Perionyx foveatus Stephenson, 1914

Kharkongor, Ilona J., 2018, Taxonomic and ecological studies on the earthworms (Annelida: Oligochaeta) of West Khasi Hills District, Meghalaya, Records of the Zoological Survey of India 118 (1), pp. 56-56 : 56-

15. Perionyx foveatus Stephenson, 1914

1914. Perionyx foveatus Stephenson, Rec. Ind. Mus. , 8: 396.

Material examined: 3 ex. Regn No. IV /ANN/NERC-29. India, Meghalaya, WKH District, Nonglang village , banks of Wah Tyrsung, N25 o 40’30.7”; E91 o 11’07.6”; alt. 1085m, 23.vi.2010, coll. I.J.Kharkongor and party.

Diagnosis: Length 50-65 mm. Segments 112-140. Epilobic. Perichaetine. Dorsal pore from 4/5 or 5/6. Clitellum annular, from 13-17 or 13 to half of 18. Female pore apparently paired and locate just behind 13/14. Male pores on 18, in form of rounded apertures set behind the setal zone. In front of and internal to the male pores is a backwardly convex furrow joining a pair of puckered pits.

Septa regular or uniform. Gizzard in 5. Seminal vesicles two pairs in 11 and 12, the ones in 11 smaller and flattened.

Distribution: INDIA: Meghalaya (WKHD). Arunachal Pradesh, Eastern Himalayas. Elsewhere: Not reported outside of India.

Remarks: The species has been reported from remote places with the least human interference. There has been no record of this species from other type of locations. The location from where the present specimens were collected is also very remote and untouched or unpolluted. Possibly it may be an indicator of environmental pollution and anthropogenic stress on land use. It is a leaf litter feeder found largely on the surface of moist soils covered with vegetations in various stages of decay. Hence, it may be classified as an epigeic or epi-anecic species. Recorded, herein, for the first time from Meghalaya (WKHD).