Rhinodrilus fafnerとは 意味・読み方・使い方

Rhinodrilus fafner is a presumed extinct giant earthworm from the family Glossoscolecidae. It is only known by the ill-preserved holotype discovered and described in 1918 by German zoologist Wilhelm Michaelsen (1860–1937) from the National History Museum in Hamburg near Belo Horizonte in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. The collected individual has a length of 210 centimetre and the body which consists of 600 single segments is 24 millimetre in diameter. Besides Amynthas mekongianus (Cognetti, 1922) and Megascolides australis, Rhinodrilus fafner is among the largest known giant earthworms. Rhinodrilus fafner was confined to a small habitat and vanished possibly due to habitat destruction. It was officially declared extinct by the Brazilian Ministry of Environment (MMA) in 2003. However, the rediscovery of the Giant Palouse earthworm in 2005 and the Brazilian earthworm Fimoscolex sporadochaetus in 2007 gained the hope to find Rhinodrilus fafner again.