SCHEROTHECA ALBINAMARCHÁN & DECAËNSSP. NOV. (FIGS 2 A, 3 G, H, 4) Table 3. Continued . 12 14.3 13 11.3 10.2 11.2 16.3 11.7 10.7 10.6 0 Zoobank registration: urn: lsid: zoobank. org:act: BDD2FFC5-C311-4CA5-B6C8-227910470E04. Type material: Holotype. France • adult; Occitanie, Hérault, le Soulié; latitude/longitude: 43.531 / 2.658; elevation: 853 masl; 06-May-2021;T.Decaëns, D.Fernández Marchán leg.; BOLD Sample ID: DFM-0572; deposited in the Musée national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris. Paratypes: France • five adult specimens, one subadult specimen; same data as holotype (four specimens); BOLD Sample ID: DFM-0573, DFM-0574, DFM-0575, DFM-0576; Occitanie, Hérault, Saint-Etienne-d’Albagnan; latitude/longitude: 43,543/2,86; elevation: 250 m asl; 14-Apr-2021; T. Decaëns, D. Fernández Marchán leg. (two specimens); BOLD Sample ID: DFM-0025, DFM-0026; specimens DFM-0573, DFM-0575, DFM-0576 deposited in Eco&Sols collection, Montpellier; DFM-0025, DFM-0026, DFM-0574 deposited at Musée national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris. Etymology: The species name is derived from the lack of cutaneous pigmentation which characterize it by opposition to the usually pigmented continental species of Scherotheca. Treated as adjectival. Diagnosis: Scherotheca albina can be distinguished from Sc. rhodana (Bouché, 1972) (the most similar species) by the position of the clitellum (XXVII–XLI vs. (1/2 XXVI) 1/2 XXVII–1/2 XLII (1/2 XLIII)) and tubercula pubertatis (XXXI–1/n XLI vs. 1/n XXXII– XLI), by its smaller body size and by the absence of cutaneous pigmentation (Table 2). COI uncorrected average pairwise distances and topology of multilocus molecular phylogenetic trees supports the status of Sc. albina as independent from other morphologically related species. Description External morphology: Body pigmentation absent or faint brown in the anterior part of the body (Fig. 2a). Beige with whitish clitellum in fixed specimens (Fig. 3g, h). Average length 15.15 cm (13.16–17.2 cm, N = 2 adults); average diameter 0.64/0.73/ 0.59 cm (preclitellar/clitellar/postclitellar); body subcylindrical in cross-section, ventrally flattened; average number of segments 249 (244–253, N = 2 adults). Average weight (fixed specimens), 4.88 g (4.37–5.39 g, N = 2 adults). Prostomium epilobous, closed. Longitudinal furrows in segments I and II. Nephridial pores ‘en solfège’ (irregularly distributed). Spermathecal pores at intersegmental furrows 9/10–12/13(13/14). Male pores in segment XV, surrounded by a moderately developed porophore. Female pores in segment XIV. Clitellum saddle-shaped in segments XXVII–XLI. Tubercula pubertatis in segments XXXI–1/n XLI. Setae closely paired. Internal anatomy: Septa 5/6–10/11 thickened and muscular. Lateral hearts in segments VI–XI. Calciferous glands in segments X–XIV, with diverticula in segment X. Crop in segments XV–XVI, gizzard in segments XVII–XIX. Typhlosole pinnate. Male sexual system holandric, testes and funnels (not enclosed in testes sacs, but with sperm present) located ventrally in segments X and XI. Four pairs of reniform seminal vesicles in segments IX, X, XI and XII, the first two pairs being smaller. Ovaries and female funnels in segment XIII, ovarian receptacles (ovisacs) in segment XIV. Four or five pairs of small globular spermathecae in segments IX, X, XI, XII (XIII) (intersegments 9/10– 12/13(13/14)), simple. Nephridial bladders U-shaped, reclinate in segment XXX. Distribution and ecology: Scherotheca albina was found in the vicinities of the Regional Park of Haut-Languedoc, Hérault, Occitanie (Fig. 4), in managed grasslands surrounded by forests.

Published as part of Marchán, Daniel Fernández, Novo, Marta, Domínguez, Jorge, Silva, Alberto Da, Martínez, Alejandro, Gerard, Sylvain, Hedde, Mickaël & Decaëns, Thibaud, 2023, The best is yet to come: six new species within a largebodied earthworm genus (Scherotheca, Lumbricidae) in a densely sampled region (south-western France), pp. 802-820 in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 198 (3) on pages 808-812, DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad002, http://zenodo.org/record/8147364