Résumé
A review of the megadrile earthworm species belonging to Crassiclitellata and Moniligastridae was performed for the seven Central American countries: Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. The literature was reviewed, and all records of the species obtained, and the geographic coordinates were estimated for the sampling localities as best as possible, when not provided by the original authors.
A total of 95 species and subspecies (67 native and 28 exotic) belonging to 11 earthworm families (Acanthodrilidae, Almidae, Benhamiidae, Eudrilidae, Glossoscolecidae, Lumbricidae, Megascolecidae, Moniligastridae, Ocnerodrilidae, Rhinodrilidae and Sparganophilidae) were found in the region. Four families (Acanthodrilidae, Benhamiidae, Megascolecidae and Rhinodrilidae) were widely distributed, and exotic species were found in all countries, predominating in many disturbed land uses, with only one cosmopolitan invasive species (Pontoscolex corethrurus) being found in all countries. Most of the species encountered belonged to the Acanthodrilidae (21 native spp.), and Benhamiidae (16 native, 5 exotic spp.) families, followed by the Rhinodrilidae (10 native, one exotic spp.), and Ocnerodrilidae (8 native, two exotic spp.) families.
A large number (81) of species, particularly native ones (61) were found in only one or a few locations, confirming a high endemism rate (91%) already reported for native earthworms by other authors. Panama (33 spp.), Guatemala (31 spp.) and Costa Rica (29 spp.) stood out as the most biodiverse, while Nicaragua (20 spp.) showed a significant increase in species richness after recent sampling efforts. Despite some progress, recent years have been marked by stagnation in the description of new species, highlighting the lack of studies and taxonomic expertise.
The current study was developed as part of the first author's Master's thesis in Ecology and Evolution at the Federal University of Maranhão (UFMA), in São Luís, MA, Brazil, under the supervision of Guillaume Rousseau. The paper associated with this datafile was submitted as a manuscript to the journal Zootaxa.
The associated datasheet contains three tabs:
Readme, with the associated manuscript information;
Legend, with the definition of the titles and abbreviations used for the columns in the main datasheet (Distribution); and
Distribution, with the information on the family, species, authorities, sampling locations and dates, estimated geographic coordinated (latitude and longitude), the land use at the site, the origin of the species (if native or exotic), and the bibliographic citation of the reference reporting the species.