Vejdovsky, 1884b
Type genus Lumbriculus Grube, 1844
Number of species 168. Nine genera with 31 species known from NWE:
Bichaeta sanguinea Bretscher, 1900b
Eclipidrilus lacustris (Verrill in Smith and Verrill, 1871)
Guestphalinus wiardi (Michaelsen, 1933)
Lamprodrilus isoporus Michaelsen, 1901b
Lamprodrilus mrazeki Hrabe, 1929b
Lumbriculus variegatus (Müller, 1774)
Rhynchelmis limosella Hoffmeister, 1843
Rhynchelmis paraolchonensis Giani and Martinez-Ansemil, 1984
Rhynchelmis tetratheca Michaelsen, 1920
Stylodrilus absoloni (Hrabe, 1970)
Stylodrilus brachystylus Hrabe, 1929a
Stylodrilus heringianus Claparède, 1862
Stylodrilus lemani (Grube, 1879)
Stylodrilus parvus (Hrabe and Cernosvitov, 1927)
Tatriella slovenica Hrabe, 1939
Trichodrilus allobrogum Claparède, 1862
Trichodrilus bonheurensis Giani and Rodriguez, 1994
Trichodrilus cantabrigiensis (Beddard, 1908)
Trichodrilus cernosvitovi Hrabe, 1937a
Trichodrilus claparedei Hrabe, 1938
Trichodrilus diversisetosus Rodriguez and Giani, 1986
Trichodrilus intermedius (Fauvel, 1903)
Trichodrilus hrabei Cook, 1967
Trichodrilus leruthi Hrabe, 1937a
Trichodrilus macroporophorus Hrabe, 1954
Trichodrilus medius Hrabe, 1960
Trichodrilus moravicus Hrabe, 1938
Trichodrilus pragensis Vejdovsky, 1876a
Trichodrilus strandi Hrabe, 1936b
Trichodrilus tatrensis Hrabe, 1937a
Trichodrilus tenuis Hrabe, 1960
Jump to the Text Key of this family Page 151: Family Lumbriculidae.
Description
Small to large aquatic oligochaetes. Chaetae two per bundle (very seldom absent), sigmoid with nodulus, either simple-pointed or with shorter upper tooth. Male ducts prosoporous: the single or the second pair of testes lie in atrial segment. One pair of atria (seldom two or more pairs in neighbouring segments, or one unpaired atrium) most often in X. Ovaries usually in the first postatrial segment; spermathecae, in variable numbers, can lie both in preatrial and postatrial segments. Clitellum covers several segments, among them the one with male pores. The family is well characterized by presence of prosoporous male ducts. However, as male ducts of similar type occur also in the otherwise very modified groups of Branchiobdellidae and Hirudinea, the Lumbriculidae may be treated as ancestors of these carnivorous taxa, hence as a paraphyletic taxon.
Burrowing in sediment. Some species able to swim short distances.
Distribution
Holarctic, particularly diverse in Lake Baikal; single introductions to the Southern Hemisphere.
Ecology
In freshwater, mostly preferring cool oxygen-rich habitats, including groundwater.
Reproduction
Mostly sexual only, with eggs laid in cocoons. Architomy (fragmentation) in some species.
Literature
Vejdovsky, 1884b: 16, 50; Grube, 1844: 207; Michaelsen, 1930: 416-418; Cook, 1968: 273-279, Figs 1-2; Cook, 1971a: 200-202; Chekanovskaya, 1981: 407-412, Fig. 205; Hrabe, 1981: 98-99; Kasprzak, 1981: 186-188.