Ehrenberg, 1831
Type species Pristina longiseta Ehrenberg, 1831
Number of species at least 15. Two species known from NWE:
Pristina aequiseta Bourne, 1891
Pristina longiseta Ehrenberg, 1831
Description
Small transparent worms. Prostomium with proboscis. No eyes. Dorsal bundles beginning from II, consisting of hair chaetae and needle chaetae. In mature individuals, male pores in VIII. Genital chaetae can occur. Presence of a proboscis is the only external difference from the closely related genus Pristinella Brinkhurst, 1985. Recently, Collado and Schmelz, 2000 have fused these two genera again.
Distribution
Cosmopolitan.
Ecology
In freshwater, particularly among macrovegetation.
Reproduction
Mostly asexual, by paratomy (budding). Mature individuals and sexual reproduction rare or seasonal.
Literature
Ehrenberg, 1831: 112; Sperber, 1948: 209; Brinkhurst and Jamieson, 1971: 389-390; Chekanovskaya, 1981: 264-265; Hrabe, 1981: 59; Kasprzak, 1981: 96; Collado and Schmelz, 2000: 509-516.