Terrestrial earthworms (Oligochaeta) from Singapore

Abstract

In 2003, we conducted a field survey of terrestrial earthworms of the island of Singapore, and also examined the earthworm collections preserved in the Zoological Reference Collection (ZRC) of the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, National University of Singapore. This paper describes a new species Glyphidrilus singaporensis, and adds four new records, Glyphidrilus horsti Stephenson, 1930, Amynthas gracilis (Kinberg, 1866), Amynthas minimus (Horst, 1893), and Polypheretima taprobanae (Beddard, 1892), and three unidentifiable Drawida species to Singapore's earthworm fauna. These make a total of 19 species of terrestrial earthworms that are now known from the island. In our survey, pheretimoid earthworms made up about half of the total number of the species, while the exotic Pontoscolex corethrurus (Müller, 1856) was the most dominant species. A key to terrestrial earthworm species from Singapore is included. The opportunity is also taken here to describe a new species from the Malay Peninsula, Glyphidrilus gatesi, based on preserved specimens in the historical collections of the ZRC. © National University of Singapore.