Amynthas jampeanus fumigatus ( Michaelsen, 1899 )

Shen, Huei-Ping & Chang, Chih-Han, 2025, A new earthworm species of the genus Amynthas (Clitellata: Megascolecidae) from northern Taiwan, false synonymy between Amynthas corticis (Kinberg, 1867) and Amynthas sheni (Chen, 1935) and other taxonomic issues relating to A. corticis, Zootaxa 5589 (1), pp. 112-126 : 123

On the placement of “ Amynthas jampeanus fumigatus ( Michaelsen, 1899) ”

Benham (1896) described Amynthas jampeanus from Jampea Island, south of Sulawesi (= Celebes) based on three specimens and Amynthas bonthainensis from Bonthain Peak, south Sulawesi based on one specimen only. Michaelsen (1899) considered A. bonthainensis to be a subspecies of A. jampeanus and added another two subspecies of A. jampeanus , A. jampeanus fumigatus and A. jampeanus tigrinus , collected from central and south Sulawesi, respectively. In the original description of Benham (1896), A. jampeanus has widely paired male pores with 13–14 setae in between and each pore on a papilla at each end of a pink, dumb-bell-shaped area, no other genital papillae, spherical ampulla, and stout, short prostatic duct in an obliquely longitudinal direction. However, A. bonthainensis has closely paired male pores with only 3 setae in between and each pore on a large round swollen area with an anterior papilla, three papillae in presetal XVII and XIX–XX (left one wanting in XX), oval ampulla, and short, straight, thick prostatic duct. Benham (1896) also provided illustrations for both A. jampeanus ( Fig. 1 in Plate XX) and A. bonthainensis ( Fig. 3 in Plate XX). Obviously, A. jampeanus and A. bonthainensis are different species. In a recent paper by Bantaowong et al. (2023), their Figure 4 shows the morphology of the syntype of one of the subspecies of A. jampeanus , A. jampeanus fumigatus . Its male pore region appears nearly identical to that of A. bonthainensis ( Benham 1896, Fig. 3a in Plate XX). Actually, it is more close to A. bonthainensis concerning the papilla arrangement, more closely paired male pores, oval ampulla, and short, straight, thick prostatic duct ( Table 5 ). The only difference is its much lower setal numbers ( Table 5 ) which was also mentioned by Michaelsen (1899, p. 66). This taxon should be regarded as a subspecies of A. bonthainensis instead of A. jampeanus . Therefore, the name, Amynthas bonthainensis fumigatus ( Michaelsen, 1899) comb. nov., is proposed. It is a geographic subspecies of A. bonthainensis since it is distributed in central Sulawesi while the latter in south Sulawesi. HPS examined the holotype of A. bonthainensis deposited in the Natural History Museum in London, UK. ( BMNH 1896.9.30.1, Fig. 6 ) in 2014.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Amynthas popi sp. nov. A. Ventral view of spermathecal pore region of holotype (NTUM-EW-09352) (sp, spermathecal pore; gp, genital papilla). B. Ventral view of segment VIII of a paratype (NTUM-EW-09336). C. Ventral view of segment VIII of a 227-mm clitellate (NTUM-EW-08700). D. Ventral view of male pore region of a 227-mm clitellate (NTUM- EW-08700) (mp, male porophore). E. Ventral view of male pore region of holotype. F. Dorsal view of right spermathecae of holotype (amp, ampulla; dv, diverticulum). G. Dorsal view of right prostate gland of holotype (pd, prostatic duct). Scale bars = 1 mm.

FIGURE 3. DNA barcode tree inferred from the maximum likelihood analysis of the DNA sequences of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene. Sequences acquired in this study and those available from Blakemore et al. (2012; 2015), Blakemore (2013a, b) and Blakemore & Lee (2013) were labeled with their voucher numbers. Sequences retrieved from GenBank were labeled with their GenBank accession numbers. The tree is rooted using Perionyx excavatus. Type materials are indicated in parentheses. Numbers around nodes are ultrafast bootstrap values above 50.

FIGURE 4. Photos of Amynthas sheni (Chen, 1935), type (USNM no. 20181). A. Ventral view of preclitellar papillae in segments VIII and IX. B. Ventral view of male pore region.

FIGURE 6. Photo of male pore region of Amynthas bonthainensis (Benham, 1896), holotype (BMNH 1896.9.30.1).