Genus Diplotrema Spencer, 1900

Museums

Regional Maps

• Diplotrema Spencer, W.B. 1900. Further descriptions of Australian earthworms, Part I. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria ns 13(1): 29-67 [31].

  Type species:

   Diplotrema fragilis Spencer, 1900 by original designation.
• Eodrilus Michaelsen, W. 1907. Oligochaeta. pp. 117-232 in Michaelsen, W. & Hartmeyer, R. (eds). Die Fauna Südwest-Australiens. Jena : Gustav Fischer Verlag. [141].

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

NSW: Australian Alps (AA), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Riverina (RIV), South Eastern Highlands (SEH) ; NSW, Qld: Brigalow Belt South (BBS) ; NT: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Central Arnhem (CA), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB) ; Qld: Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Channel Country (CHC), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Desert Uplands (DEU), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), NSW North Coast (NNC), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Wet Tropics (WT) ; WA: Dampierland (DL)

Diagnosis

Setae 8 per segment. Prostates 2 pairs, tubular, their pores on XVII and XIX; rarely a single pair, on XVII. Male pores a single pair, on XVIII, occasionally in 17/18, or rarely, combined with the prostatic pores on XVII; exceptionally, with prostatic pores in XVII, and male pores at 17/18; Spermathecal pores 2 pairs, at 7/8 and 8/9, ventrolateral, or a single pair, at 8/9. Nephropores in a single series on each side, or, exceptionally, alternating regularly between cd and a point far dorsal of d. Gizzard usually well-developed, muscular, in V, or, rarely, in ?VI. Calciferous glands present or absent. Holonephric, avesiculate. Holandric or rarely, metandric. Testis-sacs absent. Penial setae invariably present; genital setae usually present, but sometimes lacking.

General References

Dyne, G.R. & Jamieson, B.G.M. 2004. Native Earthworms of Australia II (Megascolicidae, Acanthodrilinae). Canberra, Australia : Australian Biological Resources Study (CD-ROM). (review, key to species)

Dyne, G.R. & Wallace, C.C. 1994. Biodiversity and conservation of the earthworm fauna of the wet tropics of Queensland's World Heritage area. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 36(1): 59-66 (four species listed from the Wet Tropics Queensland World Heritage Area, including one not previously recorded from the area)

Jamieson, B.G.M. 1971. A review of the megascolecoid earthworm genera (Oligochaeta) of Australia. Part II — The subfamilies Ocnerodrilinae and Acanthodrilinae. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland 82: 95-108 [100-102] (established the subgenus Notiodrilus)

Jamieson, B.G.M. & Dyne, G.R. 1976. The acanthodriline earthworm genus Microscolex (Diplotrema) (Megascolecidae: Oligochaeta) in the Northern Territory of Australia. Australian Journal of Zoology 24(3): 445-476 [447-448] (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement emended diagnosis of Diplotrema and placed as subgenus: Microscolex (Diplotrema))

History of changes