Earthworms from northern parts of Sistan and Balouchestan Province, Iran (Oligochaeta, Lumbricidae)

Abstract

In this study, earthworms were collected from the wetlands of Sistan at 17 stations. The following nine species were identified: Aporrectodea caliginosa (Savigny, 1826), Ap. jassyensis (Michaelsen, 1891), Ap. longa (Ude, 1885), Ap. rosea (Savigny, 1826), Ap. trapezoides (Dugès, 1828), Bimastos parvus (Eisen, 1874), Eisenia andrei/fetida complex, E. omranii Latif, Malek and Csuzdi, 2017, and Eiseniella tetraedra (Savigny, 1826). All species comprise a new record for the east of Iran. The most frequent species were Ap. rosea and Ap. caliginosa; and the rarest one was E. andrei/fetida. Length and total earthworm segments of each species were compared between specimens of Sistan and previous known values from Elburz (north of Iran) and/or Zagros (west of Iran) regions.

Keywords

• earthworm
• lumbricidae
• new record
• sistan
• iran