New species and new records of earthworms of the genus Drawida from Kerala part of the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot, India (Oligochaeta, Moniligastridae)

Abstract

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.

First record of the exotic earthworm Metaphire bahli (Gates, 1945) (Oligochaeta: Megascolecidae) from India

“…ndia is one of the mega earthworm biodiversity countries, about 71% of genera and 89% of earthworm species are endemic here (Julka & Paliwal 2005). Currently 425 earthworm species and subspecies belonging to 10 families and 67 genera are recorded from India (Julka 2014, Ahmed & Julka 2017, Mandal et al 2017, Narayanan et al 2017, Kharkongor 2018. Within the country, the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot along with the western coastal plains stand out as the regions with the highest level of earthworm species richness, consisting of ca.…”

A contribution to the earthworm diversity (Clitellata, Moniligastridae) of Kerala, a component of the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot, India, using integrated taxonomy

“…Moreover, of the eleven earthworm species reported in this study, COI sequences of only three species (D. ghatensis, D. impertusa and D. travancorense) are available in the NCBI database, which indicates limited availability of molecular analysis and assessment of earthworm diversity in Kerala. Some recent reports on earthworm diversity are available, however, based on morphological observations (Narayanan et al, 2016(Narayanan et al, , 2017. The present study fills the gap of molecular taxonomy of earthworms, with 28 COI datasets of endemic earthworms of Kerala having been generated.…”

“…Kerala. 1929;Gates, 1972;Julka, 1988;Narayanan et al, 2016Narayanan et al, , 2017. A camera lucida was used for drawings and abbreviations: spp, spermathecal pore; mp, male pore; atr, atrium; spd, spermathecal duct; amp, ampulla; tss, testis sac; vd, vas deferens; prs, prostate; atrgl, atrial gland were used in the figures.…”

Biodiversity of earthworm (Oligochaeta- Annelida) in Kushinagar district of Uttar Pradesh, India

“…According to Julka and Paliwal (2005), 89% of the earthworm species and around 71% of the genera are endemic to India, one of the countries with the highest diversity of earthworms. Presently, there are approximately 7000 species recorded globally (Lavelle and Lapied, 2003), of which 3000 to 3500 are valid, and 505 species and subspecies belonging to 67 genera and 10 families have been reported from India (Julka, 2014;Ahmed and Julka, 2017;Kathireswari, 2016;Narayanan et al, 2017). Prakash (2017) had reported around 50 species of earthworms comprising 28 genera and 6 families in different areas of Uttar Pradesh.…”