Abstrakt

Range Extension of Endangered Earthworm Eel Pillaia indica Yazdani, 1972 (Synbranchiformes: Chaudhuriidae) from West Bengal, India

Muthukumarasamy Arunachalam, Manickam Raja, Subramaniyam Nandagopa, Chinnian Vijayakumar, Punniyam Malaiamma, and Showket Ahmad Bhat

Pillaia indica Yazdani 1972, was described from Khasi hills of Meghalaya state, India and the distributional range is restricted to less than 10 km2 and based on that it was concluded that it is a biogeographic relict confined to a very small geographic location. However, in a recent survey we collected 10 specimens from Darjeeling district, West Bengal indicated that this species is widely distributed and the sampling needs skill as these species dwell inside the exposed roots of riparian canopy along the streams.