was described, Alluroides americanus was made the type of the new, monotypic genus, Brinkhurstia ; A. tanganyikae s. Brinkhurst 1964, (Mt. Elgon) was removed from A. tanganyikae Beddard and made the type of a new species, A. brinkhursti of which a new sub–species, A. brinkhursti abyssinicus was described from Ethiopia. Barriejamiesonia , Alluroides , Brinkhurstia , Kathrynella , Righiella, La c andodrilus and Standeria constitute the sub–family Alluroidinae while the Syngenodrilinae , as Gates (1945) had suggested it should, forms the other sub–family of the Alluroidinae . The two sub–families may be distinguished as follows:

1. Outer setal couples dorsal or lateral. Gizzards absent. Prostates (atria) 1 pair; pores combined with the male pores, or ( Lacandodrilus ) absent. Alluroidinae .

2. Outer setal couples lateral, not dorsal. Gizzards present. Prostates (atria) 3 pairs, pores separate from the male pores. Syngenodrilinae .