New Records of Twelve species of Oligochaeta (Naididae and Aeolosomatidae) from the Southern Iraqi Marshes, Iraq

Oligochaete worms were collected from 4 sites at Al-Swaib marshes, southern Iraq, during October 2010 to March 2011. A total of one aeolosomatid species (Aeolosoma leidyi Cragin, 1887) and 11 naidid species (Pristina sima (Marcus, 1944), Pristina osborni (Walton, 1906), Dero (Aulophorus) furcatus (Müller, 1773), Dero (Dero) digitata (Müller, 1773), Dero (Dero) nivea Aiyer, 1929, Slavina appendiculata ďUdekem, 1855, Nais pardalis Piguet, 1906, Nais variabilis Piguet, 1906, Nais communis Piguet, 1906, Allonais gwaliorensis (Stephenson, 1920), Allonais pectinata(Stephenson, 1910) were recorded for the first time from Iraq. The results indicate that there is high number of species of oligochaetes in the Iraqi limnic environment, in which these species are finding the favorable conditions for live