Aquatic Annelids (Clitellata) of Great Smoky Mountains National Park (North Carolina and Tennessee) | INHS Annelid Collection | Illinois Natural History Survey

Phylum – Annelida

We present here a preliminary checklist of aquatic oligochaetes and other aquatic and semi-aquatic annelids occurring in and adjacent to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina and Tennessee, USA. Because several megadrile oligochaetes are commonly found in aquatic, semi-aquatic, and limicolous habitats, those species will soon be included in the listing below.

Taxa that are in bold have been reported from one or more aquatic or semi-aquatic sites in the Park; those taxa not yet in bold are expected to occur based on their known distributions in the southeastern U.S.

Higher level classification in the list below follows Schmelz et al., 2021 (Zootaxa 5040(4): 589–597). See also: Van Haaren et al. 2021 (Bionomia 21: 140–145) and Magalhães et al. 2021 (Zootaxa 4979 (1): 190–211).

i = species considered to have been introduced to North America. [Note that several other species listed here could be cryptogenic (of unknown origin, possibly representing historical introductions)].

Class Clitellata

Subclass Oligochaeta (oligochaetous Clitellata) (Grube, 1850)
- Order Haplotaxida (Brinkhurst & Jamieson, 1971)
  - Family Haplotaxidae (Michaelsen, 1900)
    - Genus Haplotaxis (Hoffmeister, 1843)
      - Haplotaxis cf. gordioides (Hartmann, in Oken, 1819)
      - Haplotaxis ichthyophagus (Gates, 1971) (incertae sedis)^?
- Order Lumbriculida (Brinkhurst & Jamieson, 1971)
  - Family Lumbriculidae (Claus, 1872)
    - Species yet to be determined.
- Order Enchytraeida (Kasprzak, 1984)
  - Suborder Enchytraeina
    - Superfamily Enchytraeoidea
  - Family Enchytraeida (E d’Udekem, 1855)
    - species yet to be determined.
- Order Tubificida (Brinkhurst & Jamieson, 1971)
  - Suborder Tubificina (Jamieson, 1978)
    - Superfamily Tubificoidea
  - Family Naididae (Ehrenberg, 1831)
    - Subfamily Naidinae (Lastočkin, 1924)
      - Naidiinae spp., yet to be determined
      - Genus Arcteonais (Piguet, 1928)
        
        Arcteonais lomondi (Martin, 1907)
      - Genus Chaetogaster (von Baer, 1827)
        
        Chaetogaster diaphanus (Gruithuisen, 1828)
      - Genus Dero (Oken, 1815)
        
        Dero (Dero) digitata (Müller, 1773)
      - Genus Nais (Müller, 1773)
        
        Nais barbata (Müller, 1773)^?
        
        Nais behningi (Michaelsen, 1923)
        
        Nais bretscheri (Michaelsen, 1899)
        
        Nais communis (Piguet, 1906)
        
        Nais elinguis (Müller, 1773)
        
        Nais pardalis (Piguet, 1906)
        
        Nais pseudobtusa (Piguet, 1906)
        
        Nais simplex (Piguet, 1906)
        
        Nais variabilis (Piguet, 1906)
      - Genus Slavina (Vejdovský, 1883)
        
        Slavina appendiculata (d’Udekem, 1855)
      - Genus Ophidonais (Gervais, 1838)
        
        Ophidonais serpentina (Müller, 1773)
      - Genus Paranais (Czerniavsky, 1880)
        
        Paranais frici (Hrabě, 1941)
      - Genus Piguetiella (Sperber, 1939)
        
        Piguetiella michiganensis (Hiltunen, 1967)
      - Genus Specaria (Sperber, 1939)
        
        Specaria josinae (Vejdovský, 1883)
      - Genus Uncinais (Levinsen, 1884)
        
        Uncinais uncinata (Ørsted, 1842)
    - Subfamily Pristininae (Lastočkin, 1924)
      - Pristininae spp., yet to be determined
      - Genus Pristina (Ehrenberg, 1828 — emended Brinkhurst, 1984)
        
        Pristina aequiseta (Bourne, 1901)
        
        Pristina breviseta (Bourne, 1891)
        
