The marine tubificidae and naididae (oligochaeta) of South-Western Australia

Abstract

Twenty-three species of Tubificidae are reported from Western Australia, all but one being from near Albany on the south coast of the state. The following new species are described: Coralliodrilus kirkmani, C. mirus, C. regius, Phallodrilus granifer, P. albanensis, P. wellsi, P. nervosus, P. multiplex, Aktedrilus fissilis, A. triplex, Inanidrilus elaboratus, Duridrilus pastoralis (all subfamily Phallodrilinae), Limnodriloides brycei and L. flumineus (subfamily Limnodriloidinae). The taxonomy of Coralliodrilus abjornseni (Michaelsen, 1907) comb.n. and some other species, as well as the definitions of the tubificid genera Coralliodrilus Erséus, Phallodrilus Pierantoni, Duridrilus Erséus and Marcusaedrilus Righi and Kanner, are discussed. One marine, cosmopolitan species of Naididae, Paranais litoralis (Müller), is also recorded from Albany. Three of the tubificids appear to be more or less circumtropical in distribution, six others are known from various parts of the Indo-West Pacific region. Of the remaining (14) species, some may be members of a temperate South Australian fauna, others may be endemic to this part of Western Australia. In 1907, Michaelsen published an account of some oligochaetes from the southwestern part of Australia. Most of his species were terrestrial megadriles (earthworms), but he also recorded a few microdrile species, of which three were from marine or littoral habitats: the tubificid Clitellio abjornseni Michaelsen, 1907, and the enchytraeids Michaelsena principissae Michaelsen, 1907 (a member of Grania Pierantoni according to Erséus and Lasserre, 1976) and Enchytraeus albidus Henle, 1837. The last-mentioned is a well known and widely distributed species, whereas the other two have never been reported from elsewhere in the world.