Vejdovsky, 1879
Description
Small white worms. Chaetae by 2-3, straight, 32-60 µm long. No ventral bundles in XII, at male pores. Clitellum extends over XII-XIII; the gland cells arranged in transverse rows. Internal characters: Three pairs of pharyngeal glands in 4/5-6/7, without dorsal junctions; posterior pair with ventral lobes. Coelomocytes oval or pear-shaped, with a few coarse granules. Chloragogen cells on oesophagus beginning from IV, forming a dense layer in V, lacking in XII. No appendages on oesophagus and intestine, but a pair of peptonephridia attached to the back side of pharynx, as unbranched tubes. Blood colourless, dorsal vessel reaching backward to XII-XIII. Spermathecae in V with spindle- or pear-shaped ampulla; both ducts very short and not clearly distinguished; ectal duct with small glandular cells; glands of different size can be present also at spermathecal pore. Male funnels small, pear-shaped or cylindrical, with regular collar of about the same width. Vasa deferentia long and narrow. Penial bulbs small and compact. 1-10 mature eggs at a time. Length 5-10 mm, segment number 22-40. Externally similar to another small enchytraeid, Enchytraeus christenseni, but differing from it in the shape of spermathecae.
Burrowing in sediment.
Distribution
Holarctic, Japan, South America.
Ecology
In soil, sometimes also in freshwater.
Reproduction
Sexual, with eggs laid in cocoons.
Literature
Vejdovsky, 1879: 56, Pl. 3, Pl. 4 Fig. 1; Bretscher, 1899: 401-402; Friend, 1911b: 415, Figs 3-4; Backlund, 1947: 6-8, Fig. 3; Nielsen and Christensen, 1959: 93-94, Figs 101-103, 104-105; Chekanovskaya, 1981: 384-385, Fig. 194; Kasprzak, 1986: 198, Figs 719-724.