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The Caucasus and adjacent areas are inhabited by fifteen species of mayflies of the genus Epeorus, subgenus Caucasiron Kluge, 1997 (Heptageniidae). This identification guide aims to facilitate an accurate species identification of their larvae and sum up all available information on their taxonomy and distribution. An identification key is provided, and the important diagnostic characters of all species are described and illustrated. The larva of E. (C.) insularis (Braasch, 1983) is described for the first time. This study enables the routine identification of Caucasiron larvae necessary for biomonitoring and hydrobiological research in the Caucasus region.

Warming and predation risk are ubiquitous environmental factors that can modify life histories and population dynamics of aquatic ectotherms. While separate responses to each of these factors are well understood, their joint effects on individual life histories and population dynamics remain largely unexplored. Current theory predicts that the magnitude of prey behavioural, physiological, and life history responses to predation risk should diminish with warming due to the reduced metabolic scope. However, empirical support for this prediction remains equivocal, and experiments covering a substantial proportion of individual prey ontogeny until maturation are lacking. To fill these gaps, we ran a laboratory experiment to investigate how warming and non-consumptive predation risk influence life history responses in the larvae of the mayflyCloeon dipterum, an aquatic insect with highly plastic development. We reared larvae of varying initial sizes at three temperatures (21, 24, and 27 degrees C) in a risk-free environment and under predation risk signalled by chemical cues from dragonfly larvae (Aeshna cyanea), and followed their individual survival, growth, and development until emergence. SomeC. dipterumlarvae substantially prolonged their development and the proportion of theseslowindividuals declined rapidly with temperature and increased with predation risk. We attribute this response to cohort splitting, a common life history strategy of aquatic insects and other taxa in unpredictable environment. Growth, development, and maturation varied predictably with temperature in thefastlarvae that did not prolong their development. They grew and developed faster but matured at smaller sizes with increasing temperature. Predation risk tended to slow down individual growth and development in line with the reduced metabolic scope hypothesis, but the differences were relatively minor and observable only at 21 degrees C. Survival to subimago increased with predation risk, possibly due to indirect effects mediated by dissolved micronutrients, but did not vary significantly with temperature. Survival also tended to be higher in theslowindividuals. This partly compensated for a smaller final size relative to thefastindividuals and made both strategies comparable in overall fitness. Our results show that warming may erode individual-level variability in life history responses to predation risk. This implies that warming can synchronise population dynamics and consequently make such populations more vulnerable to unpredictable disturbances.

Despite the fact that native species of amphipods have been recognized as active predators similarly to invasive species, little is known about their predatory impact on aquatic communities. In this study, we used a laboratory experiment, a field enclosure experiment, and an analysis of natural community data to demonstrate how Gammarus fossarum affects the species composition of benthic communities by imposing survival selection on its prey. Our laboratory single-prey experiment brought a clear evidence that tube-less chironomids are vulnerable prey and that the predation rate on the tube-dwelling chironomids decreases with increasing tube toughness (from the soft tubes made of detritus to the hard tubes made of sand or calcium carbonate grains). We found that the introduction of G. fossarum to field enclosures significantly changed the species composition of a macroinvertebrate community at an experimental spring fen site. The soft-bodied, slow moving, and tube-less taxa were depleted the most. It appears that the observed patterns were a result of predator’s preference rather than encounter rate. Survival selection was detected also in natural communities across a large spatial scale. In accordance with the experiments, high densities of G. fossarum limited the proportion or abundance of vulnerable prey. Our study (1) provides the first convincing evidence that biotic interactions have a structuring effect on the spring fen communities, (2) documents how the predatory effect in a community depends on an interplay between the prey handling behaviour of the predator and species-specific susceptibility of prey, and (3) shows that an omnivorous native amphipod may have a strong impact on aquatic communities despite it is regarded less aggressive than its invasive relatives.

