Hrabe, 1930
Type species Epirodrilus michaelseni Hrabe, 1930
Number of species 8. In NWE, one species:
Epirodrilus pygmaeus (Hrabe, 1935)
Description
Smooth pink tubificids with hair and pectinate chaetae in dorsal bundles. Ventral crotchets bifid, lacking in XI. No modified penial chaetae, no penial sheaths. Coelomocytes present in body cavity. Differing from the other genera of Rhyacodrilini, besides the anatomy of reproductive system (long sacculate atria without any prostate cover, etc.), also in lack of penial chaetae.
Burrowing in sediment.
Distribution
Europe, Africa, South America.
Ecology
In freshwater.
Reproduction
Sexual only. Eggs laid in cocoons.
Literature
Hrabe, 1930: 4; Hrabe, 1931a: 309-310; Hrabe, 1935: 4-8; Brinkhurst and Jamieson, 1971: 537; Chekanovskaya, 1981: 286-287; Hrabe, 1981: 65; Kasprzak, 1981: 149-150.