Two new earthworm species of the genus Amynthas (Oligochaeta: Megascolecidae) from central Taiwan, with comments on some recent species assignments in Amynthas and Metaphire.

This study describes two new species of earthworms belonging to the genus Amynthas (Oligochaeta: Megascolecidae) from central Taiwan. They are named Amynthas luridus sp. nov. and Amynthas ruiyenensis sp. nov. Both species are octothecal with the former found at elevations of 1500-2300 m and the latter at an elevation of 2200 m from the Central Mountain Range. In addition, DNA barcodes are made available for the first time for the following species: Amynthas catenus Tsai et al., 2001, Amynthas exiguus aquilonius Tsai et al., 2001, Amynthas proasacceus Tsai et al., 2001, Amynthas hohuanmontis Tsai et al., 2002, Amynthas tessellatus Shen et al., 2002, Amynthas fenestrus Shen et al., 2003, Amynthas tantulus Shen et al., 2003, and Amynthas uvaglandularis Shen et al., 2003. Furthermore, Amynthas exiguus ssp. aquilonius Tsai et al., 2001 distributed at elevations of 2200-3000 m in the Central Mountain Range is elevated to species level, as A. aquilonius Tsai et al., 2001. The highest altitude record so far for the exotic Eukerria saltensis (Beddard, 1895) in Taiwan, 2200 m above sea level, is documented. Moreover, some recent assignments of species to Amynthas and Metaphire and synonymies of names are critically discussed. It is argued that idiosyncratic genus concepts, inadequate species comparisons, and unexplained synonymies should be avoided. A hitherto undetected and possibly monophyletic species group of mainly Korean Amynthas species in the A. tokioensis-group is indicated, characterized by numerous genital papillae around each spermathecal pore and male porophore, large ampullae, long diverticula, large prostate glands, and manicate intestinal caeca. The names A. bimaculata, A. silvatica and A. surcata (Ishizuka, 1999), as well as A. odaesanensis, A. righii, A. fasciiformis, and A. sanchongensis Hong James, 2001, previously declared as junior synonyms of A. tappensis (Ohfuchi, 1935), are revalidated.

Two new earthworm species of the genus Drawida (Oligochaeta: Moniligastridae) from southwestern Taiwan.

This study describes two new species of earthworms belonging to the genus Drawida (Oligochaeta: Moniligastridae) from southwestern Taiwan. They are Drawida alishanensis sp. nov. and Drawida fenqihuensis sp. nov. The two species were found at elevations of 1407-1661 m in the Alishan area, Chiayi County. DNA barcodes from type specimens of the new species are reported. This is the first time that new species of Drawida are discovered from the island of Taiwan. In addition, Drawida keikiensis Kobayashi, 1938 from Korea is found to be synonymous with Drawida syringa Chen, 1933 from central China. The synonymy of Drawida glabella Chen, 1938 with Drawida barwelli (Beddard, 1886) is rejected.

Earthworms from Matsu, Taiwan with descriptions of new species of the genera Amynthas (Oligochaeta: Megascolecidae) and Drawida (Oligochaeta: Moniligastridae).

In 2012, we conducted earthworm surveys in Matsu Islands, and described five new species of the genera Amynthas and Metaphire and reported two new records, Desmogaster sinensis Gates, 1930 and Ocnerodrilus occidentalis Eisen, 1878. This paper describes three new species, one of them with two new subspecies, Amynthas nanganensis nanganensis sp. nov. et ssp. nov. and Amynthas nanganensis beiganensis ssp. nov., Drawida beiganica sp. nov. and Drawida dongyinica sp. nov., provides a new record of Drawida koreana Kobayashi, 1938 from the remaining specimens collected in the surveys, reports DNA barcodes (the 5' end sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 gene) from type specimens and further reference specimens of the new species, and lists a total of 27 earthworm species and subspecies found from Matsu Islands. Pheretimoid earthworms made up 66.7% of the total number of the species, with Metaphire matsuensis Shen, 2014 and Metaphire californica (Kinberg, 1867) the most dominant. Our findings indicate that the earthworm fauna of Matsu Islands is more closely related to that of warm temperate China than to Taiwan or tropical southern China.

Four new earthworm species of the genus Amynthas (Oligochaeta: Megascolecidae) from Kinmen, Taiwan.

Four new species of terrestrial earthworms belonging to the genus Amynthas were collected on the islands of Kinmen and Lieyu, Taiwan from March to November, 2008. They are Amynthas kinmenensis sp. nov., Amynthas wuhumontis sp. nov., Amynthas wujhouensis sp. nov., and Amynthas taiwumontis sp. nov. Amynthas kinmenensis sp. nov. is quadrithecal and is the most abundant earthworm widely distributed on the main island of Kinmen. It has numerous small genital papillae and is closely related to Amynthas polyglandularis (Tsai, 1964) from northern Taiwan. Amynthas wuhumontis sp. nov. is sexthecal and is distributed only in areas around Mt. Wuhu and Mt. Taiwu in east Kinmen. It has male pores each surrounded by three genital papillae: one anterior, one posterior and one medial. Amynthas wujhouensis sp. nov. and Amynthas taiwumontis sp. nov. are octothecal. The former has a sporadic distribution in Kinmen while the latter was only found in areas around Mt. Taiwu. Amynthas wujhouensis sp. nov. has a pair of large genital papillae closely adjacent to the crescent or semicircular shaped male porophores in XVIII. Amynthas taiwumontis sp. nov. has simple male pore structure and no genital papillae or genital markings. DNA barcodes (the 5' end sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 gene) from type specimens and other materials of the first three species are also reported.