Dr Tomas Pavlicek, biologist - Species richness of earthworms in New Caledonian archipelago

• Home • Curriculum vitae • Publications • Earthworms • Insects • Plants • Research projects •

• Contact • Links • Webdesign • Copyright •

Levant

Cyprus

Israel

Sinai

Jordan

Hatay

Lebanon

Syria

e) Species richness of earthworms in the New Caledonian archipelago

b) Characteristic features of the earthworm fauna in the New Caledonian archipelago

The New Caledonia archipelago (NC), part of the Melanesia subregion, is located in the southwest Pacific Ocean about 1210 km east of Australia and 20000 km from metropolitan France. The largest and principal island of the archipelago is Grande Terre (16.372 km². To the northeast of Grande Terre are localized Loyalty Islands which are composed of six inhabited islands (Lifou, Maré, Tiga, Ouvéa, Mouli and Faiava). To the northwest of Grande Terre, we find the Chesterfield Islands constituted by 11 uninhabited islets and many coral reefs. To the north the Grande Terre, the Belep archipelago is made up of two principal islands (Art and Pott islands). To the south-east of the Grande Terre, the Isle of Pines and a few remote islets are to be found (Wikipedia).

The survey of earthworms on Grande Terre, the largest island of NC, has been conducted by Dr Tomáš Pavlíček (Institute of Evolution, University of Haifa, Israel), Dr Oren Pearlson (Faculty of Science and Technology, Tel-Hai College Laboratory of Zootechnology and Molecular Ecology Upper Galilee 12210, Israel)(from January 9 till February 10, 2014). The identification of the collected earthworms was done by Professor Csaba Csuzdi (Department of Zoology, Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest, Hungary and Department of Zoology, Eszterházy Károly University, Eger, Hungary).

This survey led to the description of four species new to science. All of them belonged to the earthworm genus Acanthodrilus (Table 1). Since all the Acanthodrilus species are limited to the NC (Table 2), the four newly described species are endemics for NC. Apart of the four endemic species, the following seven new records have been reported for Grande Terre (Table 2): Amynthas gracilis (Kinberg, 1867), A. minimus (Horst, 1893), Dichogaster annae (Horst, 1893), D. saliens (Beddard, 1893), Drawida barwelli (Beddard, 1886), Perionyx excavatus Perrier, 1872, and Polypheretima taprobanae (Beddard, 1892).

Table 1. Four Acanthodrilus species described by us (Csuzdi et al., 2017) from NC.

Species	Origin of the samples on NC
Acanthodrilus barrierei Csuzdi et al., 2017	Grande Terre
Acanthodrilus millei Csuzdi et al., 2017	Grande Terre
Acanthodrilus doanus Csuzdi et al., 2017	Grande Terre
Acanthodrilus ouenghianus Csuzdi et al., 2017	Grande Terre

Table 2. A summary table of the earthworms of New Caledonia. (Abbreviations: NC — New Caledonian archipelago, A — species regarded as autochthonous ones, P — species regarded as peregrine ones), ? —) status in question due to lack of data.

