Earthworms (Oligochaeta) of Southeast Iran with two new records

Abstract

ABSTRACTSoutheast Iran is located in the arid area, near one of the hottest areas in the word. This area includes several climates, which led to different diverse in soil flora and fauna. In this study, earthworms of southeast Iran were collected. Eight species were identified from 67 samples based on morphological characters. Allolobophora chlorotica (Savigny, 1826) of Lumbricidae family and Amynthas gracilis (Kinberg, 1867) from Megascolecidae family are new records for Iran’s fauna. Five species from Lumbricidae family include Aporrectodea rosea, Aporrectodea trapezoides, Perelia kaznakovi, Eisenia andrei (maybe Eisenia fetida) and Perelia sp. and one species of Megascolecidae, Amynthas corticis, were also identified. Ap. trapezoides, Ap. rosea, and Am. corticis were common species in our study areas. E. andrei (maybe E. fetida) and Am. gracilis, were only found in Baft (Khabr) and Jiroft respectively.