| 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... |
