Five new species of Enchytraeidae (Annelida: Clitellata) from Mediterranean woodlands of Italy and reaffirmed validity of Achaeta etrusca, Fridericia bulbosa and F. miraflores

Five new enchytraeid species are described from Mediterranean woodland habitats of Italy: Achaeta borbonica sp. nov., Achaeta giustii sp. nov., Fridericia bargaglii sp. nov., Fridericia meridiana sp. nov. and F. rara sp. nov. New evidence is presented to confirm the validity of Achaeta etrusca Rota, 1995, contrary to its synonymization with Achaeta iberica Graefe, 1989 (unlike the latter, Achaeta etrusca has knob-like inward-bulging glands). The name Fridericia bulbosa is retained for animals fitting the original description of Neoenchytraeus bulbosus Rosa, 1887, challenging the view that later confusion makes it a nomen dubium. Consistency between taxonomic procedures also suggests to retain Fridericia miraflores Sesma and Dózsa-Farkas, 1993 as valid, contrary to its synonymization with Fridericia sylvatica Healy, 1979 (a taxon not type based and poorly described, thus impossible to be conclusively identified). http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:526FC344-E093-4106-B8D6-07DC685ADC51


Introduction
During 2009, within the frame of a project addressing the biodiversity of soil-dwelling invertebrates in Mediterranean urban environments, some holm oak (Quercus ilex) woodland parks of Siena and Naples, Italy, were intensively sampled for enchytraeids. A total of 36 species (Rota et al. 2013(Rota et al. , 2014 were recorded, five of which were undescribed. Among them, two (Achaeta sp. 1, Fridericia sp. 2) were new discoveries, and three others ('Achaeta cf. bohemica sensu Nielsen and Christensen', Fridericia sp. 1, Fridericia sp. 3) were known from previous collections in residual native Mediterranean woodland habitats of Italy (Rota 1995;Santi et al. 2010), but they were still awaiting description. In this paper, an in-depth taxonomic study of the five new species (named Achaeta borbonica sp. nov., Fridericia rara sp. nov., Achaeta giustii sp. nov., Fridericia meridiana sp. nov. and Fridericia bargaglii sp. nov., respectively) is presented. Augmented diagnoses of three other taxa, Achaeta etrusca Rota, 1995, Fridericia bulbosa (Rosa, 1887, and Fridericia miraflores Sesma and Dózsa-Farkas, 1993, occurring abundantly in the same habitats, are also included to reaffirm their validity against relegation to junior synonyms or nomina dubia (Schmelz 2003;Schmelz andCollado 2010, 2012).

Methods
Methods employed for the collection of soil samples are reported in Rota (1995), Santi et al. (2010) and Rota et al. (2013Rota et al. ( , 2014. Collecting dates refer to the sampling of soil, not to the extraction of specimens, which took place within 1-7 weeks from collection. All specimens were extracted using the wet funnel method (as modified by Healy and Rota 1992) and were initially examined in vivo by transmitted light, then transferred to 70% alcohol or Bouin's fluid. The preserved specimens were later stained in paracarmine, dehydrated through an ethanol/xylene series and mounted whole in Canada balsam. Live specimens and permanent whole-mounts were examined and photographed under a DM LB Leica microscope connected to a Coolpix 4500 Nikon digital camera. Measurements were obtained by using an eyepiece micrometer. Only some details of Fridericia bargaglii sp. nov. are illustrated by drawings. For all other species, line drawings would add little information, because their organs are of a very common shape. Photographs are provided to show them in an unequivocal, specific, anatomical context, or in their fairly unusual size or arrangement (e.g. the few preclitellar nephridia of F. rara sp. nov.; the small sperm funnels of F. meridiana sp. nov.; the long oesophageal loops of Achaeta etrusca). In text and figures, segments are referred to by Roman numerals; intersegmental furrows and septa are referred to by Arabic numerals (fractions).
The type series of the five new species are deposited in the Museo Civico di Zoologia di Roma (MCZR), Italy, and the Swedish Museum of Natural History (SMNH), Stockholm. Concerning Fridericia bulbosa, Rosa (1887) did not mention any type material or a depository where he might have left specimens. I made an inquiry to the Turin Museum of Natural History (where Daniele Rosa worked during 1881-1898), but was not successful. Schmelz (2003) did not find type specimens in other museums.