Species	Recorded in	Origin of the samples on NC	Expected origin
Family Acanthodrilidae
Acanthodrilus barrierei Csuzdi et al., 2017	Csuzdi et al., 2017	Grande Terre	A
Acanthodrilus canalanus Michaelsen, 1913	Michaelsen, 1913; Jamieson, 1979	Grande Terre	A
Acanthodrilus cavaticus Michaelsen, 1913	Michaelsen, 1913; Jamieson, 1979	Grande Terre	A
Acanthodrilus chabaudi Jamieson and Bennett, 1979	Jamieson, 1979	Grande Terre	A
Acanthodrilus chevalieri Jamieson and Bennett, 1979	Jamieson, 1979	Grande Terre	A
Acanthodrilus coneensis Michaelsen, 1913	Michaelsen, 1913	Grande Terre	A
Acanthodrilus doanus Csuzdi et al., 2017	Csuzdi et al., 2017	Grande Terre	A
Acanthodrilus fabresi Jamieson and Bennett, 1979	Jamieson, 1979	Grande Terre	A
Acanthodrilus foanus Michaelsen, 1913	Michaelsen, 1913	Grande Terre	A
Acanthodrilus humboldti Michaelsen, 1913	Michaelsen, 1913; Csuzdi et al., 2017	Grande Terre	A
Acanthodrilus ignambii Michaelsen, 1913	Michaelsen, 1913	Grande Terre	A
Acanthodrilus koghis Jamieson and Bennett, 1979	Jamieson, 1979	Grande Terre	A
Acanthodrilus lacuum Michaelsen, 1913	Michaelsen, 1913	Grande Terre	A
Acanthodrilus layardi Beddard, 1886	Michaelsen, 1913; Csuzdi et al., 2017	Grande Terre	A
Acanthodrilus longicystis Jamieson, 1979	Jamieson, 1979	Grande Terre	A
Acanthodrilus mareensis Michaelsen, 1913	Michaelsen, 1913	Maré (Loyalty Islands)	A
Acanthodrilus millei Csuzdi et al., 2017	Csuzdi et al., 2017	Grande Terre	A
Acanthodrilus natalicius Michaelsen, 1913	Michaelsen, 1913	Grande Terre	A
Acanthodrilus obtusus Michaelsen, 1913	Michaelsen, 1913	Grande Terre	A
Acanthodrilus oubatcheanus Michaelsen, 1913	Michaelsen, 1913	Grande Terre	A
Acanthodrilus ouenghianus Csuzdi et al., 2017	Csuzdi et al., 2017	Grande Terre	A
Acanthodrilus paniensis Michaelsen, 1913	Michaelsen, 1913; Csuzdi et al., 2017	Grande Terre	A
Acanthodrilus paripapillatus Jamieson and Bennett, 1979	Jamieson, 1979	Grande Terre	A
Acanthodrilus perrieri Michaelsen, 1913	Michaelsen, 1913	Grande Terre	A
Acanthodrilus rouxi Michaelsen, 1913	Michaelsen, 1913	Grande Terre	A
Acanthodrilus ruber Jamieson and Bennett, 1979	Jamieson, 1979	Grande Terre	A
Acanthodrilus silvester Michaelsen, 1913	Michaelsen, 1913	Grande Terre	A
Acanthodrilus ungulatus Perrier, 1872	Michaelsen, 1913	Grande Terre	A
Acanthodrilus yateensis Michaelsen, 1913	Michaelsen, 1913	Grande Terre	A
Eudiplotrema culminis (Michaelsen, 1913)	Michaelsen, 1913	Grande Terre	A
Eudiplotrema ignambii (Michaelsen, 1913)	Michaelsen, 1913	Grande Terre	A
Eudiplotrema modestus (Michaelsen, 1913)	Michaelsen, 1913	Grande Terre	A
Eudiplotrema ?pygmaeus (Michaelsen, 1913)	(Michaelsen, 1913)	Grande Terre	A
Eudiplotrema rouxi (Michaelsen, 1913)	Michaelsen, 1913	Grande Terre	A
Eudiplotrema sarasini Michaelsen, 1913	Michaelsen, 1913;	Grande Terre	A
Total: 36
Family Eudrilidae
Eudrilus eugeniae (Kinberg, 1867)	Michaelsen, 1913; Csuzdi et al., 2017	Grande Terre	P
Total: 1
Family Lumbricidae
Aporrectodea caliginosa (Savigny, 1826)	Michaelsen, 1913	Grande Terre	P
Total: 1
Family Megascolecidae
Amynthas corticis Kinberg, 1867 (= syn. Pheretima heterochaeta (Michalesen, 1910))	Beddard, 1890b; Michaelsen, 1913; Csuzdi et al., 2017	Grande Terre	P
Amynthas gracilis (Kinberg, 1867)	Csuzdi et al., 2017	Grande Terre	P
Amynthas minimus (Horst, 1893)	Csuzdi et al., 2017	Grande Terre	P
Amynthas rodoricensis (Grube, 1879))	Michaelsen, 1913; Csuzdi et al., 2017	Grande Terre	P
Amynthas taitensis Grube, 1866 (= syn. Pheretima taitensis (Grube, 1866))	Michaelsen, 1913	Maré, Ouvéa, Lifou (Loyalty Islands)	P
Anisochaeta ?novaecaledoniae (Michaelsen, 1913)	Michaelsen, 1913	Maré, Ouvéa, Lifou (Loyalty Islands)	?
Perionyx excavatus Perrier, 1872	Csuzdi et al., 2017	Grande Terre	P
Pheretima montana (Kinberg, 1867)	Michaelsen, 1913	Grande Terre, Isle of Pines, Maré, Lifou (Loyalty Islands)	P
Polypheretima elongata (Perrier, 1872)	Michaelsen, 1913; Csuzdi et al., 2017	Grande Terre	P
Pheretima fida Michaelsen, 1913	Michaelsen, 1910	Lifou, Ouvéa (Loyalty Islands)	?
Polypheretima taprobanae (Beddard, 1892)	Csuzdi et al., 2017	Grande Terre	P
Pontodrilus litoralis (Grube, 1855) (= syn. P. matshushimensis Lizuka, 1898)	Michaelsen, 1913; Csuzdi et al., 2017	Grande Terre	P
Total: 12
Megascolex novaecaledoniae Michaelsen, 1913	Michaelsen, 1913	Grande Terre	P
???Pheretima heterochaeta (Michaelsen)	Michaelsen, 1913	Grande Terre	P
Pontodrilus matshushimensis Lizuka, 1898	Michaelsen, 1913	Isle of Pines	P
Total: 20
Family Moniligastridae
Drawida barwelli (Beddard, 1886)	Csuzdi et al., 2017	Grande Terre	P
Total: 1
Family Ocnerodrilidae
Eukerria saltensis (Beddard, 1895)(= syn Kerria gunningi Michaelsen, 1913	Michaelsen, 1913	Grande Terre	P
Total: 1
Family Octochaetidae
Dichogaster (Diplothecodrilus) affinis (Michaelsen, 1890)	Michaelsen, 1913; Csuzdi et al., 2017	Grande Terre	P
Dichogaster (Diplothecodrilus) annae (Horst, 1893)	Csuzdi et al., 2017	Grande Terre	P
Dichogaster (Diplothecodrilus) bolaui (Michaelsen, 1891)	Michaelsen, 1913; Csuzdi et al., 2017	Grande Terre, Maré, Lifou (Loyalty Islands)	P
Dichogaster (Diplothecodrilus) modiglianii (Rosa, 1896)	Michaelsen, 1913; Csuzdi et al., 2017	Grande Terre	P
Dichogaster (Diplothecodrilus) saliens (Beddard, 1893)	Csuzdi et al., 2017	Grande Terre	P
Total: 5
Family Rhinodrilidae
Pontoscolex corethrurus (Müller, 1857)	Michaelsen, 1913; Csuzdi et al., 2017	Grande Terre, Lifou, Ouvéa (Loyalty Islands)	P
Total: 1
Grand total: 58 species			?? A + ?? P

