Aquatic Annelids of The Colorado River, Grand Canyon National Park

Aquatic Annelida of the Colorado River and its Tributaries in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona (GCNP) – A Preliminary Checklist

There are no historical records in the published literature documenting the occurrence of aquatic Annelida in the Colorado River and its tributaries within the Grand Canyon National Park. A survey of the invertebrate faunas of three stream caves in the Grand Canyon by Peck (1980) yielded neither aquatic annelids nor other aquatic invertebrates. Several recent papers relating to this current research on benthic dynamics of the Colorado River have noted the presence of Oligochaeta in the river and its tributaries (Benenati et al. 2000; Blinn et al. 1995; Blinn et al. 1999; Shannon et al. 1994; Shannon et al. 1996; Shaver et al. 1997; Stevens et al. 1997; Oberlin et al. 1999) but none provided identifications beyond that of ‘Oligochaeta’ or the families Lumbricidae, Lumbriculidae, Naididae, and Tubificidae. Wetzel et al. (1999) published the first records for aquatic oligochaetes of Montezuma Well, Arizona; in that paper, the authors reviewed past records of specimens from elsewhere in Arizona, and recognized 10 species as new for the state. Historical and recent records of aquatic oligochaetes occurring in North America are noted in Brinkhurst and Jamieson (1971), Brinkhurst and Wetzel (1984), Klemm (1985, 1995), Brinkhurst (1986), Brinkhurst and Gelder (1991, 2001), Kathman and Brinkhurst (1998), Wetzel et al. (2006a, 2006b, 2009), Coates and Wetzel (unpublished); INHS Annelida Collection records; and numerous other published papers.The binomial nomenclature of aquatic annelids provided below reflect recent nomenclatural and systematic changes, and correct date-of-publication errors that had been perpetuated in past literature. References noted in the text of this document are included in the Literature Cited & Selected References–GCNP section associated with this website.

Please note that this is a working document. Information pertaining to the distribution of aquatic annelids in or adjacent to the GCNP will be added as it becomes available. The list below has been compiled from identifications completed on specimens collected in November and December 1991; specimens collected in September 1993, June 2001, and July 2006 currently are being mounted on microscope slides prior to identification. To date, no representatives of the freshwater annelid groups Aeolosomatida (suction-feeding worms) or Branchiobdellida (crayfish worms) have been collected from aquatic habitats within the GCNP.

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Phylum Annelida

• Class Clitellata
  • Subclass Oligochaeta
    • Order Lumbriculida (Brinkhurst & Jamieson, 1971)
      • Family Lumbriculidae (Claus, 1872)
        • species yet to be determined.
    • Order Enchytraeida (Kasprzak, 1984)
      • Suborder Enchytraeina
        • Superfamily Enchytraeoidea
          • Family Enchytraeidae (d’Udekem, 1855)
            • Species yet to be determined
    • Order Tubificida (Brinkhurst & Jamieson, 1971)
      • Suborder Tubificina
        • Superfamily Tubificoidea
          • Family Naididae (Ehrenberg, 1831)
            • Subfamily Naidinae
              • Genus Chaetogastervon (Baer, 1827)
                • Chaetogaster diaphanus (Gruithuisen, 1828)
              • Genus Nais (Müller, 1773)
                • Nais barbata (Müller, 1773)^?
                • Nais communis (Piguet, 1906)
                • Nais elinguis (Müller, 1773)
                • Nais pardalis (Piguet, 1906)
                • Nais pseudobtusa (Piguet, 1906)
                • Nais variabilis (Piguet, 1906)
              • Genus Ophidonais (Gervais, 1838)
                • Ophidonais serpentina (Müllerller, 1773)
            • Subfamily Pristininae (Lastočkin, 1924)
              • Genus Pristina (Ehrenberg, 1828 — emended Brinkhurst, 1984)
                • Pristina aequiseta (Bourne, 1901)
                • Pristina osborni (Walton, 1906)
                • Pristina sp.; yet to be determined
            • Subfamily Tubificinae
              • Genus Limnodrilus (Claparède, 1862)
                • Limnodrilus claparedeianus (Ratzel, 1868)
                • Limnodrilus hoffmeisteri (Claparède, 1862)
              • Genus Tubifex (Lamarck, 1816)
                • Tubifex tubifex (Müller, 1774)

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Aquatic, Semi-Aquatic, Limicolous Megadriles

• Class Clitellata
  • Subclass Oligochaeta
    • Order Crassiclitellata (Jamieson, 1988)
      • Suborder Lumbricina
        • Superfamily Lumbricoidea
          • Family Lumbricidae
            • Genus Eiseniella (Michaelsen, 1900)
              • Eiseniella tetraedra (Savigny, 1826)
                + several as yet unidentified lumbricids
          • Family Sparganophilidae
            • Genus Sparganophilus (Benham, 1892)
              • Sparganophilus pearsei sarasotae (Reynolds, 1980) (see Reeves, Reynolds & Wetzel 2024: Megadrilogica 28(5): 53–80)
  • Subclass Hirudinea (Savigny in Lamark, 1818)
    • Order Arhynchobdellida
      • Family Erpobdellidae
        • Genus Erpobdella (de Blainville, 1818)
          • Erpobdella punctata (Leidy, 1870)

** Higher level classification follows Schmelz et al., 2021 (Zootaxa 5040(4): 589–597)