Results
Class CLITELLATA Michaelsen, 1919Family ENCHYTRAEIDAE Vejdovský, 1879b Genus Achaeta Vejdovský, 1878 Anatomical remarks on the genus The flask-shaped (=pyriform) glands, when occurring, always start in a speciesspecific segmental position (own observation) (e.g. Figures 1B, 3A), although this diagnostic character is generally omitted in identification keys (e.g. Nielsen and Christensen 1959;Schmelz and Collado 2010). The lateral commissures between dorsal and ventral blood vessels in European Achaeta are always three pairs (two in III, one in IV) (see Vejdovský 1884, plate 7, figure 1; Rota 1995). The shortness of the longitudinal muscle fibres gives the body wall surface a peculiar lozenge pattern; this condition, first noted by Michaelsen (1889) in Achaeta bohemica: 'The slow, lumbering movement of the animals is related thereto' (pp. 47-48) ( Figure 2B), seems to be distinctive for most species in the genus (pers. obs.; Figure 3D), as compared with the longer muscle strands observed in other genera. In A. bohemica, Michaelsen (1889) also detected intracellular canals ( Figure 2C) in the gut epithelium of segments behind the origin of the blood vessel: 'The columnar epithelial cells are run through by a system of exceedingly fine canals, which apart from being much finer, recall the chylus cells of some Fridericia species. The canals lie parallel to the length direction of the cells, so that a cross section thereof has a sieve-like appearance. A more intimate relationship with the blood vascular system could not be proven' (p. 48). However, these intracellular canals have never been observed since in Achaeta, not even in the very large-sized

Etymology
Discovered within a former hunting preserve for the Bourbon royal family.

Diagnosis
Small species, with flask-shaped glands occurring dorsally from V, clitellum including two mid-dorsally contiguous hyaline bands, male pores in XI, preclitellar nephridia one pair at 7/8, spermathecae short, confined to V, opening ventrally.
Coelomocytes smaller than flask-shaped glands, oval or drop-shaped, finely rugose and grained, pale ( Figure 1B, F). Transition between oesophagus and intestine gradual. Gut constantly forming a loop in IX ( Figure 1A). Intestinal floor of 1/2XV-XVII modified as an inner ridge of tall cells (ventral intestinal ridge). Chloragogenous cells in vivo filled with large (3 μm) opaque inclusions ( Figure 1B-F), somewhat resembling the oil globules filling of Enchytraeus species, but rendering the sides of gut dark-brown in transmitted light. Dorsal blood vessel arising in VI.

Remarks
This new species resembles A. minima Southern, 1907 in body size, dorsal occurrence of the flask-shaped glands and position and size of the spermathecae (A. minima and A. borbonica sp. nov. are the only known Achaeta species possessing flask-shaped glands with spermathecae confined to V), but differs from it by the cephalic displacement of the genital organs, the size of the sperm funnels and the location of the first preclitellar nephridia. An identical cephalic displacement of the genital organs, combined with ventral spermathecal pores, dorsal flask-shaped glands and possession of one pair of preclitellar nephridia, as in the new species, is observed in the northern European A. abulba Graefe, 1989 andA. bibulba Graefe, 1989. From the latter two, the new species appears different because: (1) the nephridia comprise an anteseptal part and occur preclitellarly at 7/8 rather than at 6/7; (2) compact penial bulbs are present; (3) the spermathecae are confined to V and lack any glandular formation at pore.

