Bretscher, 1900a
Description
Smooth transparent worms. No eyes. Dorsal bundles beginning from II or VI in developing hind zooid, but from XVIII-XX in the first zooid. In each dorsal bundle one short (105-160 µm) hair chaeta and one bifid crotchet (72-112 µm) with 1.5 times longer upper tooth. Ventral chaetae by 2-4, in II-XVI, 103-117 µm long, with upper tooth longer, further rearward shorter, more curved, with upper tooth shorter. In mature individuals bifid penial chaetae, by 1-3. Length 5-20 mm, segment number in zooids 31-36, in single individuals 40-60. Easily distinguishable from all other naidids by its chaetal apparatus.
Crawling on substratum.
Distribution
Almost cosmopolitan.
Ecology
In freshwater, mostly in lakes and ponds with rich vegetation, seldom.
Reproduction
Mostly asexual, by paratomy (budding). Mature individuals and sexual reproduction rare or seasonal.
Literature
Bretscher, 1900a: 16-18; Sperber, 1948: 154-155, Figs 18C, 27B; Sperber, 1950: 70, Fig. 21; Brinkhurst and Jamieson, 1971: 356, Fig. 7.11M-P; Chekanovskaya, 1981: 243-244, Fig. 110; Hrabe, 1981: 53-54, Pl. 8 Figs 17-19; Kasprzak, 1981: 105, Figs 247-253.