Distribution of endemic earthworm species in Turkey (Oligochaeta: Lumbricidae)

Seventy-five earthworm species have so far been found in Turkey. Out of them five species (7%) belong to families Criodrilidae, Megascolecidae and Acanthodrilidae, and 70 species (93%) are from the family Lumbricidae. Twenty-five lumbricid earthworms (33% of all species) are regarded as Anatolian endemics, i.e., endemics of the larger Asiatic part of Turkey. In contrast, no endemic species are known from the much smaller Thrace region (European part of Turkey). As expected, the endemism is not distributed evenly all over the territory; the level of endemic species richness is decreasing from the northern part of Anatolia (16 species, 64% front all endemics), through the Anatolian part of the Marmara region (9 species, 36%), Central Anatolia (4 species, 16%), the Mediterranean region (4 species, 16%), the Aegean region (3 species, 12%), and the eastern Anatolia regions (2 species each, 8% each) up to south-cast Anatolia (no endemic species recorded). However, more detailed investigation is needed because large areas of Turkey have not yet been surveyed properly for earthworms.