Distribution
Only recorded in the Astroni State Nature Reserve, sexually mature both in spring and autumn.
This species was originally defined by Vejdovský (1879a) through just a couple of traits, to distinguish it from A. eiseni Vejdovský, 1878, the only other congener then known. In A. bohemica the 'chaetal glands' (=flask-shaped glands) occurred only dorsally, against dorsal + ventral in A. eiseni, and the septal glands (=pharyngeal glands) were developed only in two segments, against three in A. eiseni. Five years later, in his 'System und Morphologie der Oligochaeten', the same author illustrated other features diagnostic of A. bohemica: the flask-shaped glands starting in IV, two secondary pharyngeal glands occurring ventrally in V and VI, the conspicuous oesophageal outer ridge ('salivary glands') dorsal on III-V, the dorsal vessel originating in VI, the intestine beginning in VII, nephridia present at 6/7 and with an expanded terminal vesicle (Vejdovský 1884, plate 7, figure 1). Vejdovský never mentioned the reproductive organization of A. bohemica, except for the reciprocal position and paired condition of the testes and ovaries Anlagen. Michaelsen (1889, p. 48 and figures 5-7;) recorded A. bohemica in Hamburg (specimens about 15 mm long) and provided the first reproductive details: the clitellum ( Figure 2A) interrupted dorsally and containing very large hyaline cells dorsolaterally, the male ducts opening ventrally through adjacent glandular bodies (Figure 2A), the spermathecae also opening close to the midventral line and consisting each of an elongate pear-shaped ampulla separated from the ectal duct by a valvelike occlusion. Černosvitov (1928), based on material from the Carpathians, extended the account of A. bohemica to include: cuticle 3.8 μm thick, clitellum over 1/2XII-1/ 2XIII, sperm funnels very long (l:w = 5-6:1), spermathecae reaching backwards X-XI and with ectal portion in V expanding before opening to the exterior through a perpendicular, ventrally directed thickened duct. Černosvitov (1928), however, reported the pharyngeal glands as three pairs at 4/5-6/7. The picture emerging from the above accounts, provided that Vejdovský, Michaelsen and Černovitov referred to one and the same species, corresponds virtually in all details to Achaeta vesiculata Nielsen and Christensen (1959), rightly declared a junior synonym of A. bohemica (Vejdovský, 1879a) by Schmelz and Collado (2010). I collected and personally studied material of A. vesiculata in Ireland and Sweden (records already existed, respectively, by Healy (1979) and Backlund (1947 as A. bohemica)), and I observed in both countries the series of flask-shaped glands to start invariably in IV, the pharyngeal glands as well as the other somatic structures to be arranged as indicated by Vejdovský, and each penial organ to consist of a main glandular body plus minor glands in a longitudinal row. Schmelz and Collado (2010) suggest that the synonymy of A. bohemica sensu stricto should be extended to A. microcosmi Heck and Römbke, 1991, because the latter's type material shows only two pairs of primary pharyngeal glands and nephridia at 6/ 7. It would be interesting to know where the flask-shaped glands start in the types of A. microcosmi (they were pictured in III by Heck and Römbke 1991, figure 1A).

Remarks on Achaeta bohemica sensu Nielsen and Christensen (1959) non Vejdovský
Achaeta bohemica as intended by Nielsen and Christensen (1959) differs from Vejdovský's taxon by having three pairs of well-developed primary pharyngeal glands, no secondary glands, dorsal vessel originating in VII (Nielsen and Christensen 1959, table 4), no seminal vesicle, and spermathecae shorter and with ectal duct parallel to the long body axis. This combination of characters has gradually become recognized as 'Achaeta bohemica sensu Nielsen andChristensen, 1959' (Healy 1980;Rota and Healy 1994;Rota 1995;Standen et al. 2009;Schmelz and Collado 2010). Lately, however, while re-approaching the taxonomy of Achaeta in search of new information from permanent mounts, I discovered that two separate species occur in Italy that correspond to the above diagnosis and that I had confounded under one name.
Of the second speciesherein described as A. giustii sp. nov. and distinguished by having a complete series of dorsal flask-shaped glands (i.e. from segment II to tail) and clitellum longer and reticulate -I have collected specimens only in Italian regions, and it could indeed be a Mediterranean endemic.

