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Sparganophilus
Sign in to saveSparganophilus, the only genus in the family Sparganophilidae, is a group of long, slender, limicolous (mud-dwelling) earthworms native to North America. The number of species is unknown, most of them are undescribed, throughout the continent and into Central America. One species, S. tamesis, has been introduced into the streams of Europe, where it is now widespread; its synonyms are S. eiseni, S. benhami, S. guatemalensis, S. carnea, S. elongatus, S. cuenoti and, newly, S. langi.
Species
GENUS
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumAnnelida
- ClassClitellata
- OrderCrassiclitellata
- FamilySparganophilidae
via GBIF
Museum specimens
- Specimen records
- 14
- With media
- 1
- Family
- Sparganophilidae
- Collections
- CAS, UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH, CENTRE FOR BIODIVERSITY GENOMICS, NCSM, CMN, USNM, EARDC
- Recorded in
- United States, Canada, United Kingdom
~1 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1 sectionsContents
- References
Sparganophilus, the only genus in the family Sparganophilidae, is a group of long, slender, limicolous (mud-dwelling) earthworms native to North America. The number of species is unknown, most of them are undescribed, throughout the continent and into Central America. One species, S. tamesis, has been introduced into the streams of Europe, where it is now widespread; its synonyms are S. eiseni, S. benhami, S. guatemalensis, S. carnea, S. elongatus, S. cuenoti and, newly, S. langi.
Sparganophilus species are characterised by a simple gut with no gizzard and no typhlosole. They are true earthworms, having a complex vascular system with capillaries and having the male pores far behind the female pores. They were at one time placed in the earthworm family Glossoscolecidae, but at present are considered to constitute their own family.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Sparganophilus” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.