KOREASCHOLAR

The bdelloids collected from various terrestrial habitats such as mosses, lichens, mushrooms on tree trunks, leaf litter and soil at four different locations in Korea were investigated. Five bdelloids new to Korea were identified: Macrotrachella inermis Donner, 1965, Macrotrachela magna Schulte, 1954, Macrotrachela oblita Donner, 1949, Habrotrocha eremita (Bryce, 1894) and Habrotrocha schultei Donner, 1965. All these rotifers except M. inermis are new to Asia as well. Remarkably, these five Korean new records included four rare species with poorly known distributions. M. magna and H. schultei are recorded outside their type localities for the first time. M. oblita has been reported only from five European countries, and M. inermis has been known from three European countries and Eastern Turkey before the present study. The taxonomy and distribution of each rare bdelloid are discussed here.

• Min Ok Song(Department of Biology, Gangneung-Wonju National University) Corresponding author