Etymology
The new species is named for Prof. Folco Giusti, outstanding malacologist and dedicated zoogeographer, for his contributions to the knowledge of Mediterranean endemism.
Coelomocytes of various size, with grooved but not granular cytoplasm, roundish, often with one to five marginal prominences, brownish when accumulated. Gut linear, without loops. Oesophagus gradually expanding into intestine at 7/8. Intestinal inner ridge extending over three segments between XVIII-XXIII (ventral intestinal ridge). Chloragogenous cells filled with fine granules. Dorsal blood vessel arising in VII ( Figure 3B).

Remarks
This species belongs to the group of Achaeta with only dorsal flask-shaped glands and spermathecae opening ventrally. While alive it looks similar to 'Achaeta bohemica sensu Nielsen and Christensen, 1959', it can be recognized (more easily after fixation) by having a complete series of dorsal flask-shaped glands (i.e. from segment II to tail) and clitellum longer and reticulate, with granular gland cells bordering the dorsal edges (see above).

Remarks
The validity of this species has recently been questioned by Graefe (2007), and its synonymization with A. iberica has been proposed (Schmelz andCollado 2010, 2012). The original description (Rota 1995) mentioned 'inconspicuous lens-shaped epithelial cells observed dorsolaterally from II'. These words have been misinterpreted as if referring to the lentiform gland cells segmentally punctuating the sides of the body of A. iberica at three distinct levels, but the structures of A. etrusca swell inwards, occur as one dorsolateral pair per segment and are limited to segments II-VI (in segment I, more dorsal and bilobed structures occur, probably of a different nature) ( Figure 4A). Thus they would rather seem homologous to the 'dorsolateral epidermal follicles slightly protruding into the body cavity' characterizing segments I, III-VI in A. antefolliculata Dózsa-Farkas and Boros, 2005. Differences between A. etrusca and the latter include the number of secondary pharyngeal glands (two vs. one pair) and the pairs of preclitellar nephridia (three vs. two).

Etymology
Named for Prof. Roberto Bargagli, for his dedication and achievements in environmental research, and with thankfulness for his enduring friendship and support.

Journal of Natural History 2001
Description Colour white-yellowish, paler after storage in alcohol. Live body length 17-28 mm, width about 0.67-0.83 mm at XII; dimensions can be large also in fixed specimens: length 25 mm, width 0.55-0.60 mm at V, 0.8 mm at XII. Segment number 56-73, x ̅ = 63.5, s = 6.2 (n = 31). Prostomium 1.2 times longer than peristomium, frontally rounded, blunt conical in a lateral view, dorsally depressed in front of head pore, pointing forwards ( Figure 5A). Epidermal sensory buds abundant on prostomium, segments I-II and pygidium. Epidermal glands small, dot-shaped, arranged in four complete transverse rows per trunk segment. Clitellum ( Figure 5B) slightly elevated (30 μm), interrupted ventrally except immediately behind male openings in XII where a strip of both hyaline and granular cells occurs; both types of gland cells small, 12-18 by 8-12 μm, arranged in indefinite rows, the granular type twice as numerous as the hyaline type. Subneural glands on nerve cord midventral in IV ( Figure 5B) and in XIII-XV, located either at the segment equator, or between the ventral chaetal bundles, or in the intersegment. Sometimes also a papilla midventral at 12/13. Head pore at 0/1, oval (50 μm long). Dorsal pores from VII. Spermathecal pores in 'lateral lines' at 4/5, surrounded by glandular epidermis. Male pores as I-shaped longitudinal slits, with distinct, asymmetrical, transverse extensions.
Coelomocytes: nucleated cells in vivo opaque when accumulated, filled with fine pale granules, up to 50-60 μm long, with very small nucleus; anucleate corpuscles small, 5-10 μm long. The worms discharge abundant coelomic fluid that coagulates at fixation. Chloragogen cells from V. Chylus cells in XIII-XV or XIII-1/2XVI. Ventral intestinal ridge not clearly visible. Dorsal vessel most frequently originating in XVIII-XX, with four pairs of thin lateral commissures: two starting from a common root in III, one in IV and one in V.

