Claparède, 1862
Type species Limnodrilus hoffmeisteri Claparède, 1862
Number of species 16. NWE, six species:
Limnodrilus cervix Brinkhurst, 1963
Limnodrilus claparedeanus Ratzel, 1868
Limnodrilus hoffmeisteri Claparède, 1862
Limnodrilus maumeensis Brinkhurst and Cook, 1966
Limnodrilus profundicola (Verrill, 1871 in Smith and Verrill, 1871)
Limnodrilus udekemianus Claparède, 1862
Description
Smooth red or darkly pigmented tubificids, often large; with bifid crotchets only. Teeth of the latter of about equal length, or upper tooth longer in anteriormost segments. No modified genital chaetae. No ventral chaetae in XI; in their place, cylindrical penial sheaths of different length inside body. Distinct beginning of chloragogen tissue on oesophagus, either in V or VI. No coelomocytes. Differing from the other tubificid genera, besides the anatomy of reproductive system (including characteristic penial sheaths), in their tough body with low intersegmental furrows and prolonged segments, particularly in tail region.
Burrowing in sediment.
Distribution
Cosmopolitan.
Ecology
In freshwater. Some species tolerant of pollution and high temperatures.
Reproduction
Sexual only. Eggs laid in cocoons.
Literature
Claparède, 1862: 221; Brinkhurst and Jamieson, 1971: 463-464; Chekanovskaya, 1981: 308-309; Hrabe, 1981: 96; Kasprzak, 1981: 175-176.