New Earthworm Species:
A team of researchers have discovered two previously unknown species of moniligastrid earthworms and named them as Moniligaster girishi and Drawida reynoldsi.
New Earthworm Species:
- Moniligaster girishi:
- It is endemic to Western Ghats and belongs to the family Moniligastridae.
- It is named after P. Girish Kumar, a scientist at the Zoological Survey of India’s Western Ghats Regional Centre, Kozhikode.
- It was collected from the tropical wet evergreen forest.
- It is distinguished by a single undivided spermathecal atrial gland on each side of the anterior body, particularly by the condition of its prostate and prostatic capsule.
- It has a smooth, tubular capsule at one end that flattens into a strap-like shape.
- Drawida reynoldsi:
- It was collected from the montane grassland.
- It is named after John Warren Reynolds, an eminent Canadian earthworm specialist.
- It belongs to the robusta species-group characterised by glandular prostates and bilobed spermathecal atria.