Remarks
This species has been earlier (Rota 1995) confounded under the name of F. polychaeta Bretscher augm. Southern (1907). After the improved characterization and recognition of the latter taxon as a new distinct species, F. healyae, by Schmelz (2003), and following personal observations on Swedish material of F. healyae (see Erséus et al. 2005), I was able to separate the Italian material compiled in Rota (1995) into specimens belonging to F. healyae (sample from site Tuscany 17) and specimens belonging to the present new species (all remaining Tuscan samples). In F. healyae the clitellum is girdle-shaped and the gland cells are arranged to form an irregular honeycomb tiling, with a ratio between hyaline and granular cells of 1:4 (pers. obs.). In F. bargaglii sp. nov. the two types of cells occur with a ratio of about 1:2 and the clitellum is nearly absent ventrally. Other important differences from F. healyae are the two-level branching of peptonephridia, the always welldeveloped seminal vesicle, the extra pair of pharyngeal glands in VII, the many subneural glands and the absence of inner ciliation in the spermathecal diverticula. F. bargaglii sp. nov. differs from F. polychaeta Bretscher, 1900 as originally defined (whether or not one accepts the latter as a valid taxon), by its brain shape, the number of pharyngeal glands, the origin of the dorsal vessel, and the habitat (unlike F. bargaglii sp. nov., both F. healyae and F. polychaeta appear to be associated with wet soils).

Distribution
Apparently endemic to Tuscany, associated with neutral soils. Recent studies (Rota et al. 2013(Rota et al. , 2014 have confirmed the abundance of this species in urban (Villa Patrizia, plots S2 and S3) and suburban (Belcaro) districts in Siena.
Other material examined. Several specimens from type locality, 26.10.2009 and 20.06.2014, in the author's collection.

Etymology
From the Latin 'meridianus' (meaning = of midday, noon, southern), due to its apparent geographic distribution.

Diagnosis
Small quadrisetose species with four chaetae only present in some preclitellar ventral bundles, other bundles containing two or three chaetae; behind clitellum, bundles   with three chaetae occurring ventrally in XIII-XIV, all other bundles bisetose. Segments 28-36, clitellar gland cells absent ventrally between and before male pores. Coelomocytes type b, peptonephridia type a, four pairs of preclitellar nephridia (6/7-9/10), chylus cells preclitellar. Male slits T-shaped, spermathecae with a small, sessile ectal gland, and bulb-shaped ampullae attached separately, on same or opposite sides of gut.
Coelomocytes ( Figure 7F, G): in vivo nucleated cells with peripheral vesicles (type b), 18-32 μm long, anucleated corpuscles of various size, 5-12 μm long. Chloragogen cells from V, in vivo opaque, yellow-greenish. Chylus cells in IX-X or X-XI. Intestinal inner ridge extending over 4-6 segments between XIX-XXVIII (ventral intestinal ridge). Dorsal vessel originating in XIII-XIV. Four pairs of thin lateral commissures connect the dorsal vessel with the circumoesophageal commissures and the ventral vessel: two in III, one in IV and one in V.
Spermathecae attached separately to gut, on same or opposite side of dorsal vessel ( Figure 7F). Each spermatheca consists of a simple bulb-shaped ampulla (24 μm wide in vivo, 20 μm after fixation) and an ectal duct (160-175 μm long and 9 μm thick in vivo, 80 by 8-10 μm after fixation) endowed with a small sessile gland (16 μm long, 8-10 μm after fixation) at the external orifice. Sperm mass in a circle inside ectal lumen of ampulla.

Remarks
This species belongs to a group of small, quadrisetose Fridericia with bulb-shaped spermathecal ampulla, characterized by peripherally granular coelomocytes and short unbranched peptonephridia (see Cech and Dózsa-Farkas 2005). In particular, it resembles F. bretscheri Southern, 1907 in the texture of coelomocytes and number of preclitellar nephridia, but differs from it by the thinner body wall, the small spermathecal gland, the different chaetal formula, clitellar pattern, position of the chylus cells and shape of the male slits. In the latter features, it rather resembles F. composti Schmelz, 2003, F. schmelzi Cech and Dózsa-Farkas, 2005and F. semisetosa Dózsa-Farkas, 1970, all of which however possess five pairs of preclitellar nephridia, comparatively larger anucleated coelomocytes and different chaetal formulae and clitellar patterns (Table 1).