We would like to thank our Caledonian friends and colleagues (in alphabetical order) for their generous help: Frédérique Ablain-Barrèère, Sylvie Cazeres, Corinne Chauveau, Hervé Jourdan, Frédéric Jullien, Zacharie Lemerre-Desprez, Cendrine Meresse, Jacky Mermoud, Christian Mille, Angiolina Sciamarella and Jörn Theuerkauf.

References

Blakemore, R.J., 2006: Review of Pacific Ocean earthworms updated from Easton (1984) and Lee (1981) http://www.annelida.net/earthworm/Pacific/Pacific%20Species.pdf

Csuzdi, Cs., Pearlson, O. & Pavlíček, T. 2017. New Acanthodrilus species from New Caledonia (Clitellata, Megadrili, Acanthodrilidae). J. Nat. Hist. 51: 1899–1912. Taylor & Francis.

Jamieson, B.G.M. 1979. New species of Acanthodrilinae and a new genus of Perionychini (Oligochaeta, Megascolecidae) from New Caledonia, their phylogeny and zoogeography. Bull. Mus. natn. Hist. nat., Paris, 1: 353–403.

Michaelsen, W. 1913. Die Oligochäten von Neu-Caledonien und den benachbarten Inselgruppen. In: Sarasin, F. und T. Roux, Nova Caledonia A (Zoologie) Wiesbaden: C.W. Kreidel 1(3): 171-280.