A checklist of earthworm species hitherto known from Kerala, a constituent of the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot in India, is presented. In total, 88 species and subspecies are recorded, of which 55 are Kerala endemics, 9 near endemics, 14 exotics and 10 native peregrines. These belong to 26 genera and 9 families. The checklist includes the literature citation to the original description, type locality, any significant subsequent generic placements, and the district distributional pattern for each species/ subspecies.
The occurrence of the exotic earthworm species Metaphire bahli (Gates, 1945) of the family Megascolecidae is recorded for the first time from India. Specimens were collected from the Alappuzha District of Kerala State. Its detailed description along with geographical distribution is provided.
Two new species of
Drawida
Michaelsen, 1900, namely
Drawida
polydiverticulata
Narayanan & Julka,
sp. n.
and
Drawida
thomasi
Narayanan & Julka,
sp. n.
, are described from material collected from the Indian state of Kerala, which lies in the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot.
Drawida
elegans
Rao, 1921,
Drawida
kanarensis
Stephenson, 1917,
Drawida
modesta
Rao, 1921,
Drawida
somavarpatana
Rao, 1921, and
Drawida
thurstoni
Gates, 1945 are recorded for the first time from the state.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.