Groundwater dependent ecosystems are recognized as biodiversity hotspots, being,apart many negative human impacts, highly threatened also by ongoing climate warming. Clitellata (Annelida) are dominant invertebrates of permanent fauna in spring habitats, representing a heterogeneous group including both specialized cold stenothermic and ubiquitous eurythermic species. Therefore, they seem to be a good model group to compare the effects of local spring water temperature (recorded in situ by data loggers) and mesoclimate (i.e., local) air temperature. By the analysis of clitellate assemblages at 41 isolated Western Carpathian spring fens, we found that their species composition was significantly driven by mesoclimate air temperature and springwater temperature independently of other important environmentalvariables (i.e., water mineralization, oxygen content, and total organic carbon). Theeffect of various environment related and temperature related variables on thenumber of clitellate species was analyzed separately for two categories, that is,substrate dwellers (endobenthic species) and surface active (epibenthic) species. The decrease of the number of species with the increasing amount of inorganic particles in substrate was observed in the substrate dwellers. Mesoclimate air temperature had no significant effect on the number of species of substrate dwellers.However, water temperature, specifically its daily fluctuation, turned out to have a strong effect. Only the sites with no or moderate fluctuation were inhabited by cold stenotherm spring specialists and cold water species. In contrast, no significant response to any temperature parameter was found for the number of surface active species, which was driven only by other environmental variables. Our results suggest that climatically induced increase in temperature fluctuation of spring waters can result in notable reduction of cold adapted clitellate species (mainly the family Lumbriculidae) at the expense of eurythermic species. Such a scenario predicts compositional changes leading to clitellate assemblages with a dominance ofgeneralist and semiaquatic species.

Surface coal mining severely affects natural ecosystems, though it might also result in an establishment of biologically unique anthropogenic habitats. We studied spontaneously created post-mining calcareous brooks located at the brown coal spoil heap in the Sokolov coal basin (Czechia). Despite their extreme water conditions, linked most to the ionic mixture of dissolved ions (mainly SO 4 2− , Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ ), and ferric hydroxide precipitations, we recorded unexpectedly species-rich assemblages there (150 species), including several spring fen specialists (31 species) and eight threatened red-listed species. Macroinvertebrate assemblages of post-mining calcareous habitats were compared with those reported from natural brooks draining Western Carpathians calcareous spring fens. The species richness found in the post-mining calcareous brooks was significantly lower than that of the natural calcareous spring brooks. Although we found 29% of species recorded in the two study systems in common (i.e. 80 species), species composition of their assemblages was systematically distinct. This suggests a possible role of environmental filtering in the post-mining brooks and/or dispersal limitation of some species typical for natural calcareous spring brooks (e.g. Trichodrilus strandi , Bythinella austriaca ). In contrast, many macroinvertebrates, particularly those of high dispersal capacities (i.e. Odonata, Coleoptera and Diptera), can recognize post-mining calcareous brooks as surrogate habitats for the natural calcareous spring brooks.

Studies on testate amoeba species distribution at small scales (i.e., single peatland sites) are rare and mostly focus on bogs or mineral-poor Sphagnum fens, leaving spatial patterns within mineral-rich fens completely unexplored. In this study, two mineral-rich fen sites of contrasting groundwater chemistry and moss layer composition were selected for the analysis of testate amoeba compositional variance within a single site. At each study site, samples from 20 randomly chosen moss-dominated plots were collected with several environmental variables being measured at each sampling spot. We also distinguished between empty shells and living individuals to evaluate the effect of empty shell inclusion on recorded species distribution. At the heterogeneous-rich Sphagnum-fen, a clear composition turnover in testate amoebae between Sphagnum-dominated and brown moss-dominated samples was closely related to water pH, temperature and redox potential. We also found notable species composition variance within the homogeneous calcareous fen, yet it was not as high as for the former site and the likely drivers of community assembly remained unidentified. The exclusion of empty shells provided more accurate data on species distribution as well as their relationship with some environmental variables, particularly moisture. Small-scale variability in species composition of communities seems to be a worthwhile aspect in testate amoeba research and should be considered in future sampling strategies along with a possible empty shell bias for more precise understanding of testate amoeba ecology and paleoecology.

An initial checklist of mayflies (Ephemeroptera) of Iran is compiled based on critical review of available literature data, complemented with new data from 38 localities of Gilan and Ardabil provinces. At present, altogether only 46 species and 25 genera are known from Iran, 18 species are reported as new to Iran in this study. Some previously published data are critically evaluated and doubtful taxa are excluded from the list. Basic analysis of the distribution and biogeography of recorded species is given. Procloeon (Pseudocentroptilum) caspicum Sroka,sp. n.is described based on mature larva and egg. Critical differential diagnostic characters distinguishing the species from related taxa are discussed in detail.

