Metaphire musica
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| ( Horst , 1883) |
Metaphire musica (original combination Megascolex musicus , frequent synonyms Perichaeta musica and Pheretima musica ) is a type of little bristle from the family of Megascolecidae (giantearthworms) in the order of Crassiclitellata (earthworms in the broader sense), whichis widespreadon the island of Java and is a Length of 57 cm reached. It got its name because its bristles create striking, high-pitched tonesat night.
features
The cylindrical, elongated body of Metaphire musica is about 57 cm long and reaches a circumference of about 4.8 cm directly behind the clitellum , with adult animals having around 166 ring-shaped segments. The skin of the earthworm is greyish-blue to lead-colored on the top, paler and reddish on the underside, the clitellum brownish, the genital orifices and the mouth yellowish. The annular clitellum comprises three segments from the 14th to the 16th segment. From the furrow between the 12th and 13th segment, there is a dorsal pore at the rear edge of each furrow up to the penultimate one. The head is shaped like a tanylob: an extension of the prostomium (head flap) extends over almost the entire peristomium to the following segment. A ring with up to 100 bristles runs around each segment with the exception of that of the clitellum .
In the 26th segment there are up to six intestinal blind sacs on both sides of the intestine, the topmost of which is the longest and the only one that is always present.
On the ventral side of the hermaphrodite there is a single small female genital opening on the 14th segment and a pair of large slit-shaped male genital openings on the 18th segment. The earthworm has two pairs of testicles located in the 11th and 12th segments. In these, the sperm conductors begin with two pairs of eyelash funnels and lead to the two male exits, into which the two large prostate glands, consisting of many lobes, also open. The bundle-like ovaries are suspended as a pair in the 14th segment on the back of the 13th septum. There are two pairs of receptacula seminis , which consist of a large, pear-shaped ampoule and a long, coiled tube and open outwards in the folds between the 7th and 8th segment and the 8th and 9th segment.
Distribution, habitat and way of life
Metaphire musica is native to the mountain forests of the Indonesian island of Jawa and Flores . Here it lives in humus-rich forest soils, where, as an anözischen species, it can dig several meters deep into the ground in more or less permanent tunnel systems, but feed on the leaf litter on the forest floor. Earthworms of this ecological group are characterized by low reproduction numbers. On the other hand, Metaphire musica has often been observed climbing trees and the epiphytic nest ferns ( Asplenium spp.) Growing there in order to get water or for unknown reasons.
The earthworm is known in Jawa for the fact that at night it produces shrill, interrupted tones by rubbing its bristles on hard substrate. This is where its species name Metaphire musica and the native name tjatjing sondarie ( Indonesian cacing sonari ) come from.
The Metaphire longa, which is native to the western Jawa and Sumatera, is a very similar species, sometimes referred to as cacing sonari .
Use by humans
Metaphire musica is used in traditional medicine in boiled or powdered form, especially as a remedy for fever. The collection of the giant earthworms is now viewed as a potential threat to the species and - by damaging the plants - to the entire ecosystem. That is why research is being carried out into ways of breeding earthworms.
literature
- R. Horst (1883): New species of the genus Megascolex Templeton (Perichaeta Schmarda) in the collections of the Leyden Museum. Notes from the Leyden Museum 5, pp. 182–196, here pp. 193f. (Description as Megascolex musicus ns).
Web links
- Cacing Sonari - NET12 (footage of the giant earthworm , Indonesian)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Metaphire musica (Horst, 1883). DriloBASE TAXO, accessed December 1, 2018.
- ↑ Metaphire musica (Horst, 1883) in the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (IT). Accessed December 1, 2018.
- ↑ Bintoro Gunadi: The status of vermicomposting in Indonesia. In: Clive A. Edwards, Norman Q. Arancon, Rhonda L. Sherman (Eds.): Vermiculture Technology: Earthworms, Organic Wastes, and Environmental Management. CRC Press, Boca Raton 2010. pp. 481-496, here p. 484.
- ↑ a b c Sri Handayani (Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Bandung): Cacing Sonari (Metaphire musica): Informasi Jenis dan Potensi Pemanfaatannya [ Metaphire musica : Information on types and possibilities of use]. Warta Kita 11 (1), Media Komunikasi dan Informasi Pusat Penelitian Biologi-LIPI (January – March 2018), p. 24 f.
- ^ William Randolph Walton: Earthworms as pests and otherwise. Farmers' Bulletin 1569, US Department of Agriculture, 1928. p. 3.