Barcoding and Genetic Variation in Eutyphoeus Species (crassiclitellata: Acanthodrilidae) with First Report of E. Pharpingianus (michaelsen 1907) from Mizoram, North Eastern Region (NER) of India

The endemic genus Eutyphoeus (Crassiclitellata: Acanthodrilidae) plays a significant role in temperate and subtropical regions of India and was collected from Mizoram state of the Northeastern Region (NER). This work aims to assess the diversity of the genus based on the integrative morpho-anatomical features and sequencing of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (CO1) gene, study phylogenetic relationships among species, and evaluate their genetic variability at the regional scale. Our morpho-anatomical results revealed six Eutyphoeus species namely E. comillahnus, E. festivus, E. gigas, E. mizoramensis, E. pharpingianus, and E. scutarius respectively out of which E. comillahnus, E. festivus, E. scutarius, and, E. pharpingianus are new earthworm records from Mizoram. Additionally, E. pharpingianus was reported for the first time from the entire NER. Based on the Kimura 2 parameter model we observed 3.08