The present contribution gives a faunistic overview on the distribution of Caenidae in Iran. Four species have so far been reported, of which Caenis macrura Stephens, 1835 by far is the most abundant and most widely spread species. Caenis kopetdagi Kluge, 1985 was previously only known from three localities in the Kopet Dag Mountain range, which stretches along the border between Turkmenistan and Iran. We report this species from three further localities at the western border of the Zagros Mountains in southwest Iran, thus considerably expanding its distribution. The nymph of Caenis kopetdagi is re-described, its validity is confirmed, and modern diagnostic characters are added. Its CO1 sequence is provided and compared with sequences of other species of Caenis Stephens, 1835 occurring in the Middle East. The habitat of C. kopetdagi as well as the distribution of Caenidae in Iran and of Caenis in the Middle East is also discussed.

Combining morphological and molecular data in an integrative approach, three new mayfly species of Epeorus (Caucasiron) are described. These include Epeorus (Caucasiron) alborzicus Hrivniak & Sroka, sp. nov. and Epeorus (Caucasiron) shargi Hrivniak & Sroka, sp. nov. from northern Iran, and Epeorus (Caucasiron) zagrosicus Hrivniak & Sroka, sp. nov. from central Iran. They are unambiguously delimited using both distance-based and likelihood-based approaches in the analyses of barcode COI sequences. Each new species is compared with other species of the subgenus and morphological diagnostic characters are provided. Based on extensive sampling of streams throughout the country, the distribution and habitat preferences of all Caucasiron species in Iran are assessed. Altogether, there are now six species recorded, among them also E. (C.) nigripilosus Sinitshenkova, 1976 is reported for the first time in Iran. Five species are distributed in the Alborz Mts. in northern Iran, one species was found in the Zagros Mts. in central Iran.

Larval growth and maturation in aquatic insects are phenotypically plastic and can change in response to the amount and quality of resources, or under predation risk. While better food conditions typically lead to faster growth and earlier maturation at larger body size and hence higher fecundity, the effects of predation risk can vary depending on its strength and selectivity with respect to size or stage. Studies on lotic mayflies (Ephemeroptera) have reported two direct and two indirect life history responses to increased predation risk: slower growth rate and later maturation at the same or smaller size, and faster or unaltered growth rate and earlier maturation at smaller body size. However, life history responses of standing water mayflies to predation risk are unknown. To fill this gap, we carried out a full-factorial laboratory experiment to study the influence of food availability (full/reduced) and predation risk (present/absent predator cues) by dragonfly larvae on growth and maturation of larvae of the lentic mayfly Cloeon dipterum. Males and females responded similarly to food limitation and predation risk. Predation risk had no effect on maturation size, larval mortality and metamorphic failure. However, growth rate, number of moults and development time were all affected by predation risk, and its net effect was modified by food availability and initial body size of the larvae. These results suggest that life history responses to suboptimal conditions depend on body size at the onset of such conditions. Finally, a small group of larvae grew at much slower rates and developed much longer than other individuals of similar initial size, possibly due to bet-hedging or inclusion of multiple genotypes in the experiment.

A common hypothesis for the high biodiversity of mountains is the diversification driven by orogeny creating conditions for rapid in situ speciation of resident lineages. The Caucasus is a young mountain system considered as a biodiversity hotspot; however, the origin and evolution of its diversity remain poorly understood. This study focuses on mayflies of the subgenus Caucasiron, one of the most diversified stenotopic mayflies inhabiting various types of streams throughout the Caucasus. Using the time-calibrated phylogeny based on two mitochondrial (COI, 16S) and three nuclear (EF-1α, wg, 28S) gene fragments, we tested the role of Caucasian orogeny in biogeography, diversification patterns, and altitudinal diversification of Caucasiron mayflies. We found that orogeny promoted the lineage diversification of Caucasiron in the Miocene. The highest diversification rate corresponding with the uplift of mountains was followed by a significant slowdown towards the present suggesting minor influence of Pleistocene climatic oscillations on the speciation. The Caucasiron lineages cluster into three principal clades originating in the Upper Miocene. We found a strong support that one of the three clades diversified via allopatric speciation in the Greater Caucasus isolated in the Parathetys Sea. The other two clades originating most likely outside the Greater Caucasus diversified towards high and low altitude, respectively, indicating possible role of climatic factors and/or passive uplift on their differentiation. Current high Caucasiron diversity in the Greater Caucasus is a result of in situ speciation and later immigration from adjacent mountain ranges after the Parathetys Sea retreat. Our phylogeny supported the monophyly of Rhithrogeninae, Epeorus s.l., Caucasiron, and Iron. Epeorus subgenus Ironopsis was found paraphyletic, with its European representatives more closely related to Epeorus s.str. than to Iron. Therefore, we re-arranged taxa treated within Ironopsis to comply with the phylogeny recovered herein.

