An Annotated Checklist of the Main Representatives of Meiobenthos from Inland Water Bodies of Central and Southern Vietnam—II—Annelid Worms (Oligochaeta and Aeolosomatidae)

Abstract

This work continues a series of publications on the diversity of the main groups of invertebrates found through the investigation of meiobenthic communities in various inland waterbodies in central and southern Vietnam. Here, a checklist of oligochaetes and aeolosomatids (the annelid worms) discovered for the period 2010–2021 is presented, as well as data on the structure and abundance of their populations found in the country, ecology, local and global distribution, and, where necessary, taxonomic, morphological and other comments. In total, 71 representatives of the species and supra–species ranks from 3 families and 17 genera are listed. In total, 39 representatives were identified to the species level. During the present research, 2 species new to science were discovered and described in previously published works. This paper reports 9 more forms that need further study and may belong to still undescribed species. In addition to the new and still-unidentified species, the checklist reports about 30 more members of species and supra–species ranks that were recorded in Vietnam for the first time. Based on new and previously published data, the currently known diversity of aquatic oligochaetes and aeolosomatids in Vietnam is estimated at approximately 100–113 and 8–9 representatives, respectively. It is shown that members of the family Enchytraeidae remain practically unexplored in the waterbodies of the region. The subfamily Tubificinae and the family Aeolosomatidae also continue to be relatively poorly studied here at the species level.