Sandro Ruffo: Remind of a master

Volume: 8Start Page: 69End Page: 7

Oligochaetes from underground waters of Oman with descriptions of two new species of Phreodrilidae (Oligochaeta): Antarctodrilus arabicus n. sp. and Phreodrilus stocki n. sp.

The study of twenty-nine oligochaete samples collected in 1996 by J. H. Stock and J. J. Vermeulen (University of Amsterdam), in the Sultanate of Oman, allowed us to draw up an initial inventory of the freshwater oligochaete fauna of the Arabian peninsula, a fauna totally unknown until now. The 147 specimens examined belong to nine species of four families: Phreodrilidae, Naididae, Tubificidae and Enchytraeidae. The Phreodrilidae (2 species) represent more than half of the total specimens; whilst the rest belong mainly to the Naididae. Two new species of Phreodrilidae (Antarctodrilus arabicus n. sp. and Phreodrilus stocki n. sp.) are described. Both belong to the subfamily Phreodrilinae, until now not reported from north of the tropic of Capricorn. Other identified species include Dero (Dero) zeylanica, Allonais paraguayensis and Doliodrilus puertoricensis, which are for the first time recorded in subterranean habitats. These studies confirm the hypothesis of the presence of Phreodrilidae in the Arabian peninsula as relict taxa inhabiting refuges in hyporheic/groundwater habitats. The presence of an oligochaete fauna with marine phyletic affinities in underground waters already highlighted in Europe now equally applies to the Arabian peninsula with the discovery of the tubificid genera Aktedrilus and Doliodrilus in the underground habitats of Oman. As these genera already are well known from the littoral marine or brackish water with a wide range of salinity, we have additional evidence that the migration of interstitial marine meiobenthic tubificid species through water of decreasing salinity may be a way of colonising the subterranean freshwaters. The present record of Doliodrilus puertoricensis (Limnodriloidinae), previously known from Puerto Rico and Belize in the western Atlantic Ocean, represents a large extension of its known distribution area

Groundwater Oligochaetes from Southern-Europe. I. A new genus and three new species of Rhyacodrilinae (Tubificidae) with a redescription of

Many Oligochaeta were collected during recent investigations in Southern-European caves. This is the first contribution in which some data concerning the Tubificidae are summarized. Three new species of Rhyacodrilinae, including a new genus, are described: Rhyacodrilus omodeoi n. sp., Rhyacodrilus dolcei n. sp., Rhyacodrilus gasparoi n. sp. and Stochidrilus glandulosus n. gen., n. sp. The poorly known species Frearidrilus pescei (Dumnicka 1981, augm. 1987) is redescribed on the basis of new material collected in Slovenian caves; this revision allowed the proposal to ascribe it to the genus Tubifex, considering the monospecific genus Frearidrilus as a junior synonym of Tubifex

Exploring species distribution of spring meiofauna (Annelida, Acari, Crustacea) in the south-eastern Alps

The distribution patterns of Alpine crenic meiofauna were studied using a standardised sampling procedure at 110 springs, evenly distributed across both carbonate and siliceous rocks in Trentino (northern Italy). Spring altitude ranges between 170 and 2800 m a.s.l. One hundred and thirty-eight taxa (mainly identified at species level), belonging to the Annelida (39), freshwater Acari (57), Copepoda (24), and Ostracoda (18) were found in springs of the investigated area. Using Canonical Correspondence Analysis, spatial patterns of meiofaunal assemblages at the regional scale were best explained by altitude, water chemistry (mainly related to geology) and water-flow regime; the role of microhabitat structure and anthropogenic disturbance as environmental descriptors was of minor importance

Exploring species distribution of spring meiofauna (Annelida, Acari, Crustacea) in the south-eastern Alps

The distribution patterns of Alpine crenic meiofauna were studied using a standardised sampling procedure at 110 springs, evenly distributed across both carbonate and siliceous rocks in Trentino (northern Italy). Spring altitude ranges between 170 and 2800 m a.s.l. One hundred and thirty-eight taxa (mainly identified at species level), belonging to the Annelida (39), freshwater Acari (57), Copepoda (24), and Ostracoda (18) were found in springs of the investigated area. Using Canonical Correspondence Analysis, spatial patterns of meiofaunal assemblages at the regional scale were best explained by altitude, water chemistry (mainly related to geology) and water-flow regime; the role of microhabitat structure and anthropogenic disturbance as environmental descriptors was of minor importance

The groundwater oligochaetes (Annelida, Clitellata) of Slovenia

Historical data on the biodiversity of oligochaetes inhabiting ground waters of Slovenia depicted a fauna of 25 species, 19 of which are stygobiotic. Over about the last 35 years, faunistic surveys carried out in Slovenian ground waters has enabled us to conduct extensive studies on the oligochaete fauna of this environment. Three primary sources of information have been integrated to summarize in this paper: a campaign in Slovenian caves conducted by Fabio Stoch, a large collection of groundwater fauna made available to us by Boris Sket, and samples collected during the European project PASCALIS. The data derived from the examination of this large amount of material has enabled us to broaden our knowledge of the oligochaete diversity of Slovenia, increasing the number of species to one hundred, and has allowed us to summarize the biological diversity in Slovenian waters to be a substantial percentage of the known diversity present elsewhere in Europe. Endemic, rare and new species constitute a remarkable proportion of the stygobiotic oligochaete fauna. Among these, species of the genera Trichodrilus, Rhyacodrilus, Rhyacodriloides, Parvidrilus, Epirodrilus and Abyssidrilus are some of the most noteworthy taxa because of their endemicity, range-size, rarity, habitat selection, and/or taxonomic isolation (including phylogenetic relictuality)