Earthworms of Malta (Annelida: Clitellata: Acanthodrilidae, Hormogastridae, Lumbricidae)

Abstract

The oldest museum specimens of earthworms from Malta are two adult lumbricids collected in 1878 by Enrico Hillyer Giglioli, then director of the Royal Zoological Museum in Florence, during the cruise of the R. Goletta Olga in the Mediterranean islands. The material, still preserved in Florence (S. Cianfanelli, in litteris), was determined by Baldasseroni (1907) who assigned it to Octolasium transpadanum Rosa, 1884. This remained the only species reported from Malta in the literature for over one century (Michaelsen 1908; Pop 1948; Rota 2013), until Csuzdi & Sciberras (2014) published a note listing another five lumbricid species and a juvenile hormogastrid. The present paper reports on collections made during 1983–1985 and in 2015, yielding six additional new records for the area.