Scherotheca litoralis Marchan, Decaens & Dominguez 2023, n. sp.

Scherotheca litoralis Marchán, Decäens & Domínguez, n. sp.

(Fig. 3F)

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: B9F4D51C-0A1A-49E9-B7C7-C9275C9E9B01

TYPE MATERIAL. — Holotype. Corsica • Adult; Haute-Corse, Ghisonaccia, Marais de Cattolica; 42°1’15”N, 9°28’12”E; 8 m a.s.l.; 2.IV.2021; T. Decaëns, D. Fernández Marchán leg.; BOLD Sample ID: DFM-0425; MNHN.

Paratypes. Corsica • 2 adult specimens; Haute-Corse, Ghisonaccia, Marais de Cattolica; 42°1’15”N, 9°28’12”E; 8 m a.s.l.; 2.IV.2021; T. Decaëns, D. Fernández Marchán leg.; Eco&Sols; BOLD Sample ID: DFM-0424, DFM-0426 • 2 adult specimens; same data as for preceding; MNHN; BOLD Sample ID: DFM-0427, DFM-0428).

ETYMOLOGY. — The species name is derived from the habitat in which it was found, a littoral pine forest located immediately behind the dune line in the Marais de Cattolica.

DIAGNOSIS. — Scherotheca litoralis Marchán, Decäens & Domínguez, n. sp. can be distinguished from non-Corsican species of Scherotheca by the shorter and more anterior clitellum. It resembles Sc. qiui Marchán, Decäens & Domínguez, n. sp. and Sch.mausoleana Marchán, Decäens & Domínguez, n. sp. It can be distinguished from Sc. qiui n.sp. by the presence of pigmentation, the number of seminal vesicles (4 pairs instead of 2 pairs) and by the longer tubercula pubertatis (30-34(35) instead of 30-33(1/n 34)), and from Sc. mausoleana Marchán, Decäens & Domínguez, n. sp. by the position of genital papillae and the shorter clitellum (27-36 instead of (26)27-36(37)). The specimens also presented a more developed male porophore than found in both closely related species (Tables 1; 2; Figs 2; 3f). COI uncorrected average pairwise distances and topology of multilocus molecular phylogenetic trees supports the status of Sc. litoralis Marchán, Decäens & Domínguez, n. sp. as independent from other morphologically similar species.

DISTRIBUTION AND ECOLOGY. — Scherotheca litoralis Marchán, Decäens & Domínguez, n. sp. was found in a single locality in Ghisonaccia, Haute-Corse (Fig. 4A), in a pine forest on sandy soil, at almost sea level (8 m a.s.l) and close to the sea (200 m).

DESCRIPTION

External morphology

Body pigmentation brown. Beige with dorso-ventral and anteroposterior brownish gradients and white-beige clitellum in fixed specimens (Fig. 3F). Average length, 71 mm (n = 1 adult); body cylindrical in cross-section; average number of segments, 160 (n = 2 adult). Average weight (fixed specimens), 0.82 g (n = 1 adult). Prostomium epilobous, closed. Longitudinal furrows in segments 1 and 2. First dorsal pore in intersegmental furrow 9/10. Nephridial pores “en solfège” (irregularly distributed). Spermathecal pores in intersegmental furrows 12/13 and 13/ 14 in setal line c. Male pores in segment 15, surrounded by a greatly developed porophore. Female pores in segment 14. Clitellum saddle-shaped in segments 27-36. Tubercula pubertatis in segments 30-34(35). Chaetae small and closely paired. Genital papillae in segments 10-16,17,27-29(30),35,36.

Internal anatomy

Septa 5/6-10/11 thickened and muscular. Hearts in segments 6-11, oesophageal. Calciferous glands in segments 10-14, with diverticula in segment 10. Crop in segments 15-16, gizzard in segments 17-19. Typhlosole pinnate. Male sexual system holandric, testes and funnels (not enclosed in testes sacs, but with sperm present) located ventrally in segments 10 and 11. Four pairs of reniform seminal vesicles in segments 9, 10, 11 and 12, with the latter two pairs being larger. Ovaries and female funnels in segment 13, ovarian receptacles (ovisacs) in segment 14. Two pairs of small globular spermathecae in segments 12 and 13 (intersegments 12/13, 13/14). Nephridial bladders U-shaped, reclinate in segment 30.

REMARK

This species corresponds to Sc. corsicana L 3 in the checklist of Corsican earthworms of Marchán et al. (2022a).