Distribution
The material described comes exclusively from Naples, Capodimonte, plot N3 (sexually mature both in spring and autumn). According to some old notes, possibly also found in Erice (Sicily).

Remarks
Rosa (1887) described his Neoenchytraeus bulbosus from woodland soil near Turin, in the north of Italy, providing few details but still a precise combination of characters. The new species could be recognized by (i) its relatively small size (4-8 mm, segments 32-42); (ii) chessboard-like clitellum, made of large, irregularly squared, granular cells ('areole') on a smooth background (i.e. against the hyaline cells), the latter, however, becoming dominant by size after fixation; (iii) chaetae in bundles of four or three in the anterior half of the body, in couples in the posterior region, the ventral chaetae being longer than the dorsal; (iv) peptonephridia elongate, thin-walled, poorly branched, generally just bifurcated, likened for their simplicity to those illustrated by Vejdovský for F. leydigii; (v) dorsal vessel originating in XVI-XVIII, with the first two lateral commissures originating from a common root; (vi) spermathecal ampullae bulb-shaped, adiverticulate, with ental portion elongate and firm, and ectal duct long and devoid of glands; (vii) nephridia with subterminal efferent ducts; (viii) coelomocytes medium-sized.
Unfortunately, for long time F. bulbosa has been diagnosed in the absence of an adequate correspondence with Rosa's description as detailed above, the species identification being rather based mostly on the possession of adiverticulate, bulbshaped spermathecal ampullae. This resulted in an accumulation of records worldwide and an overrating of intraspecific variation (in 1929 Ude allowed F. bulbosa up to six chaetae per bundle and as many as 70 segments). Nielsen and Christensen (1959) were the first to suspect that the species might have lost its genuine identity, but were inclined to believe that Rosa's account concerned a mixture of species or that some characters varied geographically, rather than to accept that Rosa's (1887) original account, taken in its entirety, unequivocally matched a taxon occurring in Italy.
In 1995, based on material collected in central and southern Italy, I rectified the morphological diagnosis of F. bulbosa sensu stricto in adhering to the original description (Rota 1995). Thanks to a recent high-intensity sampling (Rota et al. 2013(Rota et al. , 2014, I could go more in depth and examine the intra-and interpopulation variation on a regional scale (see Table 2), so as to expand the list of consistent features characterizing the Italian taxon. F. bulbosa s.s. now appears to be morphologically fairly homogeneous. The description of the present new material collected in a central and a southern region of Italy agrees with the account of Rosa from northern Italy in virtually all points.
The same account is sufficiently detailed to exclude all the European adiverticulate species that (while yet undescribed) at one stage or another may have been included in F. bulbosa: species with fewer or missing chaetae (e.g. F. benti, F. composti, F. cusanica, F. semisetosa), as well as those with more than four chaetae or larger body sizes (e.g. F. caprensis, F. tuberosa, F. striata, F. ilvana), species possessing peptonephridia of type b (e.g. F. bulboides), and species with large spermathecal glands (e.g. F. bretscheri). Indeed, at the current level of taxonomic resolution, each of the above-mentioned species differs not in one, but in several critical traits from F. bulbosa in its strict original acception. Thus, Nielsen and Christensen (1959) and other authors' statements that a clear conception of its morphology has never existed appears incorrect, and Schmelz's (2003) proposal to consider F. bulbosa a nomen dubium is not acceptable.
As concerns the presence of spermathecal ectal glands and the shape of peptonephridia, conflicting interpretations can be reconciled if early descriptions are understood in the appropriate historical context: in 1887, still few enchytraeid species were known to possess dorsal pores and multiple chaetae growing pairwise in a bundle (that group would be allocated by Michaelsen to Fridericia, in 1889). The sole other species known in that group to possess adiverticulate spermathecae (F. striata) was a very different worm (much bigger, with more chaetae, peptonephridia much branched, with two large spermathecal ectal glands; Levinsen 1884). Spermathecal ectal glands among the earliest known Fridericia spp. (F. bisetosa, F. striata or F. hegemon) were always conspicuous, while in F. bulbosa s.s. these glands range from small to a simple thickening of the distal end of the spermathecal duct, and may have been easily overlooked. Likewise, Vejdovsky's (1879b) drawing of a peptonephridium in F. leydigii showed the simplest shape of that organ in the group. Inferring from that comparison an elongate branching of the peptonephridia for F. bulbosa (e.g. Schmelz 2003) is questionable. In fact, it all depends on the length of branches. The same Fridericia species with short peptonephridia can vary between having peptonephridia unbranched or with few stump-like terminal branches. Among species of similar body size to F. bulbosa s.str., one finds F. benti having these organs either unbranched, or occasionally with 2-3 terminal stump-like branches (Schmelz 2003). In F. bretscheri peptonephridia are generally unbranched, but Schmelz (2003) detected a terminal bifurcation in an Irish specimen. In F. paroniana, the short peptonephridia are either unbranched or shortly bifurcated distally. (For the authorities of species mentioned in the above remarks, see Rota 1995;Schmelz 2003).

