TABLE 3 in Three Novel Species of Earthworms of Genus Metaphire Sims and Easton, 1972 from Manipur, India

TABLE 3. List of comparative traits of novel species with related species.
S. No.Morphological charactersM. churachandpurensis sp. nov.M. manipurensis sp. nov.M. houlleti (Perrier 1872)M. insulana (Gates 1930)M. leonoris (Chen 1946)M. daliensis Yuan & Dong 2019M. houlletoides Nguyen, Nguyen, Lam & Nguyen 20201Body length (mm)105–21080–21075–9079100–170110–14350.2–76.52Diameter (mm)4.5–64.5–4.83.5–3.755.0–7.03.9–7.21.0–2.43Segment number79–11961–12382–9367?111–15068–974First dorsal pore11/1211/129/1012/1312/1311/1211/125Male pore setae712–149–121611223–56Male porein a copulatory pouch, opens with vertical slit-like aperture, 4.5mm (0.22–0.23x body circumference) apart ventrallyin copulatory pouch with transverse slit like opening male genital region expanded laterallyin copulatory pouch with C-shaped openingon xviii at the bottom of small depressions in the setal circle, about in line with setae jin deep pouches, about 1/2 circumference ventrally apart from each otherabout 1/3 circumference ventrally apart, each located in the oval copulatory pouches, and a slightly extended mastoid on the top, surrounded with 3–5 circular foldsdeeply located inside copulatory pouches, with oval-shaped opening in the setal ring xviii; ventral distance between two openings about 0.35× body circumference7Genital marking gland6–8 stalked glands on the copulatory bursae2 stalked spherical or mushroom shaped in vii, viii, and xi, buried in parietes.single stalked, connecting to spermathecal ducts. Sometimes, 2–3 sessile in copulatory pouch3 or 4 masses of glandular tissue on the anterior face of copulatory chambernear prostate in large masses, sessileabsentpresent8Lateral intestinal caecaIn xxvii to xxiv, ventrally directed with a wavy marginIn xxvii to xxiixxvii–xxvxxvii to xxiv, the dorsal margins slightly incisedxxvii to xxii, simple, smooth on both edgesxxviii to xxvii, between simple and complexxxvii to xxiii, simple9Intestinal originxivxivxvxv?xvxv