        Pristina jenkinae (Stephenson, 1931)
        
        Pristina leidyi (F. Smith, 1896)
        
        Pristina osborni (Walton, 1906)
        
        Pristina sp.; yet to be determined
    - Subfamily Tubificinae (Vejdovský, 1876)
      - Genus Aulodrilus (Bretscher, 1899)
        
        Aulodrilus limnobius (Bretscher, 1899)
      - Genus Limnodrilus (Claparède, 1862)
        
        Limnodrilus claparedeianus (Ratzel, 1868)
        
        Limnodrilus hoffmeisteri (Claparède, 1862)
      - Genus Psammoryctides (Hrabě, 1964)
        
        Psammoryctides californianus (Brinkhurst, 1965)
      - Genus Spirosperma (Eisen, 1879)
        
        Spirosperma ferox (Eisen, 1879) i
      - Genus Varichaetadrilus (Brinkhurst et Kathman, 1983)
        
        Varichaetadrilus angustipenis (Brinkhurst & Cook, 1966)
    - Subfamily Rhyacodrilinae (Hrabě, 1963)
      - Genus Rhyacodrilus (Bretscher, 1901)
        
        Rhyacodrilus subterraneus (Hrabě, 1963)
      - Genus Tubifex (Lamarck, 1816)
        
        Tubifex tubifex (Müller, 1774)
- Order Branchiobdellida (Holt, 1965)
  - Genus Pterodrilus (Moore, 1895)

Aquatic, Semi-Aquatic, Limicolous Megadriles

Subclass Oligochaeta (oligochaetous Clitellata) (Grube, 1850)
- Order Crassiclitellata (Jamieson, 1988)
  - Suborder Lumbricina
    - Superfamily Lumbricoidea
      - Family Lumbricidae (Claus, 1880)
        
        Genus Amynthas (Sims et Easton, 1972)
        
        Amynthas diffringens (Baird, 1869) ⁱ
        
        Genus Eiseniella (Michaelsen, 1900)
        
        Eiseniella tetraedra (Savigny, 1826)
        + several other as yet unidentified megadriles
      - Family Sparganophilidae (Michaelsen, 1921)
        
        Genus Sparganophilus Benham, 1892
        
        Sparganophilus tamesis Benham, 1892 (Previously identified as Sp. eiseni (Smith, 1895), but recently synonymized with Sp. tamesis (Rota et al. 2016))
Subclass Hirudinea (Savigny, in Lamark, 1818)
- Family Erpobdellidae
  - Genus Erpobdella (de Blainville, 1818)
    - Erpobdella punctata (Leidy, 1870)

Literature Cited

Erséus, C., M.J. Wetzel, and L. Gustavsson. 2008. ICZN rules–a farewell to Tubificidae (Annelida, Clitellata). Zootaxa 1744: 66–68.

Magalhães, W.F., Hutchings, P., Oceguera-Figueroa, A., Martin, P., Schmelz, R.M., Wetzel, M., Wiklund, H., Maciolek, N.J., Kawauchi, G.Y. & Williams, J.D. (2021) Segmented worms (Phylum Annelida): a celebration of twenty years of progress through Zootaxa and call for action on the taxonomic work that remains. Zootaxa 4979 (1): 190–211.

Rota, E., S. Martinsson, M. Bartoli, A. Beylich, U. Graefe, A. Laini, M.J. Wetzel, and C. Erséus. 2016. Mitochondrial evidence supports a Nearctic origin for the spreading limicolous earthworm Sparganophilus tamesis Benham, 1892 (Clitellata, Sparganophilidae). Contributions to Zoology 85(1): 113–119.

Schmelz, R.M., C. Erséus, P. Martin, T. van Haaren, and T. Timm. 2021. A proposed order-level classification in Oligochaeta (Annelida, Clitellata). Zootaxa 5040(4): 589–597.

Van Haaren, T., Martin, P. & Dubois, A. (2021) Authorship and date of five family-series nomina in Oligochaeta (Annelida): Lumbricidae, Naididae, Enchytraeidae, Tubificidae and Lumbriculidae. Bionomina 21: 140–145.