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Published January 10, 2023 | Version v.1
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A checklist of megadrile earthworm (Annelida: Clitellata) species and subspecies of the world

Creators

  • 1. Embrapa Forestry
  • 2. Maharishi International University
  • 3. Eszterhazy Károly Catholic University
  • 4. Taxonomia Biodiversity Fund
  • 5. CEFE, Univeertisté de Montpellier
  • 6. Oligochaetology Laboratory
  • 7. Eskisehir Osmangazi University
  • 8. University of Kragujevac
  • 9. St. Mary's University

Description

The available literature on earthworm (Megadrili) species distributions at the worldwide, regional, and country levels were reviewed and combined with personal databases of the authors, as well as the data available in Drilobase (www.drilobase.org), Integrated Taxonomic Information System - ITIS (www.itis.gov), the 2nd edition of Nomenclatura Oligochaetologica (https://nomenclatura-oligochaetologica.inhs.illinois.edu; Reynolds & Wetzel 2022), the Earthworm species database (Csuzdi 2012) and Blakemore (2008). These data were then used to produce a full list of species up to December 2022. The family classification chosen for the present paper is based on that of James and Davidson (2012) and James (2012), expanded by Anderson et al. (2017) and Erséus et al. (2020), mainly based on DNA analysis (multiple genes). Moniligastridae, although not Crassiclitellata were included as they are analogous to earthworms and part of the Megadrili. Syngenodrilidae and Alluroididae were excluded from the list as they have been tentatively placed into the Order Alluroidida, mainly due to the absence of genetic sequence data needed to make a more informed decision as to their placement (Schmelz et al. 2021).

The updated list is recognizably not exhaustive and may be missing some species which were not caught in the lead author’s searches. The list provides the names of all valid species and subspecies and includes ca. 5,406 earthworm species and 332 subspecies, for a total of 5,738 species/subspecies worldwide, belonging to 382 genera. These are divided into 23 families, of which Megascolecidae is the most speciose (2,335 sp./spp.), followed by Acanthodrilidae (794 sp./spp.), and Lumbricidae (689 sp./spp.). On the other hand, 10 families are monospecific and/or monogeneric, with a limited number of species and geographic distribution.

The current list is provided as an excel file and includes a Readme tab as well as five spreadsheets:

Metadata: Provides information on the remaining spreadsheets in the file

Families: List of the valid 23 Megadrili earthworm families and authors, and their parent taxa (Sub-order, Order and higher-level taxonomic classifications) 

Genera: List of the 382 valid megadrile earthworm genera and authors, and their parent families

Sub-genera: List of the 34 valid megadrile earthworm subgenera and authors

Species: List of the 5,738 valid megadrile earthworm species and subspecies and authors, presented alphabetically by family and genus

Notes

This work received funds from the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development - CNPq (Grants 441930/2020-4 and 310690/2017-0 to GGB), the Fulbright Foundation (Grant to SWJ), and the Canadian Institute of Ecology and Evolution for virtual working group activities (GloWorm project awarded to EC). We also thank Mark J. Wetzel for his comments and corrections. For corrections, please get in touch with the first author at george.brown@embrapa.br.

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Additional details

References

  • Anderson, F. E., Williams, B. W., Horn, K. M., Erséus, C., Halanych, K. M., Santos, S. R. & James, S. W. (2017) Phylogenomic analyses of Crassiclitellata support major Northern and Southern Hemisphere clades and a Pangaean origin for earthworms. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 17(1), 123.
  • Blakemore, R.J. (2008) A Series of Searchable Texts on Earthworm Biodiversity, Ecology and Systematics from Various Regions of the World – 3rd Edition. COE Soil Ecology Research Group, Yokohama National University, Japan. [http://www.annelida.net/earthworm/]
  • Csuzdi, Cs. (2012) Earthworm species, a searchable database. Opuscula Zoologica, 43(1), 97–99.
  • Erséus, C., Williams, B.W., Horn, K.M., Halanych, K.M., Santos, S.R., James, S.W., des Châtelliers, M.C., Anderson, F.E. (2020) Phylogenomic analyses reveal a Palaeozoic radiation and support a freshwater origin for clitellate annelids. Zoologica Scripta, 49, 614–640.
  • James, S.W. (2012) Re-erection of Rhinodrilidae Benham, 1890, a senior synonym of Pontoscolecidae James, 2012 (Annelida: Clitellata). Zootaxa, 3540, 67–68.
  • James, S.W. & Davidson, S.K. (2012) Molecular phylogeny of earthworms (Annelida: Crassiclitellata) based on 28S, 18S and 16S gene sequences. Invertebrate Systematics 26(2), 213–229.
  • Reynolds, J.W. & Wetzel, M.J. (2022) Nomenclatura Oligochaetologica – A catalogue of names, descriptions and type specimens. Editio Secunda. URL: https://nomenclatura-oligochaetologica.inhs.illinois.edu
  • Schmelz, R., Erséus, C., Martin, P., Van Haaren, T. & Timm, T. (2021) A proposed order-level classification in Oligochaeta (Annelida, Clitellata). Zootaxa, 5040, 589–597.