Search

Pristina silvicola and P. terrena spp. nov. are described from soil samples of the primary rain forest at the Brazilian Agroforestry Research Facility near Manaus, Brazil. Living and preserved specimens were studied. The species are among the smallest oligochaetes known (1‐1.5 mm long) but they are conspicuous by their brilliant, highly refractile coelomocytes. Pristina silvicola is also described from sexually mature specimens. Its character combination invalidates Pristinella as a genus separate from Pristina. Both genera are reunited as Pristina. Pristina silvicola and P. terrena, species which lack a proboscis, share a character combination that is unique in the genus: stomach absent, first nephridia in segment VII, ventral chaetae uniform with upper tooth not longer than lower. They differ from one another in the shape of the brain and in other details of the chaetae.