Lake Pedder earthworm
Encyclopedia
The Lake Pedder Earthworm (Hypolimnus pedderensis) was an earthworm
species
in the family
Megascolecidae
. Its genus
Hypolimnus is monotypic
.
It was endemic to the Lake Pedder
area in Tasmania
, Australia
, prior to its flooding in 1972 for a hydro-electric power scheme.
It is only known from a specimen collected from a Lake Pedder beach in 1971. A 1996 survey failed to find it and it is presumed extinct.
Earthworm
Earthworm is the common name for the largest members of Oligochaeta in the phylum Annelida. In classical systems they were placed in the order Opisthopora, on the basis of the male pores opening posterior to the female pores, even though the internal male segments are anterior to the female...
species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
in the family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Megascolecidae
Megascolecidae
Megascolecidae is a large family of earthworms which has native representatives in Australia, New Zealand, Southeast and East Asia, and North America. The most ancient lineages of the family show a Gondwanan distribution and have been used as evidence of continental drift. Members of the Pheretima...
. Its genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
Hypolimnus is monotypic
Monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group with only one biological type. The term's usage differs slightly between botany and zoology. The term monotypic has a separate use in conservation biology, monotypic habitat, regarding species habitat conversion eliminating biodiversity and...
.
It was endemic to the Lake Pedder
Lake Pedder
Lake Pedder was once a natural lake, located in the southwest of Tasmania, Australia but the name is now used in an official sense to refer to the much larger artificial impoundment and diversion lake formed when the original lake was expanded by damming in 1972 by the Hydro Electric Commission of...
area in Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, prior to its flooding in 1972 for a hydro-electric power scheme.
It is only known from a specimen collected from a Lake Pedder beach in 1971. A 1996 survey failed to find it and it is presumed extinct.