Michaelsen, 1920
Type genus Criodrilus Hoffmeister, 1845
Number of species 1 or 2, of one genus. In NWE one species:
Criodrilus lacuum Hoffmeister, 1845
Description
Earthworm-like, thick oligochaetes, with dark pigmentation anteriorly. Anus dorsal. Chaetae two per bundle, sigmoid. Male pores as transversal slits in XV or 14/15, in mature individuals sitting on very large glandular porophores. Clitellum annular, with inconspicuous borders. No tubercula pubertatis. Small female pores in 14/15. Several ventral chaetae between IX and XXIII can be modified as genital chaetae. Spermatophores can be attached to body wall near genital pores after copulation. Oesophagus with thickened musculature in V-VI(VII). Testes in X and XI, ovaries in XIII. Differing from the lumbricids and from Sparganophilus, in the anterior position of clitellum, covering also male pores in XV.
Burrowing in sediment.
Distribution
Europe and the Near East.
Ecology
In freshwater.
Reproduction
Sexual only. Eggs laid in cocoons.
Literature
Hoffmeister, 1845: 41; Michaelsen, 1920: 141; Jamieson, 1971: 803; Chekanovskaya, 1981: 486.