Two new species of the mayfly family Oligoneuriidae are described based on larval specimens recently collected in Iran. The first new species, Oligoneuriella tuberculata Godunko & Staniczek, sp. nov., can be distinguished from all its congeners by the presence of pronounced protuberances posteromedially on abdominal terga, highly reduced paracercus, large lamella of gill I, and setation on hind margin of middle and hind femora confined to their basal halves. The second species, Oligoneuriopsis villosus Bojková, Godunko, & Staniczek, sp. nov., remarkably belongs to a mostly Afrotropical genus. The new species clearly differs from all its congeners in the shape of setae on the surface of gills and terga, pattern of body colouration, and the shape of posterolateral projections of abdominal segments. Except for the species description, the generic diagnosis of Oligoneuriopsis Crass, 1947 is briefly discussed. COI barcode sequences of both new species are provided and molecular species delimitation is tested using distance-based and likelihood-based approaches, with both new species unambiguously recognised as separate lineages. The analysis of COI also corroborates the respective affinities of both new species, estimated based on morphology. The two new species of Oligoneuriidae described herein highlight the importance of the Middle East as a centre of diversity of this mayfly family within the Palaearctic.

The response of planktonic (phytoplankton, ciliates, rotifers and crustaceans) and littoral (Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera and Heteroptera: Nepomorpha) assemblages to chemical recovery was studied over a twelve-year period (1999–2011) in eight glacial lakes in the Bohemian Forest (central Europe). The region suffered from high atmospheric pollution from the 1950s to the late 1980s, but has since been recovering from acidification due to 86% and 44% decrease in sulphur and nitrogen deposition, respectively, during the 1990s–2000s. Despite the rapid improvement in water chemistry of all the eight studied lakes, only four have partly recovered so far (low-aluminium lakes), while the other four lakes still remain strongly acidic (high-aluminium lakes). Although biotic responses (especially in the low-Al lakes) showed important signs of recovery, such as reappearance of some indigenous or acid-sensitive species, decline in eurytopic acid-tolerant species and colonisation by vagile species, the assemblages of all the lakes still suffer from acid stress. Our results also indicate an increasing role of biotic interactions between colonisers and residents leading to the reconstruction of aquatic food webs in the low-Al lakes.

The effect of environment and species dispersal limitations may both significantly affect the structure of ecological metacommunities but there have been a relatively few attempts to separate their effects in aquatic assemblages. In this paper, we tested the relative importance of environment and space on the ostracod assemblages on a regional scale (encompassing ca 15,800 km2) in 74 permanent helocrene springs. We used Canonical Correspondence Analysis and Variation Partitioning to test the unique and shared effects of environment and space, represented by Principal Coordinates of Neighbor Matrices. We found that ostracod assemblages were significantly influenced by environment (mainly the mineral content and TOC) and space (roughly the west-east direction); the shared effect was relatively low. A unique effect of space was found for both species strongly associated with spring habitats and for euryoecious species found in the springs. We suggest that the passive dispersal in ostracods is random and infrequent between the isolated spring fens and produces spatially structured assemblages.

1. Large-scale and intensive human activities have caused widespread and profound changes in the diversity and structure of biological communities. Historical or long-term data are an important tool for the quantification and understanding of temporal changes. A comparison of Ephemeroptera collected at 60 streams in the Morava and Odra river basins in two periods, 1955–1960 and 2006–2011, enabled an estimate of changes in their assemblages induced by various human pressures to be made. 2. The taxonomic composition of mayfly assemblages was substantially dissimilar between the two periods, although the changes were not associated with a decline in regional or local diversity. Only lowland rivers lost several of their original species, mostly habitat specialists. Species replacement, a leading driver of dissimilarity, caused shifts towards more simplified, less specialized assemblages in large rivers, and towards more pollutionand siltation-tolerant assemblages in small rivers. The increase in cold-water specialists and a stable share of generalists suggested the maintenance of a certain level of specialization in the assemblages of brooks. 3. The most marked change in the assemblage was associated with the impaired or bad water quality of rivers in the 1950s, which persisted or further deteriorated in the ensuing decades. Assemblages that were influenced by a slight deterioration or improvement in water quality were less altered, unless affected by other pressures (such as channel or discharge modifications). 4. The results indicate that the causes of changes in the assemblages are many and complex, although heavy pollution overrides other influences. Direct habitat loss or their degradation by siltation appear to be leading contributors to changes in assemblages. The results imply the need for the application of a catchment-scale perspective for the restoration of streams and the conservation of the remaining well-preserved stretches of lowland rivers.

