title: Sylphellapuccoon gen. n., sp. n. and two additional new species of aquatic oligochaetes (Lumbriculidae, Clitellata) from poorly-known lotic habitats in North Carolina (USA).
abstract: Three new species of Lumbriculidae were collected from floodplain seeps and small streams in southeastern North America. Some of these habitats are naturally acidic. Sylphellapuccoon gen. n., sp. n. has prosoporous male ducts in X-XI, and spermathecae in XII-XIII. Muscular, spherical atrial ampullae and acuminate penial sheaths distinguish this monotypic new genus from other lumbriculid genera having similar arrangements of reproductive organs. Cookidriluspocosinus sp. n. resembles its two subterranean, Palearctic congeners in the arrangement of reproductive organs, but is easily distinguished by the position of the spermathecal pores in front of the chaetae in X-XIII. Stylodriluscoreyi sp. n. differs from congeners having simple-pointed chaetae and elongate atria primarily by the structure of the male duct and the large clusters of prostate cells. Streams and wetlands of Southeastern USA have a remarkably high diversity of endemic lumbriculids, and these poorly-known invertebrates should be considered in conservation efforts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology and Animal Cell Biology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of the Basque Country, Box 644, 48080 Bilbao, Spain.
authors.forename: Pilar
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rodriguez
authors.affiliation: U.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Rd., Menlo Park CA 94025, USA.
authors.forename: Steven V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Fend
authors.affiliation: Lenat Consulting, 3607 Corbin Street, Raleigh NC 27612, USA.
authors.forename: David R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Lenat
keywords: Lumbriculids; North America; acidic waters; biodiversity; pocosin soils