(Bretscher, 1903)
Description
Small transparent worms. No proboscis, no eyes. Dorsal chaetae begin from II. In dorsal bundles 1-3 serrated hair chaetae, 42-300 µm long, and 1-2 needle chaetae, 26-50 µm long. Needle chaetae with about equally long, slightly bent parallel teeth. In ventral bundles 3-8 bifid chaetae, 30-80 µm long, with teeth of equal length. Intestinal dilatation in VIII, gradual. Length about 4-5 mm, segment number in the first zooid 18-20, in the entire worm known as 34. In freshwater. An imperfectly known species, can be easily confused with a juvenile tubificid. In comparison with congeners, characteristic are equally long, parallel teeth of needle chaetae.
Crawling on substratum.
Distribution
Most findings from Europe, but single finds known also from Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
Ecology
In freshwater.
Reproduction
Mostly asexual, by paratomy (budding). Mature individuals and sexual reproduction rare or seasonal.
Literature
Bretscher, 1903: 11-12, Pl. I Fig. 1; Sperber, 1948: 216-217; Sperber, 1950: 75, Fig. 26F; Brinkhurst and Jamieson, 1971: 393, Fig. 7.22D-E; Chekanovskaya, 1981: 271, Fig. 129; Hrabe, 1981: 61; Kasprzak, 1981: 100-101, Figs 229-230.