Knöllner, 1935
Type species Spiridion insigne Knöllner, 1935
Number of species 3. In fresh waters of NWE, one species:
Spiridion phreaticola (Juget, 1987)
Description
Small smooth, pink tubificids. Locomotory chaetae as bifid crotchets, with upper tooth shorter and thinner than lower one. Penial chaetae in XI straight, single-pointed, with curved tips, 4-11 per bundle. No coelomocytes. Characters of the anatomy of reproductive system, including long pseudopenis with winding lumen, are diagnostic of the genus.
Burrowing in sediment.
Distribution
Europe.
Ecology
In marine, brackish and freshwater.
Reproduction
Sexual only. Eggs laid in cocoons.
Literature
Knöllner, 1935: 471; Brinkhurst and Jamieson, 1971: 567; Chekanovskaya, 1981: 303-304; Kasprzak, 1981: 182; Erséus, 1992: 35; Erséus et al., 1992: 78.