This study provides new information on beta diversity (variation in species composition across space) of three invertebrate groups (Clitellata, Plecoptera, and Chironomidae) on a small, within-site spatial scale. It was conducted at small-sized spring fens where two contrasting mesohabitats, a flowing-water and a standing-water, can be clearly distinguished. Besides flow conditions, these habitats differed in the amounts of inorganic substratum and dissolved oxygen. Factors related to flow conditions (dissolved oxygen and water temperature) influenced the composition of the studied assemblages at both mesohabitats, while substratum features were important at the standing-water habitat. The water chemistry was important for Clitellata at both mesohabitats and for Chironomidae at the flowing-water. Using a new approach of disentangling beta diversity into two components (species replacement and species richness differences), clear difference in beta diversity patterns among the three assemblages were found, despite their roughly equal total beta diversities. Variation in species composition of those assemblages strongly limited by flow conditions (Plecoptera and partly Clitellata) was induced by differences in species richness, while replacement governed the variation in species rich assemblages that were able to utilise a wide range of conditions (Chironomidae and partly Clitellata). These results indicate that the size of species pool and the level of environmental filtering play an important role in forming beta diversity patterns, and caution that the same amount of beta diversity can be promoted by essentially different mechanisms, even at a very fine spatial scale with no involvement of dispersal limitations. (C) 2014 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

We examined the associations of microorganism assemblages with a complete mineral richness gradient spanning from extremely mineral-rich tufa-forming calcareous fens to mineral-poor acidic Sphagnum -fens. We also compared the distribution of two dominant taxa, testate amoebae and monogonont rotifers, among the sites differing in water chemistry and among three microhabitats sampled at each site differing in substrate and moisture conditions. Microorganism assemblages primarily changed in relation to the mineral richness gradient; moisture was the second most important factor structuring microorganism assemblages among microhabitats (i.e. , wet bryophytes, submerged bryophytes and waterlogged bottom sediments). Densities of testate amoebae taxa and individuals were the highest in rich Sphagnum -fens, indicating a unimodal pattern along the mineral richness gradient. Numbers of testate amoebae taxa decreased notably in wet bryophytes, especially in poor Sphagnum -fens. This pattern might result from a strong effect of Sphagnum acidification due to minimal or no dilution of the acidic environment by mineral-rich groundwater. As a consequence, acid tolerant and relatively xerophilous taxa chiefly dominated in wet bryophytes of poor Sphagnum -fens, while poor Sphagnum -fen bottom sediments could provide a refuge for less tolerant and hydrophilous species. In contrast to testate amoebae, monogonont rotifers preferred bryophytes in all sites, with the number of monogonont taxa distinctly increasing from calcareous fens to poor Sphagnum -fens. In poor Sphagnum -fens, monogononts were the most abundant in wet bryophytes, probably due to reduced food competition and/or predaceous pressure resulting from the limited occurrence of other groups of microorganisms by virtue of the hostile acidic conditions in wet Sphagnum carpets.

Water chemistry is known to be one of the most important factors controlling species composition of many macro-organisms in wetlands. It is unclear to what extent micro-organisms respond to water chemistry as compared to chemistry-mediated substratum structure. We explored how the assemblages of different groups of micro-organisms in bryophyte tufts of spring-fens were determined by water chemistry and substratum structure. The aim was to compare unicellular autotrophic diatoms, unicellular heterotrophic testate amoebae and multicellular heterotrophic monogonont rotifers. Assemblages of all three groups showed a strong compositional gradient correlated with water pH and conductivity, calcium concentration and dominance of Sphagnum. While a second strong gradient in species composition of diatoms and testate amoebae was explained by factors such as substratum structure and water content, that of rotifers remained unexplained. Unlike the other two groups, testate amoeba assemblages were significantly determined by phosphates. Nitrates and iron were important species composition determinants for diatoms. Rotifers differed from the other groups in that they did not respond significantly to silica, iron or nutrients. When variation caused by substratum characteristics and water chemistry were partitioned out, testate amoebae were controlled more by substratum, while rotifers and diatoms were controlled more by water chemistry. Variation explained by individual effects of substratum or water chemistry, as compared to shared effects, was much lower for rotifers than for testate amoebae and diatoms. Our results show that, in semi-terrestrial ecosystems, pH and calcium concentrations are generally the main drivers of variation in species composition of unicellular and multicellular microorganisms, mirroring well described patterns for macro-organisms, providing support for general ecological hypotheses. Other water chemistry variables differed between shell-forming and other organisms, and between autotrophic and heterotrophic organisms. Even though water chemistry variables controlled the structure of the bryophyte tufts that acted as substratum for the micro-organisms, both water chemistry and bryophyte structure effects were independently significant for diatoms and testate amoebae. On the other hand, no effects of either substratum characteristics or water chemistry were found for rotifers. This was because their species composition is not influenced by chemical factors, apart from pH and calcium, which both strongly influence the occurrence of Sphagnum

