Michaelsen, 1920
Type genus Sparganophilus Benham, 1892
Number of species 12, of two genera. In NWE, one species:
Sparganophilus tamesis Benham, 1892
Description
Earthworm-like but relatively thin and soft-bodied, unpigmented oligochaetes. Anus dorsal. Chaetae two per bundle, sigmoid, simple-pointed. Digestive tube without stomach or appendages. Clitellum saddle-shaped or annular, with ridge-shaped tubercula pubertatis, covering also inconspicuous male pores in XIX. Testes in X and XI (or in XI only, in a South American genus?), ovaries in XIII. Externally differing from the other European freshwater earthworm-like oligochaetes, primarily in the position of male pores in XIX, on tubercula pubertatis.
Burrowing in sediment and soil.
Distribution
Mostly Nearctic, with one (introduced?) species in West Europe; a monospecific genus in South America.
Ecology
In freshwater and wet soil.
Reproduction
Sexual only. Eggs laid in cocoons.
Literature
Benham, 1892: 156; Michaelsen, 1920: 141; Jamieson, 1971: 810-812; Reynolds, 1977: 112; Reynolds, 1980: 189-204; Sims, 1980: 107-108; Sims and Gerard, 1985: 120.