Distribution
The occurrence of F. bulbosa s.s. outside Italy remains to be ascertained. In any case, the species appears very selective in its habitat, being exclusive of oak woods and meadows on limestone (Rota 1995). During my survey of urban holm oak stands in Siena and Naples (Rota et al. 2013(Rota et al. , 2014, it showed peaks of abundance in samples from Villa Patrizia (plot S1) and Belcaro, where the soil was characterized by heavy carbonate precipitation (either as a horizontal accumulation layer or as nodular concretions). In Naples it was found in Capodimonte (plots N1 and N3), whereas it appeared absent from Astroni (N4), a site with subacidic soils and poor in calcium (Rota et al. 2013).

Type locality
Italy, Campania (Ca-2), Naples city, Capodimonte Park, a 134 ha historical urban park, positioned on the top of a hill in the northern part of the city (40.8717°N, 14.2519°E, 50 m asl). Holm oak trees with underbrush of Ruscus aculeatus, Hedera helix and, occasionally, Tradescantia fluminalis. Litter and dark humus on loose, coarse-textured soil with fragments of pyroclastic origin, moist, pH 7.0, plot N1, 13.05.2009, E. Rota coll.

Etymology
Named for its very unusual features, including the unique chaetal formula and the small complement of preclitellar nephridia.

Remarks
This is one of few species in Fridericia having the clitellum interrupted both dorsally and ventrally (Rota and Healy 1999, p. 58; see also Schmelz 2003, as F. sylvatica). This feature and the occurrence of ventral pharyngeal glands in VII (Schmelz 2003, as F. sylvatica) is confirmed for the present and previous material from Italy (as well as for specimens from Algeria), including those with short diverticula. The synonymy of this species with the poorly defined F. sylvatica Healy, 1979 was established by Schmelz (2003), on the basis of the similar chaetal formula and the laterally projecting spermathecal diverticula, and despite important differences in the two original descriptions (size of chaetae, origin of the dorsal vessel, variation in size of the spermathecal gland) and the lack of type material of F. sylvatica. Schmelz (2003) himself discovered that the sole specimen (submature and incomplete) labelled as type of F. sylvatica was not compatible with any of the key characters in the original diagnosis. Although F. miraflores can be collected at the type locality of F. sylvatica (UCD campus, Dublin) (Rota 1995), I believe the circumstances rather suggest that F. sylvatica should be considered a nomen dubium, in that (1) 'the taxonomic identity of the taxon cannot be determined from its existing name-bearing type' (ICZN 1999: Art. 75.6), and (2) the original description of F. sylvatica probably involved one or more different species (in particular, the reported variation in the spermatheca towards more globular ampullar diverticula and larger ectal gland point to F. globuligera Rota, 1995, a species also present in the UCD area; own unpublished record). In conclusion, the originally better described and type-based F. miraflores is to be regarded as a valid name. This choice is consistent with the reasoning by Schmelz (2003) on the analogous cases involving F. tirolensis Schmidegg, 1938 andF. discifera Healy, 1975.

Distribution
Euro-Mediterranean. Present in both seasons at Naples sites.