The collections of E. Křelinova (78 species: 16,637 imagines, 13,661 larvae) and J. Rauser (66 species: 4590 imagines, 395 slides of exuviae) sampled at more than 750 sites in 1947–1965 represent one of the most complex stonefly materials in Central Europe. However, these collections remained untreated for more than 40 years and only limited or fragmentary data have been published. Recently, a substantial part of the samples has been redetermined or revised, relocalised using GIS, relabelled and data transferred to a common database. Misidentifications mostly arising from taxonomic changes after 1960 are discussed. Some species, contrary to existing literature data, thus are not reliably documented in the Czech Republic (Oemopteryx loewii, Nemoura erratica, N. fulviceps, Protonemura nimborella, Leuctra carinthiaca, L. handlirschi, L. teriolensis), some others (Chloroperla susemicheli, Siphonoperla burmeisteri, Brachyptera starmachi, Leuctra cingulata, L. pusilla, L. dalmoni) actually represent the first r...

Species composition changes along the pH and calcium gradients within wetlands were frequently studied for different groups of organisms, but few data are available for algae. Here we list 188 diatom taxa collected as epibryon and epipelon at 13 spring fens in the Western Carpathians distributed along the gradient of mineral richness. Species richness decreased along the gradient from calcareous fens to mineral-poor Sphagnum-fens. In agreement with fen typology based on higher plants, bryophytes, and molluscs, the same four fen types were identified. For each spring-fen type indicator diatom species were suggested. Conductivity and pH appeared to be the most important environmental factors responsible for the variation in diatom species data.

The first records of Leuctra geniculata Stephens, 1836 in the north-eastern border of its area (the Czech Republic) are presented and an overview of references, synonyms and distribution of the species is given. The ecological preferences of the species, supported by chemical and hydromorphological parameters, are defined. Probable dissemination paths into the Czech Republic and the supposed life cycle of the species are discussed. Photographs of morphological characters, SEM photos of eggs, associated macroinvertebrate assemblages (EPT taxa) and maps of distribution are included.

To date, no mayflies have been described from Cape Verde, an archipelago of volcanic islands in the Atlantic Ocean. Based on the material collected on two islands, Santo Antao and Santiago, two species of the genus Cloeon Leach, 1815 (Ephemeroptera: Baetidae) are described based on larvae and imagines. Cloeon morna sp. n., collected in Santo Antao, and C. sidadi sp. n., collected in Santiago, have 3-segmented maxillary palps and tapered labial palps of larvae. The new species can be distinguished from each other and from other West-African species of the genus mainly according to details of the lateral spines on larval abdominal segments and characteristic colourations of vitta and terga in female imagines and colours of male turbinate eyes. Affinities to the West African species of the genus are discussed.

This study contributes to the knowledge of central European clitellates by creating a check-list of Oligochaeta (sensu oligochaetous Clitellata; Erseus 2005) of the Czech Republic, exclusive of taxa in the family Enchytraeidae. In total, 95 aquatic oligochaete species representing 43 genera are reported for the Czech Republic. Rare species are highlighted and associated with the categories for threatened species as outlined by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. The first records of Trichodrilus strandi Hrabě, 1936, Pristina jenkinae (Stephenson, 1931), Pristina osborni (Walton, 1906), Rhyacodrilus subterraneus Hrabě, 1963, Aulodrilus limnobius Bretscher, 1899, and Aulodrilus pigueti Kowalewski, 1914 in the Czech Republic are presented. Their ecology, morphology, and distribution are discussed.