Review of the earthworm biodiversity of Turkey and its neighbouring countries (Clitellata, Megadrili)

This paper presents the combined list of earthworms from Turkey and its neighbouring countries: Syria, Iran, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Greece and Bulgaria. Turkey has one of the richest earthworm biodiversities among the Eurasian countries. Its interesting geographic position on the conjunction of three continents (Asia, Europe and Africa) and the close proximity of three different biodiversity hotspots (Caucasus, Mediterranean and Iran-Anatolia) are the primary influence on the large number species as well as the different climatic conditions and major biogeographical barriers in the country. Till now 83 species and subspecies has been recorded and the earthworms of Turkey is characterized by the highest rate of endemism in the region (30 taxa = 36.14%). Taking into account the whole dataset (autochtonous + peregrine species) Turkish earthworms shows strong similarity to the fauna of Georgia (34 taxa = 40.96%) and Greece (32 taxa = 38.55%).